2023-11-07 16:35:34
AO Update:
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen
I am conscious that October and November are especially busy times, however, I wanted to acknowledge some of the main events. Firstly the Trafalgar Parade in London was a triumph and the Southern Area Cadets and staff attached to the Guard and Band should be extremely proud of their performance. It was a great day, the sun was shining and the parade and subsequent march down the Mall was very special. Thank you to all staff for supporting the cadets during the training period in Kent and during the day itself in London. There were also numerous Trafalgar Parades around the Area during Oct, which simply highlights and reinforces the important and vital links we have with the Royal Navy’s customs and traditions.
During Oct was also the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award expeditions on Dartmoor. I am aware of the planning and pre-exped visits that are required to ensure the route is both challenging and safe, however, Dartmoor in October is a challenge in itself and the weather certainly did not disappoint. Very well done to all cadets for achieving this most prestigious element of the award and thank you to all staff for enabling this to occur within the Southern Area.
The Lord Lieutenant Awards are in full swing at the moment and well done to all recipients of Meritorious Service Certificates and especially to new Lord Lieutenant Cadets. I look forward to attending the Kent awards on Thursday and Southern Area has been very well represented at all 8 award ceremonies this year. BZ.
Well done also to cadets from Hampshire Units who attended the Connaught Cadet Challenge at HMS Sultan at the end of October. Meeting up with cadets from the ACF, ATC, VCC and Police is always extremely interesting as we can see how other forces work and engage in some of their specialist fields. The Sea Cadets shared the overall winning position which was a great outcome for a very entertaining day.
Last weekend 2 Petty Officer Cadet (POC) promotion boards and 3 Leading Cadet (LC) promotion boards were held at St Martins Plain Camp and Folkestone Unit in Kent. Once again the weather was truly shocking for much of the weekend, causing traffic issues and changes to the training plan. As you will see from the Facebook photos, there are numerous staff attending and thank you for giving yet another weekend in the autumn to achieve cadet success. It remains astonishing to other Areas that we can support over 20 POC promotions and over 30 LC promotions. This is down to the support and dedication you offer your cadets within your units to prepare, and to the staff for enabling the promotion board process, thank you.
Well done to the shooting teams and the First Aid teams who all did extremely well during recent competitions. It is really encouraging to see Shooting back as a skill that cadets really want to engage in, well done ASO Shooting. Well done especially to the First Aid teams who won the final competition of the year which has enabled Southern Area to win the Peter Riley Trophy for 2023. This is the first official year it has been awarded since 2019, due to COVID, therefore, it is especially great to win. Thank you to all staff and volunteers who have participated in all competitions which started with Football in Jan 2023. This will be presented to SA at the Area Conference.
Finally I wanted to inform you that the process of returning all the Parade Purpose Weapons and Cadet Small Bore Target Rifles (.22) to DSG Donnington has started. Wessex, Central and Sussex have been moved, Surrey, Berkshire, Ox & Bucks next week and E/W Kent and the Channel Islands shortly afterwards. I fully understand this has been a disappointment to you, but with work and discussions ongoing, we must firstly ensure we are completely MoD compliant and reduce current risk. Secondly, it is vital that we offer a fair and even sea cadet experience across the whole Area. Neither are possible at the moment. It is hoped that once the current project is complete, and full compliancy has been achieved, Parade Purpose weapons will be available for units who want to use them.
As you can see it has been an extremely busy period and will continue to be so until Christmas. The 1SL cadet selection process this Saturday, Remembrance parades on Sunday and the Area Swimming Gala next Sunday and the Area Volunteer Conference on Saturday 25th are just some events ahead. Thank you for making all these possible and I look forward to seeing some of you at the various events ahead, especially the Conference.
Warmest Regards
Trevor Price
Trevor W Price
Commander Royal Navy
Area Officer, Southern Area Sea Cadets
