Stanhope student Ethan spent the majority of his Easter holiday following orders aboard the TS Royalist following his successful application to join the crew on the Royal Navy flag ship. A small number of Sea Cadets from around the country were awarded the honour of taking part and they experienced a vast array of challenges – both mental and physical. Ethan said “This was an incredible week and, without doubt, the best week of my life so far. We were joined by Royal Navy Officers and learnt so much during the week including the consequences of actions! If any cadet did something wrong then the whole group would suffer and we were not allowed shore leave and had our mobile phones taken from us. It was a steep learning curve but one which is very important as we need to be able to follow orders to the letter because failing to do so could result in injury or even death”. He continued “We had lots of laughs but not when one of the officers decided to play his bugle very very early one morning. We were waking up at about five o’clock each morning so didn’t need other influences shattering our sleep!”. His cadet duties did not end when he returned home as Ethan was then asked to join the crew on HMS Cavalier which is birthed at Chatham Dockyard and had the opportunity to learn seamanship. Ethan is now proud to be called an Intermediate Seaman Specialist.