All of the tasks and their results count towards a new badge for their brassard, the Pre-DofE badge which is designed to introduce the Duke of Edinburgh scheme to the cadets.

Heres a look into how the cadets got on!

On Sunday the 8th November we will all be gathering at the War Memorial in West Bridgford to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts.
Please spare half an hour of your time to join us, or pause for a momment of silence at 11am.

For the Fallen
Robert Laurence Binyon, by artist William Strang.
Laurence Binyon
Poem by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), published in The Times newspaper on 21st September 1914.

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

A fantastic effort from all and we even managed to bring home some medals!

Hopefully they can bring home some medals!!

Two Cadets from Nottinghamshire Army Cadet Force (ACF) and the Air Training Corps (ATC) have been honoured for their dedication to the youth organisations by being appointed ‘Mayor’s Cadet’.

Recently, 6 cadets from 209 (West Bridgford) Squadron joined together with cadets from 138 (1st Nottingham), 504 (West Nottingham) and 2425 (Nottingham Airport) to go flying at RAF Cranwell.

After our safety video, the first lot of flyers took to the sky. Although the weather wasn’t too bad it was unfortunately, a little cloudy, which meant we couldn’t do aerobatics, however we all still got the wonderful chance fly.

I had the opportunity to study the map and navigate from one city to another while the pilot ‘sat back and watched’ – it’s such a great experience and anybody who’s not been before should definitely get their names down!

Cadet Hasnain Kapasi, who was a first time flyer said “my first time flying was the most incredible experience of my life! To be able to take control of an aircraft, which is something I never thought I’d do! The pilot that took me up into the sky was the nicest and greatest person I have ever met. To see England far below my feet so clearly was just amazing! I would encourage everyone to go flying as it was certainly, the most fantastic experience ever!”

#LookingFine209 #SEMWwhoweare #WhatWeDo

The focus over the past two months has been on training.  This is currently split down two avenues; with the West Bridgford Detachment of Nottinghamshire ACF, who we proudly share our superb new building with, and also multi-Squadron activities enabling us to spread our wings outside of the West Bridgford bubble!

Joint Service Training

Firstly I have to congratulate all the Cadets, Civilian Committee and Staff of 209 on a superbly successful Annual Formal Inspection [here].  This was my first one in charge of a Unit and it was a very proud moment.  The evening consisted of an inspection of the Squadron from Wing Commander then followed into a display of what training with 209 is all about.  This was our opportunity to show how well we work with the ACF!  The activities on show were a lecture to the NCOs on the roles of commanders within a platoon in the field, various leadership exercises focusing on different Army and RAF ranks and finally a multiple flight simulator experience of both a “sit in” simulator and a UAV simulator. Here I must say that the ACF’s flying skills were surprisingly good, we better start upping our game!

The Wing Commander has asked me to pass on his congratulations to the Squadron and offered some wise words on how to continue pushing the Squadron forwards to be the best in the Wing over the coming years; the challenge has been set!

Councillor Purdue-Horan, the Mayor of Rushcliffe, along with the Mayoress visited us all in West Bridgford and inspected both Units stood together on parade in a formal inspection [here].  This was a great opportunity to show off what we can do in the Cadet Forces and how productive our Joint Forces approach to training is. I am also getting very excited about making a very special announcement in the next couple of weeks, so watch this space!

We have also been making the most of the Great British Summer by playing a variety of different sports with the ACF and we are very grateful to staff from both Units for making this happen. They Cadets always seem to have a great time!

Multi-Squadron Activities

The Great Central Railway is a Britain’s only mainline steam railway and runs from Birstall to Loughborough.  Every year they host a WWII weekend where re-enactors  come together for a huge public weekend display of history. 209 helped out with the successful running event and in particular we took part in the act of homage on Sunday afternoon where thousands of poppies were dropped from an aircraft overhead. Have a look at the photos below!

