Arthur Harding, one of our software apprentices, reports back on his week of leading his team at the Rotary Club Youth Leadership Awards - go on Arthur.
Last August I spent a week at the Kingsway Centre in Middleton-on-Teesdale, and I can safely say it was the most fun week of work I’ve ever had. Labman sponsored me to take part in the Rotary Club Youth Leadership Award (RYLA), which involved 5 days of adventure activities and leadership tasks. There was raft building, minefield navigating, gorge walking, crate stacking, walking-up-a-hill-with-a-massive-box-ing, and a lot more.
All the tasks involved splitting into teams, planning the exercise, and then working together to get it done. There were plenty of chances to take
leadership, and I did this when our group was working on the raft building. We were given our task, and told that we had 4 barrels, 6 lengths of wood, and some rope. We then had 20 minutes to design our vessel, before going down to the bank of the river to try and put it together.
As the group leader I had to organise the materials and other people, to try and get the job done in the time we had. Luckily, we were all used to each other by this point, so we were able to communicate well, and we got our (shaky looking) raft built after it falling apart only a few times. Then, obviously, it was time to test it. Four of us were given paddles and tasked with getting across the river and back. The seven of us in the team were all different shapes and sizes so it was a balancing act keeping the boat upright, but we managed, and got back to the shore in record time. Then we squelched back to the centre and dried out on the sofas.
All in all, it was a great week, and I’m very grateful for Labman putting me forward and sponsoring me to do it. I would also like to thank the Rotary Club for putting on the course, and I look forward to speaking at the next monthly meeting about my experience.