The importance of re-establishing bonds between parent and child for returning Army personnel
This year WildTracks’ Charity of the Year is East Anglia's biggest children's charity, the Ormiston Children and Families Trust. Ormiston works with disadvantaged children and young people and an important part of that work is with the children of returning forces personnel. If, for example, a parent has been away on extended service abroad, a child may find it difficult to adjust to their return. In the case of a very young child the parent can be a virtual stranger who has suddenly appeared in their home.
In October we are proud to be hosting an open day for families of the Military Corrective Training Centre staff team in Colchester (MCTC). The MCTC is the only British custodial establishment for all three services in the world and hold, in detention, men and woman who have committed various offence; mostly very minor things although some do get discharged from the services as a result. The Staff work long hours to take care of those in their charge and to deal with the various welfare issues associated with this type of job. They also provide all the specialise custodial skills and advice in Afghanistan and formerly in Iraq to other units and even other agencies (the Iraqi Police for example).These staff take turns deploying to Afghanistan and some have been several times.
The open day will support those who have returned from operations recently as helping to re-establish the bond between parent and child is very important and life in the services can at times be very stressful and disruptive for children. WildTracks’ facilities will provide a neutral space where both parent and child can get to know each other again and where the on site activities will allow them to enjoy something shared in a relaxed and enjoyable environment. Warrant Officer 'Geordie' Gambling of the MCTC said “it’s a great opportunity for our unit’s children and parents to enjoy time together and to share the experience of learning new activity. We are very grateful to WildTracks for arranging this for us.”
Ormiston work regularly with the MCTC, including a weekly presentation to explain the benefits of Children's centres and teaching parenting strategies to those in detention.
For more information on the work of the Trust visit www.ormiston.org and for to apply to be WildTracks’ Charity of the Year 2012 please visit www.wildtrackltd.co.uk/about/charityoftheyear or call 01638 751 918.
The Institute of Vehicle Recovery weekend for members families and Recovery Demonstration.
WildTracks has been many things, a Bedouin village, a desert and even an SAS combat zone for the filming of Andy McNab books but recently the off road activity park looked like a scene from a Mad Max film.
Members of The Institute of Vehicle Recovery (IVR), the guys who know what to do with an 16 wheeler weighing 44 tonnes the wrong way up in a river, were at WildTracks where the IVR held an event for their members and families. It was the first family weekend held by the Institute and in addition to the usual activities offered on the site, karting, quads, MX and 4x4 off road, the IVR provided their own very unique vehicle recovery demonstration.
During the previous the week doomed vehicles to be used in the recovery demonstration had arriving on the site and were gently laid to rest on the junior motocross tracks. Getting vehicles to crash in an orderly fashion is as delicate an operation as the subsequent recovery and these heavy machines were placed on their sides in a variety of poses designed to simulate real incidents.
So how do you get an artic out of a ditch? Very carefully is the answer! Imagine the scene; it’s late, it’s dark, it’s bound to raining, there maybe casualties and you’re on a major arterial route with traffic thundering by or, the motorway is closed and thousands of frustrated motorists are sitting in their cars blaming you for the delay and asking why can’t you just remove the vehicle so they can get on their way?
Frustrating as it is to be delayed whilst a recovery is in progress consider how much longer you would have to wait if a lorry was hastily uprighted only to flip over on the other side so the whole process would have to begin again! Additionally a modern artic, plus load could be worth £250,000 and the vehicle owners and insurers aren’t going to be delighted if the vehicle and load receive yet more damage during the recovery. Steve Kirton of the IVR confirmed that “vehicles need to be gently treated whilst at all time you are managing conflicting interests.”
When asked his worst case scenario Steve said there were so many he didn’t know where to begin but suggested that lack of space in the UK was one of the recovery operators biggest problems and imagine trying to recover a large heavy vehicle from a single A road or dual carriageway. Other “where do you start” scenarios include vehicles going off bridges into rivers or onto railway lines. Vehicles as large and heavy as a fully laden artic often don’t conveniently come to rest by the hard shoulder, assuming they don’t flip over in the first place, because they have such momentum they will travel some distance from the carriageway, further complicating recovery.
WildTracks provided the perfect site for the Institute to demonstrate some very tricky recoveries as described by one guest, "The recovery demonstration was brilliant and we all held our breath as the lorry was winched over the shark infested lake!" We look forward to welcoming the IVR and all those RTAs back again next year for what hope is going to be an annual event.
WildTracks@barleylands and Skirmish group packages give you great value, high octane days to remember. You can choose from quads, 4x4 off road, archery and cross bows at WildTracks and paintball and laser guns at Skirmish. Both venues have excellent on site catering and all equipment and protective clothing are provided.
Call us for details and prices 01638 751 918 or email enquiries@wildtracksltd.co.uk
