All smiles from the cadet Unity Cup winners, St. Mary’s College in Crosby All smiles from the cadet Unity Cup winners, St. Mary’s College in Crosby

STUDENTS from a Crosby school have won the 1st-ever cup competition for Ministry of Defence-sponsored cadet units on Merseyside.

Members of the Combined Cadet Force at St. Mary’s College beat off the challenge of cadets from across the region to land the Unity Cup which focused on fire and rescue disciplines and armed forces skills.

The 2-day competition – part of the inaugural National Cadet Week – involved teams from the Army Cadet Force, Combined Cadet Force, Sea Cadets, Royal Marine Cadets and Merseyside Fire Cadets.

It was organised and delivered by Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and the North West Cadet Training Team.

The event was designed to test competitors’ skills in leadership, problem solving, decision making, team work and effective communication across a range of real and challenging activities.

The tasks on day 1, held at the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Training and Development Academy, included train fire and rescue, motorway accident response, an obstacle course, car fires, high-rise search, a confined space exercise and code breaking.
 
Day 2, held at Altcar Training Camp, challenged the teams in activities including air rifle shooting, laser clay, paintballing, archery and cyber skills.

St. Mary’s College CCF landed the top prize in the competition for their consistently high performance across all 13 activities over the 2 days.

Major Alex Saunders, Commanding Officer of the North West Cadet Training Team, commented:- "This was a fantastic event to kick off the 1st-ever National Cadet Week. Seeing cadets from different youth organisations across Merseyside competing against each other was incredibly inspiring. The support of local employers in delivering activities also gave the cadets an outstanding experience over both days. My congratulations to St Mary's Combined Cadet Force for winning the competition.”

A number of VIP guests attended the Unity Cup event weekend including the Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside, Peter Oliver, and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Chief Fire Officer Nick Searle.