A group of enthusiastic youngsters from Ferndown Upper School visited HMS Sultan recently with the Jon Egging Trust, in order to be inspired by Air and Marine Engineering within the Royal Navy.
A total of 14 pupils spent a day visiting the Defence College of Technical Training’s two Schools within HMS Sultan, the Royal Naval Air Engineering and Survival Equipment School (RNAESS) and the Defence School of Marine Engineering (DSMarE).
The young people undertook tours of the establishment’s facilities and got involved in a number of hands-on tasks.
These included the replacement of aircraft components using hand tools, wearing sea survival equipment and boarding a life raft.
Lunch gave the opportunity for the young people to chat to Sultan trainees about their experiences as Air and Marine Engineering technicians on the RN’s latest helicopters, ships, and submarines.
The visitors also spent some time on leadership tasks, enhancing their communications, confidence, and team building, before visiting the DSMarE where they each got to remove and replace the fuel injector on a small diesel engine.
Kimberley Mackenzie, 14, said: “I was a little bit nervous about coming today but it’s been quite fun.
“It’s been really good to get our hands on things and learn how to do things for ourselves. I didn’t think that they would actually let us take apart things. The people I’ve met have been really nice, friendly and encouraging; they are really good at their job.”
Jane Edwards, Pastoral Manager at Ferndown Upper said: “The visit has been amazing; I think it’s been very inspirational for young people who don’t have high aspirations about their future careers.
“It gives them a really good insight as to what’s out there especially within the military.”
The Jon Egging Trust was established in memory of Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging, who lost his life whilst completing an air display with the Red Arrows at the Bournemouth Air Festival in 2011. The Trust provides teamwork, leadership, and work experience opportunities to young people.
Trust Youth Liaison Officer, Kaye Jackson accompanied the children throughout the visit, she said: “I think the kids have had a really good day.
They were maybe nervous about what was going to happen this morning and they’ve experienced some things they never would have thought they’d experience and this afternoon they are very much more relaxed with each other.”
“Some of them overcame their fears when we did the trust exercise and some of them never thought that they would do that as they were disjointed as a group.”
“Bringing them together in this kind of environment is really good and they really enjoyed it, we are very grateful to HMS Sultan for giving us this opportunity.”
Lieutenant Commander Marie-Claire Bartlett who organised the visit said: “It has been brilliant to see the change in characters from the quiet, nervous students who climbed off the minibus this morning to the engaged dynamic group getting involved in the injector change.”
