Login
I've forgotten my password

Cadets Blog

Posts per page: 3 | 6 | 9 | All
  • SENNELAGAR CAMP, GERMANY BY Sgt Daisy Campbell

    21st August 2018

    39638259_1920209924684507_2488548985250250752_n

    Over the past week I have been visiting Sennelager in Germany with cadets from around the UK. On the first day I visited Wewelsburg castle which used to be known as the SS's HQ, we toured the museum and learnt more about the concentration camps close to the area. I also visited the Mohen dam which was bombed by the dam busters in WW2. The weather conditions throughout the week were perfect for sailing which I enjoyed learning and and also raft building. We also learnt some first aid such as the use of torneques from army soldiers who have toured various countries such as Afghanistan and I also met bomb disposal experts who looked after the training ground. Towards the end of the week we went swimming and visited fort fun, a theme park in Germany with some unusual rides. I thoroughly enjoyed the week and would encourage people to attend this camp next year!

    Author: Bill Relyea

  • CYPRUS CAMP by Sgt N. Barnes

    21st August 2018

    39869087_1923614617677371_861627816045707264_n

    The Cyprus AT summer camp was a brilliant opportunity for myself and Tristan to have new experiences around the Adventure training segment of the air cadets, we got involved in activities such as climbing, high ropes courses, scuba diving, clay pigeon shooting and go karting (which was one of my personal favourites). The 9 full days spent in Cyprus with other cadets across the country allowed Tristan and I to make some new friends, who I was sad to say goodbye to at the end of the week. The camp was excellent value for money as the activities we took part in would be rather a lot if we did them as civilians. We stayed on RAF troodos up in the mountains which was brilliant as it is still a fully functioning RAF station. We had plenty of time to spend at the beach so we could meet new people (and possibly catch a tan!) which I really enjoyed. I highly recommend this camp to other cadets and staff.
    That was just a brief insight to the Cyprus camp and I hope that you will consider applying next year. If you have any questions do ask myself or Tristan at the squadron or via messenger.

    Author: Bill Relyea

  • LASER Marching Band Weekend - by Cdt Newman

    3rd May 2018

    Recently I was selected to play in the LASER Marching Band at RAF Halton. I'm used to playing my trumpet in an orchestra but never thought that I would be marching at the same time! All of our practicing took place in uniform within a huge hangar. The instructors were approachable and kept learning fun.

    george__1_of_3_

    All of the food was really tasty and was just what I needed after a long, eventful day of learning. The accommodation was also great with parties on the second night with disco lights and speakers! Also there were very good supplies for polishing shoes and ironing. Overall it was a great trip and I would strongly recommend it to anyone with any musical skills and decent foot drill.

    george__2_of_3_

    Author: Victoria Ballard

  • Fun 'n Sun Camp Florida by Sgt Campbell

    30th April 2018

    Sgt Oliver Fisher and myself had the fabulous opportunity of attending the annual Sun 'n Fun camp to Lakeland international airport, Florida. 

    30415446_10155395772373085_9023414646289278354_n

    Our duties included marshalling and parking various aircraft around the airfield, selling tickets and attending aviation workshops. 

    31300403_2378677785494364_4458611820629852160_n

    I was even given the opportunity to appear on the local radio station to discuss the ATC and what we do. 

    31344342_2378677952161014_6297771835308113920_n

    After the airshow ended we were then rewarded with a visit to the Kennedy Space Centre, Busch Gardens, Universal Studios and the US Marine Reserves. 

    31337784_2378677738827702_4947091714062942208_n

    It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend cadets to sign up to this camp next year! (age requirement 16).

    31345108_2378677962161013_6170208300139806720_n

    Author: Victoria Ballard

  • Alpine Adventure 2018 by Cdt Newman

    5th March 2018

    The Journey 

    I was apprehensive about going on such a long coach journey. Thankfully it was much better than my school bus with lovely seats and a TV. In no time at all we were sailing across the English Channel, enjoying breakfast en-route to France. Later we woke up to amazing views of frost covered fields whilst snacking on an array of sweets. Slowly the mountains came into view and we arrived at our lodge. 

    Accommodation 

    Our lodge was a retired watermill with the distinctive sound of running water from a huge waterfall. Spread over many levels I enjoyed a warm room all to myself. 

    Skiing 

    Skiing initially started on a small chair lift where practised and were assessed by our ski instructor. Occasionally, we were 'forced' into cafes to enjoy a drink, pancakes and discuss the day. 

    ski1

    Over the following days we got faster and more confident. The days did not pass without incident though, as someone always seemed to fall off a chair lift! 

    As snow conditions improved we learnt to go over moguls and got some decent air! 

    Later in the week we enjoyed complicated black-runs and sped through pine trees. Some days we were skiing at such high altitude that we were above the clouds! 

