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District Drill Comp 14/2/10
Well done to the very small Armed Guard team today who took part in the Drill comp. Although they were only 8 Cadets in our team when most other competing Units had 13 in their teams, we came a very creditable 2nd.
Our Guard Commander was also pleased when his 2nd place was announced.
For many reasons our team had not had the chance to train as much as they wanted to, so the result was a surprise.
Some of our Cadets will now join up with Oxford to make a full team for the Area Competition next month.
Photos to follow
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Unit Calendar
Here is a calendar of events, competitions and courses that are happening this year. There are more national courses avaiable,(please see the Sea Cadet Headquarters website for them)but this shows Unit events and District courses available to our Cadets and Staff. More events will be added as they are organised so please check back for changes.
Unit Calendar
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SABS 5/7th Feb 2010
We sent 2 members of staff and 2 Cadets away to Southern Area Boat Station to get some training and qualifications in both power and pulling boats. They all had a good weekend and came home with some new quals and a couple of old ones refreshed.
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TS Royalist
There are some places available on TS Royalist for weeks in March 2010, you need to be 13.5 years old and have a valid passport. You will get a lot out of a trip like this and have good fun. The cost is £240 and some bursaries may be available, If you are interested please let Admin know very Soon.
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Abingdon Christmas lights, 5-12-09
The Mayor of Abingdon, Pat Hobby, asked our Band to lead the parade through Abingdon for the ceremony to turn on the Christmas Lights. The Parade was made up of many members of other local groups and clubs, who all then waited outside the County Hall for Kate Garraway to flick the important switch.
After the Lights had been lit we all played more music in the town centre and collected donations towards the boat trailer.
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Taranto Night November 2009
We were again asked to play for the Officers of RAF Brize Norton at their Taranto Night Dinner. We arrived and got ready in the foyer of the Officers Mess and played for about 30 minutes. All the recent practice payed off as the Band played very well indeed and were paid many compliments on the night. After playing for a while longer the Band members were fed and evening meal of hot-dogs and chips, followed by absolutely wonderful toffee muffins!
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Remembrance Day 2009
On Sunday 8th November we took part in the Remembrance Day Parade in Abingdon. As usual we joined many cadets and other groups in the Town to remember the Fallen in all wars. There were representatives from the Royal Logistics Corps, the Air Training Corps, the Army Cadets, the Royal British Legion, the Combined Cadet Force from a local school, the Scouts, Guides, St Johns, there was also a fly-past by the RAF Volunteer Gliding Squadron.
We had a few new Juniors in our squad and we were very pleased with their performance on the day.
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Poppy Selling
This year we are helping the British Legion with selling Poppies for Remembrance Day. We are helping with this on the 2 Saturdays before November 8th 2009. Although we only had one Cadet available for the first day of selling we should have more there next week. Our cadet decided that she would relax the usual rivalry with the Army Cadets and joined forces with their only cadet present.
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Swimming comp Sept 09
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Last night 7 Cadets went and represented our Unit in the District Swimming Competition. They did well and came home with a First place and two Second places. It was a long night out but it was good fun and a chance to make friends with other Cadets from other Units.
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Moving the Viking
After being damaged in the floods two years ago, we were then told that our lovely Viking was being scrapped. So for almost a year it languished on a trailer suffering. Sadly the trailer also suffered and was deemed unsafe to move. We had a shock phone call at the beginning of 2009 telling us that the Viking was due to be inspected and that it was not being scrapped after all. As you can inagine the report showed that it needed a lot of work doing, and if we were to use it this year, it needed doing fairly quickly. Luckily one of our Civilian Instructors is a very practical and knowledgeable man and he started work immediatly. The work was done over the next 4-5 months and then we had to arrange swapping the trailers over. Thankfully, our local Jewsons have big lifting lorries and very helpful staff and they came and lifted the Viking, while we swapped the trailers over. So now we can again use our Viking on the river to train the Cadets.
We would like to thank Stewart for all his hard work on the boat, and Paul and Damon at Jewsons for making it possible to launch the Viking. Our thanks also go to anyone else who helped sand, clean, paint and tow the Viking during its long period of life away from the water.
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Area Paddlesports, July 2009
We were lucky that all 6 in our team were chosen to represent the Unit and the District at the Area competition last weekend. All 6 worked very hard and did well in their races. We came home with one bronze medal and we helped the district come 3rd overall on the day.
It was a good chance to meet up with Cadets from other units all over the south and either make new friends or chat to old ones.
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District Canoeing Regatta 14-06-09
6 of our cadets took part in the regatta held at Farmoor, it was a long day out but was good fun and made even better by our success on the water. Overall we came first in 5 races and second in 2. Each team member came home with a medal and tired muscles! Some of the Cadets will now go forward to represent our Unit at Area next month. Our thanks go to Mrs Best and her friend Charlie for all the training they gave the Cadets.
