Little Troopers All Together at Go Ape

Guest Blog: Kate Cashmore

This summer Go Ape partnered with the charity Little Troopers to support children from the British Armed Forces community.

There are estimated to be more than 100,000 military children with parents serving in the British Armed Forces, including the Royal Navy, British Army and the Royal Air Force. Forces life can bring unique challenges for these children, such as having a parent deployed overseas on military operations for six months or more.

Lots of armed forces families also move home a lot, sometimes even living overseas. While this can be a great adventure, it can sometimes be hard for children to move schools, make new friends, change hobbies, settle into a new area, and then do it all again a few years later. That’s why Little Troopers was founded in 2011, to ensure that military children can access support whenever they need it and wherever they are in the world.

The charity recently launched a new deployment club called ‘All Together to bring together military children while their serving parent is away from home so they can benefit from spending time with other children who are going through the same situation.

The first ‘All Together’ event was held at Go Ape in July 2022. It was the start of the school summer holidays, which can be a challenging time of year for armed forces families to have a serving parent deployed overseas. Little Troopers chose Go Ape as a perfect location to invite military families to join in n adventurous day to remember.

On the same day, at the same time, at eight different Go Ape locations, lots of little troopers came together to take on Go Ape’s Treetop Adventure. Meeting each other for the first time, the children soon bonded during their safety briefing and then headed to the high ropes to navigate the tricky tree crossings and wobbly bridges before cheering each other down the zip wires.

“My husband is away a lot and is currently deployed for the second time this year. The children really miss having their Dad around, and it is hard for them, particularly as it’s the school holidays and they are at home more, so they miss his presence around the house. The Little Troopers event at Go Ape has been absolutely fantastic, and it’s been a great opportunity to get the children out, keep them busy and get them to meet other children who also have their Mums and Dads away.” 

- Sarah, mum at Alice Holt 

Credit: Ingrid Weel

“We are proud to have helped Little Troopers facilitate their All Together adventure at Alice Holt and other Go Ape locations. None of the children knew each other, so some were a little bit nervous to begin with, but before long, they were having a fantastic time. It was great to see their confidence grow as they supported each other through their adventure whilst bonding over their shared experiences.”

- Keri Cairns,Go Ape Alice Holt Site Manager 

Credit: Ingrid Weel

“It was fun to be outdoors and engage in an adventurous activity with other children whose parents are deployed. I really enjoyed it and hope there will be more events like this that we can participate in whilst my Dad is away. We also made some new friends and met up with friends I knew from the past. One of the best bits about being at Dalby Forest was also that after, we could explore the forest and have a picnic.”

- Izzy at Dalby Forest (13)

For more information about some of the other All Together activities that Little Troopers has planned, or to learn more about the charity’s work support military children, visit www.littletroopers.net