Awards & Promotions

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Sgt Brock has no only successfully passed the selection process at RAFC Cranwell’s Officer & Aircrew Selection Centre, but has also completed her Initial Officer Training and had been awarded the rank of Pilot Officer.  This is a superb achievement.  But don’t panic because I also got promoted to Flight Lieutenant so she isn’t catching me up just yet!

Each year Loughborough University open up nominations for the TS Shipman prize which is awarded to a University student who has developed relationships between the University and the local community.  As the old Training Officer at 2229 (Loughborough) I was pleased to see the staff, who were students at the University, fulfilling this criteria so naturally I put the nomination in.  The award is internal to the University so you must be a student of staff there to nominate and it was superb to hear that they won! For the full story see here, well done!

And finally…

We have a media star among us, Cdt Kapasi featured on BBC’s The One Show where he wore his uniform in a family competition. You did the Corps proud!

Wing Field Day is over and the results are in. We are still near the bottom, but better than last year. I think the excuse that we didn’t have a building to train in is justified but no excuses next year. We’re going for top 10, ambitious but achievable!

You may have seen from other posts that Fieldcraft and “Military Skills and Tactics” is starting to gain momentum [here, here and here].  As a Squadron we will be grasping this with both hands, harnessing my qualifications along with the experience of our new Service Instructor, Cpl McCallum RAF.

There is so much more not covered here, but I hope this gives you the inspiration to support the Squadron, Cadets and Staff!

Regards

Simon Howroyd
Flight Lieutenant
Officer Commanding
209 (West Bridgford) Squadron

This week saw our Squadron Commander supervise and teach on a blank firing and pyrotechnics exercise with Cadet observers under his secondary position as an instructor on the Central & East Small Arms Training Team.

Last month OC209 qualified a number of staff from Warwick and Birmingham Wing Shooting and Fieldcraft Training Team (WABSAFT) as exercise assistants, allowing them to act as the equivalent of safety supervisors that we are used to on ranges [look here]. This then enabled WABSAFT to enhance their fieldcraft training by advancing Cadets onto learning the Six Section Battle Drills, including a demonstration run by those WABSAFT staff. This was a first within the Region, as military skills and tactics are a new addition to our syllabus.

Not only was the Cadets and Staff morale high after such an exciting demonstration, they are all hopeful that they will be able to progress onto this exciting new training on a more advanced camp next year.

I, too, am delighted to hear that the exercise was so successful. I am equally buoyed to learn that there are plans for next year that involve building on the skills learned/observed during this.
In the same vein it is wonderful to hear that cadet and staff morale was judged to be at the upper end of the scale. When that happens it makes me smile, simply because we are getting it right and folk are having a good time. Please pass my personal thanks to the staff that made it happen. – Gp Capt Gorman – Exercise Director

It is reassuring to see the effort produced an enjoyable and safe activity. – Sqn Ld Fox – Senior Planning Officer

Well done to all of WABSAFT for a highly professional, safe and exciting camp. This is an exemplary way of combining two of the thirteen Air Cadet Core activities into training the Cadets and Staff can be proud of.

Flt Lt Howroyd
Instructor3
Central & East Small Arms Training Team

The week consisted of learning rifle drill in the mornings and preparing for the final parade in front of reviewing officer Air Commodore McCafferty, Commandant Air Cadets at the end of the week at RAF Honington. The afternoons were more relaxed with activities including paintball and archery, allowing for the flights to get to know each other better. 

FS Grace McDonald

Training courses for the L98A2 service rifle are few and far between at the moment so it gives me great pleasure in announcing that one staff and two Cadets from 2195 (Long Eaton) Sqn successfully completed their training and weapon handling test this weekend, provided by our OC and hosted at 1360 (Stapleford) Sqn. A fantastic joint effort of co-operation amongst Nottingham Squadrons in the Wing.

The three students are attending the upcoming Drill and Ceremonial camp where they will be taught arms drill and have the opportunity to live fire on the range.

Good luck and make the most of your new qualification!

OC209