AN adventure weekend at Holcombe Training Camp near Bolton was not for the light hearted - as workers from British Aerospace and British Nuclear Fuels found out.

They walked for miles and raced over moors, as they took part in a series of challenges set up by the local Territorial Army unit to test their team spirit and leadership skills.

At one point they had just 20 minutes to build a raft from logs and jerrycans, and get a six-man team and supplies across the water.

And they had to fix a wheel on to a trailer and haul it 100 metres to a checkpoint.

At the end of the weekend, Colonel Mike Shearman, of the Fourth Queen's Lancashire Regiment based at Kimberley Barracks in Deepdale, was impressed by their efforts: "There was a huge range of physical capabilities and experience, but the teams really came together and got on with it."

John Chippendale, 32, from Leyland, a member of the winning team, said: "We won because we were a team," he said: "We were one man down so we had to put extra effort in.

"But we enjoyed it immensely."

BAe boss Phil Blundell attended the presenprize-givingtation, along with Gary Hewins of BNFL.

Mr Blundell said: "It gave some of the younger workers the chance to develop leadership skills."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.