Before spending a day learning all that it is to be an army cadet, a venture of this sort never appealed to me, even in my earlier years. 

In my head, joining the cadets meant being shouted at to perform various physical tasks whilst forced to wear uncomfortable matching uniforms. Despite being an avid gym-goer, I'm not a fan of group exercise, and I've never fully engaged in any team sport. 

I can now safely say that I was completely wrong to have these assumptions. It became clear to me very early on whilst participating in the day of activities at Frimley Park that the real essence of being an army cadet, simply, is to have fun. 

We started off the day with an introductory talk on cadets all across the UK. I learned that there are thousands of young people taking part across the country, and despite previously thinking that this was an organisation setting up youngsters for a career in the army, a relatively small percentage of those who join decide to go into the forces. 

Speaking directly to Brigadier Gary McDade, the deputy commander of cadets, he said that their aim is absolutely not to coax young people into a career in the army. 

"This is really about setting the youth of today up for lifelong success," he said. "We are an MOD sponsored military-themed youth organisation and at our core is teaching the cadets values and standards, communication skills, and resilience.

"A portion of our cadets might go on to serve in the military, but actually the vast majority do not which really does not matter to us. What we want to do is ensure that they are good adults and good citizens from the skills that they learn in the army cadets."

I also found it particularly enlightening to discover that forty percent of cadets are female, week-long summer camps are offered to youngsters at just £50, and young people who are entitled to free school meals do not pay for food when away. 

A fact that Brig McDade made very clear was that they would never see a cadet miss out regardless of their family's finances. 

"Where money might be a barrier, our charitable trust is amazing at helping," he continued. "We work extremely hard to make sure that we are open to all."

Throughout the day we took part in a whole host of fun activities which were led by adults who regularly volunteer their time to instruct the young cadets. 

These activities included building a vehicle to transport a cup of water across an obstacle course (which my team won), practicing drills and commands (both of which I performed in between fits of giggles), and learning about military music. 

"Cadets build the ability to work in teams and they learn valuable skills such as first aid," Brig McDade said. "They are certainly more intuned to their mental and physical wellbeing as a result of the activities we do here."

We ended the day with some high ropes activities which took me back to being on brownie camp over a decade previously. Although I didn't partake in many of the activities (My fear of heights letting me down) I could really see the appeal. 

Despite my previous hesitation and assumption that I would not enjoy a day of being an army cadet, I have to say that I was fervently proved wrong. It was great, and I can see how the things they do are both fun and beneficial to the youngsters. 

Other than the young people involved, the organisation is great for the adult volunteers who are trained at Frimley Park to instruct the cadets. 

Brig McDade said "The adults will come here and learn leadership and management skills. They really enable our cadets to be the best possible versions of themselves, and we believe are better employees as a result"