    Evening Fun 

    There was always lots to do in the evening including: 

    • Bowling. 
    • Swimming - with flumes and a wave machine. 
    • Table tennis. 
    • Playing cards. 
    • And of course huge snowball fights! Food 

    We were never left hungry with lots of Nutella for breakfast and packed lunch. 

    Every evening we enjoyed a warm hearty meal such as dumplings, curry sausages, lasagne and much more. 

    The Final Day 

    On the final day it was raining so unfortunately we could not go skiing. However, we did return to the awesome swimming pool and ate a delicious lunch at a café. After dinner and a debrief we had an early night because of the early start the next day. 

    ski2

    Sad to Leave 

    After a great week of skiing and making friends, I was sad to leave. We are not leaving behind any snow though because it had all melted! I had great fun and learnt a lot about skiing. 

    I would recommend this trip to everyone of all abilities.

    Author: Victoria Ballard

  • IWM Duxford Visit by Cpl Daisy Campbell

    24th February 2018

    After a pit stop at Tesco Riverhead for refuel, we were on our way to Cambridgeshire for a much-anticipated trip to the Imperial War Museum's aircraft collection at Duxford.

    Light traffic meant we arrived right on the 10am opening time and after a briefing from Sgt Hibbins we decided to start at the Airspace exhibit. This is the biggest display, with a range of both British military and civil aircraft. The Vulcan bomber takes pride of place, and we went underneath the aircraft to have a close of view of it's enormous bomb bay.

    We then had a look inside Concorde, and were amazed at how small it was inside, and its tiny windows. The helpful guide inside explained that this one flew faster than any other Concorde! Cpl Hughes, our official photographer for the day was kept busy taking shots for the Squadron's Facebook page. CWO Relyea shed a tear passing the Tornado, as we heard from him that this was the last year the aircraft would be operational with the RAF

    .duxford1

    The time "flew" by, and a quick check of the watch meant that our lunchtime slot at the cafeteria was fast approaching; we had only seen one of the seven exhibits!

    duxford2

    After lunch we decided to head for the American Air Museum which is on the other side of the airfield. The massive Boeing B52 Stratofortress dwarfs all the other aircraft, but most cadets thought the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was the most impressive with its sinister black fuselage. We learnt that the pilots of these aircraft were the elite of the US Air Force, and wore bright orange flying suits to set them apart. An unexpected exhibit was part of the steel structure from the World Trade Centre, recovered after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

    We then had a break from aircraft and headed for the Land Warfare building where we saw how war on the ground changed during the twentieth century, and admired the size of the main battle tanks that were on display. By now time was short, so brief visits to Duxford's original Operations Room and a restoration hangar before our final highlight, the Battle of Britain hangar.

    duxford3

    We arrived just in time for a guided tour, which covered the role of the Royal Observer Corp in WW2, a close look at an anti-aircraft gun and the unsung role of the hurricane. The guide was left reeling after being asked some searching questions from Cadet Penn after the tour, but we reassured him that he had got off lightly! Sgt Hibbins announced that we had 10 minutes in the hangar, so everyone raced over to the Eurofighter Typhoon. CWO Relyea could hardly contain his excitement and amongst other things said this was a first "tranche" delivery aircraft compared to tranche 3 which are the current versions.

    duxford4

    That left just a few minutes to have a look round the gift shop. A few cadets were tempted by the sheepskin flying jackets but the £790 price tag meant that most ended up with a fridge magnetic, a souvenir of a great day out. Thanks to Sgt Hibbins for organising the event just a day before travelling to RAF Cranwell for her Sergeant's course (best of luck Ma'am) and my Dad for piloting the minibus so skilfully.

    Author: Victoria Ballard

  • BURNS NIGHT 2018 by CWO Relyea and Sgt Hamon

    24th January 2018

    BURNS NIGHT 2018 


    fullsizeoutput_7ee7

    On 20th January the cadets attended Hever Castle Golf Club for one of the more formal events of the year. A packed room enjoyed the meal and entertainment, and this blog includes two of the formal speeches. In the age old tradition, a toast is made to the Lassies, and a response is given. Here are those speeches, and Im sure that Burns himself would approve.

    TOAST TO THE LASSES

    By Bradley Relyea

    Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls,...... Bridel.

    Don't expect a good Scottish accent out of me, my range of vocals goes from talking, to drill.

    This is my 4th burns night, and still no one could convince me to wear a kilt, despite how 'freeing' everyone says it is.

    I just don't see the appeal, maybe a lass could explain this to me, as I can see that skirts and dresses are very fashionable, but seem so unnatural and restricting. Not even mentioning how expensive they are.

    They're always trying to fit into one size smaller, or trying to squeeze back into the one they already have, and this comes down to their eating habits. At the dinner table the lasses are different creatures. The common phrases of, 'The diet starts Monday' and 'Just one more glass of wine' just to name a couple.