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Day out on HMS Tracker
Some of our Cadets were offered the chance to go with Oxford Unit on HMS Tracker for the day. They went down to Portsmouth and were then taken on board and taken out into the Solent. They all had a go at "driving" the patrol boat and had a few attempts to rescue a "man overboard" apparently not very successfully! They all had a great day and our thanks go to Oxford for sharing this opportunity.
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Fundraising at Millets
The Band played at Millets on Sunday 7th June, the weather had been forcast as very wet but it did not rain at all until after we had gone home, so we felt very lucky. The Band played for most of the time we were at Millets and again felt lucky and grateful to the audience, who during the day gave us about £287. Thank you to all that gave and we hope you enjoyed the music.
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New Management Team for the Unit
The Unit has not had a fully functioning Management Team for some time, but that all changed in early June 2009. An Emergency General Meeting was held and a new team has been formed. We all hope the new skills, ideas and enthusiasm brought to the Unit by this team will be of great benefit to all the Cadets.
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More qualifications for Cadets
Recently 4 of our Cadets went away for two weekends to Area training courses. They worked long hours but had good fun and made new friends. By the end of the courses we have a Cadet with a new First Class Seamanship qualification, a 2nd Class First Aider, a 2nd Class Cook/steward and a 2nd Class communicator.
Well done to you all.
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District Pipe and Drill Competition 22-02-09
Well done to Team Marlborough!
It was a long day out but we were so happy that our Piping team came first in the District Piping competition,the piping team only had very little notice that they were entering and so pulled together very well and came home with the top prize in that part of the days events.
Leading Cadet Hargreaves won the Best Guard Commander and the team that she commanded came a close second to the Oxford team in the Armed Guard Drill competition. LC Hargreaves has put in a huge amount of training with the squad and all the cadets wish to thank her for her dedication.
We would also like to congratulate all the Cadets on their very good behaviour throughout the day, even though they had to wait a long time before doing their display.
WELL DONE
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Cadets gain qualifications
Just before Christmas 3 Cadets went away for the weekend and came back with Third Class qualifications as Cook/Stewards. Last weekend another 5 cadets went away to the Unit at Milton Keynes and also came back with more qualifications. Abingdon Unit now has another 4 Third Class Marine engineers (2 of them girls) and another Piper. Well done to all cadets.
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Shooting Competition 11-01-2009
Well, Christmas is over and we are straight back into the work. We took part in the Shooting competition and although we did not win, we did not do badly. We have to thank Sgt Pedge from the ATC who helped our Cadets with the training and gave up his time at short notice for us.
We are now training for the Drill competition in February.
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Millets, 20th December 2008
We would like to thank Millets Farm Centre for allowing us to go back today. The Band spent the majority of 3 hours playing and collecting money from an audience who seemed to enjoy the music, we raised £449 for the Unit and have plans to spend some of this on getting one of the Bell Lyres refurbished.
We were very lucky that the weather was dry and really quite warm. The Commanding Officer and his Wife dropped by to see us, and the Christmas spirit must have been evident as he bought each of the Cadets there a little Xmas gift!
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Abingdon Xmas Extravaganza 25-11-08
Our band took part in the Parade for the turning on of the Christmas Lights in Abingdon on a chilly but dry Tuesday evening. The town has some new decorations this year and many of the shops stayed open late for shoppers to enjoy. Many local clubs were involved in the evenings celebrations and had stalls or took part in the Parade. Sadly my camera was not good enough to take decent photos, but here is one of the Cadets relaxing just before the lights were turned on.
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Bag packing, Didcot, 22-11-08
Bag packing is a good way for our Cadets to raise money for the Unit, so last Saturday 15 of our Cadets spent a few hours at a local supermarket offering to help customers with their shopping. They did brillianty and raised about £600 for the Unit's funds. Thank you to everyone that helped.
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Taranto Night, 20-11-08
We were asked to play at RAF Brize Norton as entertainment before the Taranto Night Dinner. The Cadets played in the foyer and were then Marched into a large room where we played some more before all the guests went in to dinner. After that we were taken into another room where the Cadets were given a selection of food and drinks before being bussed home.
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District Football comp, 16th Nov 2008
Well today we took part in the 5-a-side Football competition, we entered a junior girls and a junior boys team, both teams played very well and with good spirit. It was quite a long day out with the boys playing in five matches and the girls in 4. Sdaly the last game for the boys sealed their fate as coming 4th in their group, the girls did well by coming second, and Amy was awarded cadet of the match! Well done to all who took part.
