Long time volunteer and social media guru David Terrace reflects on what proved to be another successful training weekend for CWB.

After a superb day losing (marginally) to England Women at a picturesque Arundel, the CWB team thought that things could not get much better at the Autumn 2013 Training Day in Brighton. They were wrong; they did.

Hosted by the superb University of Brighton, the training weekend was to prove one of the finest in CWB’s short history and sets the tone for four fantastic Autumn projects. The training weekend serves to train the volunteers in all elements of the trips; coaching, HIV/AIDS, Africa but more importantly brings the volunteer from email exchanges into close knit teams ready for all the countries can throw at them.

Once again, the weekend was hosted by trustee Ed Williams, coached by veteran Rich Davies and organised by Sally Harper with Lee Booth as trusty technical assistant. This well-oiled machine produced a weekend high on involvement, enjoyment and empowerment. One particular highlight was the new HIV/AIDS section, with the team delivering three fantastic interactive sessions, including live testing from our expert Amardeep Singh.

No training weekend would be complete with the practical exercises and of course, the country competition. Rich and Jamie Burton lead some great sessions at the excellent Univeristy of Brighton facilities which culminated in a tense country playoff. Despite some brave performances from Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, it was the vocal team Botswana that deservedly walked away with the #invincibles tag.

There were a few tired legs at 3pm Sunday, as the final arrangements were made and the kit was divided up, but it was clear that the CWB family that had supported the weekend was as strong as ever and the new volunteers had thrown themselves into the weekend with incredible gusto. As a long time volunteer it is so exciting to see new volunteers with such enthusiasm for a hugely important cause. We cannot wait to see how the volunteers new and old get on this Autumn which promises to be four fantastic projects!

The first project departs on 28th Sept and you can follow #TeamRwanda (above) here http://cwbblogs.com/rwanda13/