    Even if they are strict to their diets, stealing off your plate doesn't count as calories... apparently! This happens so often that I had to introduce a rule with Josephine, stating that she can't ask me open questions at the table, because while I'm answering she's stuffing her face full of my pudding.

    In the Air Cadets we are lucky to have the involvement of many women. Females have only been allowed in the cadets since the early 1980's, and have since grown in numbers and are vital members as both staff and cadets. In addition, let us not forget our female Air Commodore.

    Burns constantly argued that women were intellectually and socially superior.

    Intellectually lasses are much like dolphins, they are smart, funny, and sleek. It's incredible in only a couple short weeks a dolphin can train a man to stand at the side or a pool and throw fish at them.

    They also outclass us socially; you can see this at any bar or pub. When you observe a lot of women chatting together, lots of words are said and that's hard to keep up as a man.

    What man does know, the three fastest means of communication, telephone, television, tell a woman!

    Whereas men are polar opposites. 20 minutes at a bar with a pint in their hands, and the only thing said is 'can you pass the peanuts'.

    In the end Burns loved his women and so should we, after all they give us happiness, good health and joyous company.

    In his words.

    To see her is to love her,
    and love but her forever,
    for nature made her what she is,
    and never made another.

    Lads can you please stand with me to toast the lasses.

    The Lasses!

    REPLY TO THE TOAST TO THE LASSES

    by Josephine Hamon

    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    It falls to me, your allocated Lassie for this evening, to take up the challenge of replying to Brad's toast. Unfortunately I now have to lower the tone and talk about men - not that I'm in any way suggesting those two things might go hand in hand.

    When it comes to women, men are clueless. I recently found the perfect example of how clueless they can be.

    I asked Brad to get the mayonnaise out of the fridge, a reasonably simple task I thought, he stood in front of the fridge for a good 5 minuets looking for the mayonnaise before coming back and saying that he couldn't find it, I go and look in the fridge and the mayonnaise is in the center of the middle shelf, this just perfectly sums up how oblivious men are, they can't see things when they are right in front of them.

    This is where Burns differs, he could see all the hints that women drop and used them fully to his advantage. His poems show a deeper understanding of women that all the men I know put together. Maybe this is why he was able to father 12 children by 4 women in 13 years, half of which were illegitimate, if that's not impressive I don't know what is.

    According to a study modern men use 7000 words a day, most of those words are uh huh, no, what, dinner and where's my keys? The remaining 6,992 are just words for boobs!

    There just isn't any small talk when talking to men. As women we find this very frustrating as we think that you are just not listening, we try to talk to you and all we get is: yes, no, what?

    But now that I've read this study I understand, it's not that you're not listening, it's just that you've used up all your words. You've got 7000 words a day and that's it. There are just no more words left.

    Women, according to this study, use 24,000 words a day. We use language as a reward. If we like you we talk to you, if we don't, we blank you.

    The first area of conflict between men and women comes when a women stops talking and goes off in a huff. She withdraws language, and men... well you don't notice for 3 days! You just think its lovely and quiet. While she's going mad from the silence.

    But the theory that Robert Burns could bridge that gap of language between men and women still holds true today.

    Any man that could write-

    'had we never loved so blindly,

    had we never loved so kindly

    never loved and never parted

    we would ner be broken hearted. ....

    and countless other beautiful poetry is someone you lads could learn a lesson from.

    For all their shortcomings, we women couldn't get along without men. So please, raise your glasses

    To the Lads.

    Author: Bill Relyea

  • Official Remembrance Day Parade at the Menin Gate in Ypres by Sgt Winkett

    23rd November 2017

    Four cadets from Sevenoaks joined 30 other cadets from LASER to participate in the Official Remembrance Day Parade at the Menin Gate in Ypres.

    We paraded through the streets of Ypres alongside cadets and military personnel from Canada, Scotland, Belgium, India and the London Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade. The service of Remembrance was held in the Menin Gate in the presence of HRH The Princess Royal. It was a very moving service and during the two minutes' silence, poppy petals fell from the ceiling.

    We took part in the Last Post Ceremony which takes place every day of the year to commemorate those who lost their lives during the First World War. We paraded through the streets of Ypres up to the Menin Gate accompanied by the bands of London Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and Pipes and Drums.

    We visited the war graves cemeteries at Tyne Cot and Passchendale where we were shown the grave of the only soilder to have been awarded the VC Medal twice in the same war Captain N.G. Chavasse from the Royal Army Medical Corps. We visited the Trenches Museum where we could exprience some of the harsh realities of life in the trenches.

    This trip has made me fully appricate the sacrifices of so many men so that we can live in peace.

    Sgt Kathryn Winkett

    fb_img_1510606724270

    Author: Victoria Ballard

Page 1 of 1

Powered by Conceptulise CMS