A 28-YEAR-OLD Southampton Sea Cadet has honoured by the Royal Family at a special event.

Nicole Geraghty, 28, was awarded the MBE for her volunteering work she does with Wessex District Sea Cadets, more specifically for her re-working of the cadets’ syllabus as everything moved online during the first lockdown.

She received the MBE from Prince Charles at Windsor Castle.

“I knew that the young cadets could get bored looking at PowerPoint when they were used to being out and about doing activities,” says Nicole, “so I set out to make it as fun and engaging as possible.”

Before long, Nicole’s re-worked syllabus was being used not just locally, but by the national Sea Cadets too.

In a ‘normal’ year, the cadets would be out on boats and learning how they’re constructed. One of the programmes Nicole wrote gave the cadets a similar experience, where instead they made boats out of bread and learnt about their construction. And when the lockdown lifted, they could go out to the boats and understand their construction. And when the cadets couldn’t go camping because of lockdown, Nicole arranged a virtual camping night.

Nicole, 28, who has been in the Sea Cadets since she was 11, says: “I’m passionate about the soft skills you can learn in the Sea Cadets – like leadership, confidence and communication. One of the best parts for me was working with some of the older cadets who are 15 to 17, to help them design sessions to run for the younger ones. This developed their own skills and confidence.”

On first hearing about her MBE in October last year, Nicole says “I thought it was a prank when I got the letter by email. It came completely out of the blue. It wasn’t until the Chancellor’s office phoned me that I realised it was serious!”

Adapting to learning in lockdown had other benefits too, with Nicole’s group collaborating with 11 other Cadet areas, including Guernsey and Jersey, something that wouldn’t normally happen. “We learnt the semaphore syllabus through Zoom, which was great fun.”

Alastair Welch, ABP Southampton Regional Director, says: “Congratulations to Nicole from everyone at ABP on such a great idea. It’s brilliant to see this type of practical problem-solving making learning even more engaging and fun. Well done, Nicole!”