Swans And MAWWFRS Launch Fire Cadet League
On Thursday, 2nd February 2017, Swansea City Football Club Community Trust, PL Kicks and Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service launched the Fire Cadet League at Morriston Fire Station.
Elaine Williams, MAWWFRS Youth Development Officer said, “We are delighted to continue our partnership with Swansea City AFC Community Trust Kicks Project – it presents an exciting opportunity for our Cadets along with South Wales Police Youth Volunteers to take part in physical and challenging activities in a fun environment.
The success of the league last year means that it has expanded rapidly, this is evident with over 80 young people participating in a range of activities tonight.”
Speaking after the launch, Swansea City defender Jordi Amat was full of praise for the young people, “It was great to meet everyone and they’re doing an amazing job with the Fire Cadets.
“It’s a big opportunity for them and I’ve also had a really good time. It was good fun with nice people and I’ve learnt a lot about firefighting.”
Lee Trundle – who joined Rangel at last year’s launch – echoed Amat’s enthusiasm for the project, saying, “It’s been really good, we’ve done some team bonding exercises and we’ve had a look round at where they train.
“It’s very important for the Club and the Community Trust to support these types of programmes. The things we do for Swansea City Football Club is not just about football, it’s about the community and the city itself, so to get out to something like this and to show the kids how important it is to be involved in these projects is great.”
Liam Ellis from PL Kicks said,
“The Fire Cadet League, originally set up last year, has seen a partnerships between Swansea PL Kicks and Mid and West Wales Fire Service coming together to create a league between all the Fire Cadet Schemes in Wales. The league allows all Cadet Schemes to come together to show off their own knowledge in fire and football drills and challenges them to work together as a team to come out on top.
This year was the second year of the league and last night’s launch event saw the introduction of the Police Youth Volunteers, which has helped to combine another branch of the Emergency Services to increase all participants range of skills and to help break down barriers any young people might have of the emergency services.
Each month the schemes come together over four days (different group of schemes on a different day) at a selected fire station, where they are tested by fire fighters on their knowledge of firefighting and drills, each scheme will also participate in a different football skill test each month to help them gain further points which is put together in a league format. The winners of the league are then put forward to a UK wide event which sees them participate against fire cadets from England, Scotland and Ireland to see who is the UK’s top fire cadet scheme. Last year’s winners of the Fire Cadet League were Ammanford – they went onto win the UK wide event and be crowned the UK’s top fire cadet scheme.
The league is fantastic opportunity for those involved and allows the cadets to show off their fire station and their own knowledge, it’s great to see so many schemes coming together and getting along so well in a competitive atmosphere. I look forward to seeing the outcome of this year’s league and how we can work in partnership with the emergency services to help it grow further for next year.”
Would you like to be a Fire Cadet?
If you are aged between 12 and 16 years of age, then why not get involved?
The Fire Cadet scheme provides training and development opportunities for young people, principally through Fire and Rescue Service related activities such as fire safety in the home, arson reduction, anti-social behaviour and Road Traffic Collisions.
The scheme encourages young people to make the most of their physical and mental capabilities to become more responsible, safer and caring members of their communities. Young Firefighters who successfully complete the two year course also gain a BTEC qualification.
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