The Pocklingtonian 2017/2018 | Page 38

CCF// REPORT REPORT Following the retirement of Wing Commander Mike Evans, Captain Samantha Cheadle was appointed as Contingent Commander from September 2017. Once again, the Contingent has had a very busy year and our Senior NCO team, ably led by Cadet CSM Harry Heywood and Colour Sergeant Katherine Fuller, have more than risen to the challenge. BIENNIAL INSPECTION 2018 Group Captain Nick Tucker-Lowe visited the Contingent in May as our Inspecting Officer. After starting the day with a Ceremonial Guard Parade, he toured through an afternoon of training activities and had plenty of opportunity to talk tour cadets too. It was a fabulous day; the cadets were a true credit to their Contingent and their School. THE ARMY SECTION With a strong, engaged set of Fourth Year recruits, the Army section has been able to develop its teaching programme by; strengthening its Field craft and Skill at Arms training, rewriting the Map and Compass syllabus and the addition of survival training has proven very popular. We have also found time to fire on the Ranges at Strensall and carry out our blank firing exercise too. Every cadet has worked hard with enthusiasm, embracing the opportunity to venture out of their comfort zone. In April, ten Fourth year cadets took part in the Welbeck Cadet STEM Leadership competition. The weekend was designed to test the initiative, communication and teamwork skills of the team of cadets. We participated with true Pock determination and enthusiasm, and dominated several 36 THE POCKLINGTONIAN stands including the orienteering and obstacle course. Sixty teams applied to take part in the weekend and out of the twenty-three that were selected, we finished in third place. What an achievement! Our 2017/18 Fifth Year NCO Cadre Training Programme has been very successful and we have a strong set of leaders who will join our current Lower Sixth Cadets in leading and organising the Fourth year training next year. The Overnight Cadre Exercise took place in March and was the highlight of the year for our Fifth Year and Upper Sixth Cadets. Cadet Head of Army 2017/18: Charlotte Tucker-Lowe THE RAF SECTION It has been another good year for cadets in the RAF section. All RAF section cadets will have had the opportunity to experience the thrills of powered flying at least once this year with some having three flights. We continue to have good opportunities to shoot both small bore on our indoor tube range and full bore (LS98) at Strensall ranges. Highlights of our Summer Camp at RAF Inskip were visits to 100 Sqn and Reduce to Replace at RAF Leeming and a visit to BAE Systems Warton (No22), as well as trips to Go Ape Tree Top Adventure, Rivington and Blackpool! Having competed at the RAF College Cranwell Eastern Area annual ground training competition in November for many years, AST INSKIP proved a new challenge for our cadets. Although we sent a fairly inexperienced team we were glad to have competed and pleased to have acquitted ourselves well in some areas, notably the drill competition. We have also visited 645 Volunteer Gliding Squadron (VGS) at RAF Topcliffe. As part of our training, cadets used three fully functioning Grob vigilant cockpits to carryout synthetic flying training, putting the classroom theory into practice with VGS instructors. Our cadets completed the Cadet Aviation Familiarisation Course and have since, gain their full blue or bronze wings. Cadet Head of RAF 2017/18: Louisa Cullen