Nottinghamshire Police cadets celebrate Easter with teambuilding challenge

Police cadets in Nottinghamshire have marked Easter celebrations with a fun-filled teambuilding challenge.

A total of 25 cadets at the force’s base in Mansfield took on the task of building a contraption from junk material to protect an egg, which was then dropped from height.

After splitting into teams, the cadets answered quiz questions to test their knowledge from previous sessions – covering a range of topics varying from road safety to drugs.

Teams who answered correctly had the first selection of materials which were collected by the cadets to build their creations. They were then tested against each other and a team of five police officers.

After several rounds of dropping the creations from the balcony at West Notts College, two finalists whose eggs wouldn’t break could not be separated.

A ‘split or steal’ tiebreaker was devised and after a dramatic twist, a surprise ‘steal’ delivered victory and chocolate Easter egg prizes to a team of cadets.

Volunteer Police Cadets are the nationally recognised police uniformed youth group in England and Wales.

In Nottinghamshire, junior cadet sessions are available to secondary school students between Years 7 and 11, with senior cadet sessions available to those in Years 12 and 13.

A total of 31 cadet leaders, made up of police officers, staff and civilian volunteers, offer their time, skills and knowledge to operate the force’s six cadet bases by running weekly sessions during school term time to 148 young people across Nottinghamshire.

The cadets are part of the force’s Prevention Hub, which is a collaboration between multiple force departments responsible for developing and delivering strategies to prevent crime and disorder throughout the city and county.

Sergeant Vanessa Wake, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Prevention Hub, said: “Police cadets in Nottinghamshire are a diverse group of young people with a real desire to support their local communities.

“Cadets is all about encouraging young people to challenge themselves and gain confidence, and they all approached this teambuilding task with enthusiasm.

“They are supported by a fantastic team of volunteers who dedicate their own time to help young people develop life skills.

“It was a pleasure to hear that the cadets thoroughly enjoyed themselves and that the challenge was a great success.”