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Remembrance Day, November 9th 2008
Every year our Cadets take part in the Remembrance Day ceremony in Abingdon, this year we Paraded 22 Cadets on the Day, 15 of these were in a very fragile state having been to London the previous day to take part in the Lord Mayor's Show. While in London the Cadets uniforms had been soaked by the downpour of rain, so it is even more to their credit that all uniforms had been dried and pressed in time for the Parade. Our Abingdon Mayor's Cadet, OC Younge, had a part to play in the Town's Civic wreath laying, and the current Lord Lieutenant's Cadet LC Hargreaves laid the wreath on behalf of the Unit.
LC Best carried the Sea Cadet Corps Standard as part of the Standard Bearers Party.
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Lord Mayor's Show, 8th November 2008
Well, what a wonderful, but very wet day out. Our band, together with the Cadets in Kettering Sea Cadet Band, formed the band for this years Lord Mayor's Show in London. We all met at London Wall in the morning and waited for our turn in the Parade. The atmosphere amongst the 6000 performers was very friendly and relaxed and everyone was stood chatting to those near them. While we waited under the bridge the rain was quite light, but 10 minutes before our time to march, it started raining much heavier. We watched much of the Parade go past before it was our turn to join in, and off we went! There was a good audience along the whole length of the route and they were enthusiastic with their support. The rain kept falling and we kept playing, before long we were all drenched but we just did not care. It was fun to play in a band twice our normal size and we learnt a couple of new tunes along the way. At the halfway point we were all given a very welcome lunch as we all sheltered from the rain which was now very heavy. We then formed up on Victoria Embankment ready for the march back. We played the whole way back without a break. Towards the end many of the Cadets were showing signs of great tiredness, but they carried on, only stopping as they turned into the Smithfield Market area where the coaches were parked.
After a small time rubbing strained muscles and wringing out gloves, the Cadets packed away and boarded the coach for home. At first the noise levels were high as they chatted about the day but they gradually quietened as they fell asleep after having eaten the contents of Admin's rucksack!
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Millets Farm 2nd November 2008
16 of our Cadets went to Millets Farm Centre today to raise money. 11 of the Cadets were in the band and they played their socks off for about 3 hours of the 4 we were there. We did allow them a few small breaks, during these times most of them raided the Farm shop for the sticky buns! The cadets not playing were collecting donations from the very generous audience at the Centre and enjoyed chatting to people. The weather had luckily warmed up a lot and we were only dampened by the slightest drizzle. During our time there we raised about £400, a much needed sum of money as we have a few repairs to pay for on a Drum and a Bell Lyre.
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Abingdon Marathon, 19th Oct 2008
Sadly none of us had the strength or stamina to enter ourselves, but we did man a water station on this event.
Our water station was at the halfway point on the first circuit or the 23 mile point on the second circuit. About 14 of us helped out and handed out water, squash and jelly babies to the brave and determined runners.
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Royal Navy Parade, 14th October 2008
Well we were so lucky with the weather, it stayed dry and was not too cold, so we were able to hold the Parade outside. Our Inspecting Officer, Cdr A Giles,RN attended the Parade and chatted to all of the Cadets during the inspection, for one of them it was only her second night with us! The Unit paraded twenty four Cadets altogether, some have only been with us a short time and one had only just had his 10th birthday!
The Band did their routine and played very well. Our Youngest Band member did a small drum solo and the whole Band were pleased with the way the display worked. After the Band, the other Cadets rounded up some "volunteers" to take part in a piping exercise. At Evening Colours Cdr Giles handed out badges awarded to some Cadets after gaining qualifications in canoeing, he also handed out badges tomembers of the Band's corps of drums.
After the official part of the evening the audience were invited to join the Staff and VIPs for drinks and a bite to eat. Many of the parents then admired the photo displays of the Unit's activities over the past year, and chatted to the Cadets and Staff for some time at the end of the evening.
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Trafalgar Day Parade, Aylesbury, 12th October 2008
This year our District Trafalgar Day Parade was hosted by Aylesbury Unit. We took many of our Cadets to be in this Parade, we had 7 Cadets in the guard and another 6 in the squads. We also had 3 New Entries in the squad, it was their first proper Cadet event and they all did very well. After inspection by Cpt N Roberts RN we all marched through Aylesbury to the Church and then after the Service we marched back to the Civic Centre for a bite to eat. It was a good chance to meet up with friends from other local Units and to mark the importance of the Battle of Trafalgar.
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Day out on the CNS Condell
Cadets from TS Marlborough were invited to spend the day on the Ex HMS Marlborough, now the Chilean Naval Ship Almirante Condell. They embarked at Portsmouth early in the morning and spent the day sailing on the ship out towards the French coast and back to Portland for the evening.
It was an eventful day for the Cadets, they were allowed in most parts of the ship, including the Bridge and the Helicopter bay. Unfortunately the part of the ship they became most familiar with was the Sick-Bay. The chosen day had the worst weather for months and the Cadets endured heavy rain and up to Force 8 gales.
