February 18, 2016
/
A former Cadet from 1st Battalion The Highlanders has gone the extra mile(s) in order to attend a BTEC weekend held by the battalion.
Holly Guilmartin (pictured), who was a Corporal with the Western Isles Company, had just left the ACF due to reaching the cut-off age and was waiting to start her training to become a doctor.
However Holly was so keen to add a BTEC qualification to her CV that she requested a place on the weekend. As she was no longer a Cadet she had to make all her own arrangements to attend the training, and also fund it herself.
This involved Holly first of all taking the weekend off work. Her journey started with a 40-minute bus trip on the Friday from her home on the Isle of Lewis to the Ferry terminal in Stornoway that was then followed by a ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool, which was a total journey of 2 hours and 40 minutes. Once on the mainland Holly then took a 1 hour 40 minute bus journey from Ullapool to Inverness and finally a second bus from there to Dingwall. Once at Dingwall she took a short walk to her hotel, just on the outskirts of the town to stay the weekend.
The next day then saw Holly take a taxi from her hotel to the battalion’s Cadet Training Centre at Dingwall for her BTEC training. On the Sunday the journey was then repeated but in reverse with a total of around 290 miles travelled by Holly to attend the weekend!
According to education charity CVQO this is the longest journey with the most effort they have heard of for someone to attend a BTEC weekend.
Hats off to Holly for her extraordinary efforts and good luck for the future.
