Thurles Order of Malta Ambulance Corps – Mr Gerard Fogarty, Parnell Street, Thurles reports:-
“You Don’t have to be a Fairy-Tale Hero to Save Lives!”
Thurles Order of Malta Cadets pictured with their proud Cadet Leaders following their success at the National Cadet Weekend in Limerick University (UL).
Cadets from the Thurles Unit of the Order of Malta travelled to Limerick University recently for their National Cadet Camp. Latter is where all cadet units meet up together annually for the weekend, joining activities and meeting fellow cadets from across the island of Ireland.
During camp, the ‘National Cadet Competitions’ are held. This year, we had competitors entered in the Two-Person First Aid Team, Footdrill, Junior Home Nursing and Junior Cadet of the Year Competitions, following their success in the regional rounds. From these categories, we took home two silver medals, and the Cadet of the Year trophy.
In addition to their success in dressing wounds and marching, they were also recognised for busting moves. This year the talent competition was re-formed into the popular Lip-Sync Battle, showcasing the Cadets abilities to dance and mime to songs. Thurles cha-cha’ed straight into the group first-place with their own choreography, to a melody of classic tunes.
Cadets had the opportunity to swap their uniforms for their favourite animated characters at this year’s ‘cartoon capers’ themed weekend disco. Thurles again made their mark winning the Best Group Costume award for their ‘Shrek’ theme, which saw the UL campus dotted with characters from the fairytale trilogy (or at least what they would be like, if they were from Thurles!). The message from our Cadets, as always, being that with first aid skills, you don’t have to be a superhero, or in this case a fairytale hero, to save lives!
A new event this year saw some of our Cadets earmarked as ‘Future Directors’ when they got the opportunity to grill the National Director in the hot-seat on any topic at ‘Ask the Director’. And they now even have the printed mugs to prove it!
Proud Officer In Charge, Lt. Catherine O’Loughlin, remarked that “This camp is not just about competitions. It is about giving cadets the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills in a safe environment. It must be said that the camp would not have been such a tremendous success without the effort put in from cadet leaders; the senior members who helped with training; parents for bringing them into training, and finally, the cadets themselves, latter who put so much effort into camp preparation.”
“Thurles Unit had a huge footprint on camp this year, with members on the organising committee co-ordinating casualty make-up; supplying audio system, and providing the choir for Mass.
“The unit is hugely grateful to all, and we are so proud of the immense mark that we have left on the event, and the new friendships attained. The most remarkable aspect of our success at camp, is that what our cadets did best, was achieved through working closely together” she added.
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