Cadets made many friends onboard (especially the medical team)and were taught some Spanish.
The day ended in more excitement when the Tug that was meant to pull the ship into Harbour did not turn up and there was some possibility that the Cadets may have to spend the night onboard. They were eventually rescued by the Harbour Pilot ship and brought ashore at 9pm, much to the relief of the support team who still had to drive home...a 3 hour trip!
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Bag packers raise useful Funds
One of our local supermarkets has helped us out again by allowing 10 of our Cadets to pack customers bags on a recent Friday evening. It was a good evening and together we raised about £330. This money will come in very useful and will pay for the signwriting on our new Minibus.
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Mayor aided with sponsored ascent of Wittenham Clumps
On the 27th July 2008 the Mayor of Abingdon, Pat Lonergan, did a sponsored Ascent of Wittenham Clumps. His aim was to walk up and down a section of the Clumps as many times as he could in 5 hours. He was joined for some of the day by his Cadet, OC Harry Younge who did the climb 7 times before flagging in the baking hot sunshine. Some of our other Cadets also helped with keeping the Mayor supplied with fresh water and keeping a tally of the climbs. As yet I do not know the Mayors final number of ascents, but he was on his 15th when we had to leave. Our congratulations go to him and his support team as it was a hard challenge done on a very hot and sunny day.
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New Mayor's Cadet
This year OC Harry Younge was nominated to be the Mayor's cadet because of his good track record at the Unit. Harry attends many courses and events and is always helpful. He has been a stalwart at the Unit since his joining at age 11.
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Canoeing at Milton Keynes. 13th May 2008
Our neighbouring Unit at Milton Keynes held a canoeing course for the District, it was aimed at giving experience to the Cadets taking part and hopfully allowing the Cadets to gain qualifications in Canoeing. Two of our Cadets attended this course and had a very tiring but useful time there. Their efforts were assisted by having a familiar face helping with the training as one of our Unit Committee members, Mrs Best, was also an instructor on the course. Both came home with a BCU 1* qualification.
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Three new Cook/Stewards at Abingdon. 27th April 2008
Three of our Cadets attended a Cook/Steward training weekend at Chiltern Unit this weekend. They all came home with 3rd Class qualifications in the subject. They also made new friends and had good fun. These results will give the cadets points that will go towards gaining the next promotion.
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Cadet passes Leading Hands course. 18-04-08
Able Cadet S. Best returns from HMS Caledonia having passed his Cadet Advancement course. AC Best is a very active and keen member of our unit and was very pleased to come home with this sucess under his belt before sitting his GCSEs over the next couple of months.
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Area Drill Competition. 13th April 2008
This competition was held in Portsmouth a week later than planned. The heavy snow last week had forced a late postponement of the competition and it was re-scheduled for today. Our team was made up of Cadets from Abingdon, Oxford and Banbury units. The Team had suffered from some changes as the new date had meant that some of our experienced Cadets were not able to be there. One very new Cadet found himself in the team with only 48 hours notice, he did an brillianj job in the team. We did not win any prizes at this event, but we all had a good and long day out, finished by a welcome visit to a fast food emporium on the way home!
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Clubs & Societies Day. 5th April 2008
Abingdon Town Council hold a Clubs & Societies Day every 2 years in the Guild Hall. This is a chance for all local groups to show off some of the activities that they offer and to recruit new members. Abingdon Sea Cadets had a stall at this event and we talked to many people throughout the day. The day was also used to spend time polishing belt brasses for the Area Drill Competition tomorrow. We are competing in the Area competition after winning the District heat in February.
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District Drill Competition, 24th February 2008
Today our Drill Team took part in the Drill competition at RAF Halton, it was a beautiful sunny day and made even better when it was announced that we had won the Armed Guard section of the competition. Our Guard Commander Able Cadet Jonny Gower won the Best Guard Commander trophy.
Also at this event it was announced that Abingdon had won the Shooting Competition that was held in January and the certificates and trophies were given out.
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Cadet Mess Dinner. 25th January 2008
Thanks to a lot of hard work by members of our Committee the Main Deck was transformed to provide a large and attractive dining space for our Cadets. A fantastic meal was produced under somewhat challenging circumstances and later in the evening a small award ceremony took place. Mr Preece, our Guest of Honour, was presented with a Waterford Decanter as thanks for all the hard work and devotion he had shown to the unit over the last few years. Other people who have helped were also recognised during the evening and then the Cadets chose the Cadet that they thought showed most promise and was a good friend to all. Chris Ventom was the proud recipient of that award.
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District Shooting Competition. 13th Jan 2008
As in previous years, Abingdon hosted this competition on their Range at the unit. The day as a good chance to catch up with friends from other local units after the Christmas break while competing against them! Initial thoughts are that Abingdon may have won but we have to wait for the results to be verified.
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