Students Win Prestigious Award

The first of four prestigious awards was presented by HM Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire Mr David Laing at a special dinner in Northampton last week.

The Prince of Wales’s Expeditionary Awards highlight the very best in leadership, challenge, courage and planning. The annual awards are selected from over one hundred Cadet and Reservist expeditions supported by The Ulysses Trust, whose patron is HRH the Prince of Wales. Each recipient receives a certificate which is signed by HRH The Prince of Wales.

The winner of the University Officers' Training Corps Category was Exercise GUYAN EMU. This expedition was undertaken by students from East Midlands Universities’ Air Squadron (based in Beeston, Nottingham) who travelled to the South American Guyanese jungle in April 2018. Here they constructed a camp designed by the local people to support the local tourist trade and benefit the local population. Afterwards the students undertook nine days of jungle survival training, which included fire lighting, navigation and hunting.

Officer Cadet Jinni Sur said, “For me the expedition had a bit of everything, I overcame mental and physical challenges as well as learning about some of my strengths. Not only this but I got to do all this in such an environment I never thought I’d get to experience…the jungle!”

Expedition leader at EMUAS Alex Wain said, "I had the unique privilege of being a part of the planning for this expedition and I cannot stress enough how fantastic The Ulysses Trust is. The financial support they provided was instrumental in making the expedition a possibility. The expedition was an amazing experience – taking nine students from East Midlands Universities Air Squadron to the Guyanese jungle. The focus of our expedition was to expose the students to the jungle environment, testing their personal organisation and physical fortitude. Correspondingly, we wanted the expedition to leave a positive legacy and worked tirelessly with the local indigenous Amerindian population to facilitate this. The work that the Ulysses Trust do helps foster these once in a lifetime opportunity; helping ordinary students achieve extraordinary things."

The presentation took place on Thursday 3rd October 2019 at an Employer Engagement Dinner held at Northampton Saints Rugby Club, organised by the East Midlands Reserve Forces and Cadets Association.

The Ulysses Trust was represented at the event by its regional representative for the East Midlands Region Colonel Chris Young. Colonel Young read the citation prior to the presentation and afterwards commented, “The Lord Lieutenant was inspiring in his support for the trust and to the recipients of the Prince of Wales’s Award for best Expedition 2018. I was so impressed by the members of the team.”

The expedition was also the runner up of the RAF Charitable Trust’s annual Paul Bowen Award 2017 attracting £10,000 to support the ambitious expedition.