Giant Sleepover 2010

19th & 20th June 2010.

We have had a fantastic Junior Sea Cadet Giant Sleepover weekend, the best yet.

We met up with Moray Junior Sea Cadets and went swimming in Keith, visited the Buckie Lifeboat 150th Anniversary Gala where we saw round their lifeboat and the Coastguard tied some cadets up, had chips on Cullen links where a wave soaked one lad throwing a stone into the water, played cricket at Duff House park, and learned about lighthouses, morse and flags before sleeping over at the Scottish Lighthouse Museum.

That was only Saturday! Sunday we visited the Macduff Marine Aquarium, the Macduff Lifeboat Station (which is home to the only lifeboat that lives on the back of a lorry, to be launched anywhere), and back to Duff House park for another game of cricket (without the adults cheating this time!).

More pictures in the Gallery

2010 Inverness DAfT weekend

30th Apr - 3rd May 2010
Cadets and staff from all eight Units of Highland District gathered at our Unit on the Friday night for our DAfT (District AFloat Training) weekend. This was the first time all the Units had been together, from as far afield as Orkney, Elgin and Campbeltown and all points in between. This came to over 11,300 miles of travelling!!

Friday night we had classes to prepare us for the courses we would be qualifying in over the weekend. There were a great variety of courses on offer - power boating, sailing, pulling, kayaking and Canadian canoeing.

Lights out was at 2300 but some naughty cadets capered till the early hours, and nearly got sent home!!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for breakfast, Colours, then headed to the Muirtown Basin and Dochgarroch on the Caledonian Canal to start work on the practical element of our courses.

After the evening meal (which we were very glad of to warm us up after the tiring boating), we all went back to the Muirtown Basin and had a District Pulling Regatta. The winners were Thurso, with Campbeltown very close behind them.

As the Staff team was being knocked out, someone mentioned that it was "amazing, considering they are the professionals!"

Lights out was at 2300 again, but nobody made a noise this time, apart from the snoring.

Sunday it was back on the water for more course work and assessments. There was not so much wind for the sailors, and skill was needed to keep the boats moving. (CI Buckley under full sail was overtaken by a Junior reefed down, both in Toppers! What was that about?)

Sunday night the boys played football while the girls did girly things, and generally chilled out after our days of working hard.

Monday we tidied up, had the awards awarded, and moved some boats around, before dispersing after a very satisfying weekend. Many thanks to the staff who make it possible.

52 Qualifications were awarded – unfortunately there were no camping awards this year because it was too cold - new snow on the hills on Sunday! Still an amazing and very satisfying result!
Well done everyone!

Visit to Inverness Coastguard

13-Apr-10
We (the cadets and staff) visited the Coastguard at their base on the harbour. They showed us their gear, demonstrated how to use it and then we had a go.

Here we are throwing a throw bag into the air aiming for a pail while other cadets inspected the Coastguards vehicle.

The Coastguard grabbed a small cadet and we trussed him up to a stretcher, much to our delight.

Here is a cadet is ready for his helicopter ride home!

It was a very informative evening and we really enjoyed it. Many thanks to the Coastguards for allowing us visit and to our staff for taking us.

Royal Naval Parade 2010

9th February 2010.
Our RNP (Royal Navy Parade) started with the Colours Ceremony. Cadets enact all the parts exactly as sailors do on ship, with Commander Redstone as our Inspecting Officer. The Colours are raised and we had prayers. Commander Redstone then asked our VIP, Admiral of the Moray Firth, Provost Jimmy Gray, to present our Burgee for 2009 to Cadet Scott in recognition of being one of the best Units in the UK. He then inspected every cadet on parade and invited mum’s and grannies to come onto the Main Deck to take photos of their little darlings, much to our disgust!

Next was the major evolution in which we showed everyone how to go boating, named the parts of a boat and the safety equipment required. We had to work hard to learn what we had to do to get it right on the night. All the cadets were involved even if just carrying on a piece of equipment to display it. We enjoyed it and so did the audience.

Then we had our minor evolution which had 2 teams of cadets and one team of juniors. We had to take turns to grab one item of clothing out of a box which contained gloves, oilskins, a hat and white deck shoes. Each team had to dress a cadet, who was not allowed to move but we could order them, for example, raise your right arm or lift your left leg. Strangely enough the juniors had the smallest one to dress whilst the two teams of cadets had the tallest and even more strangely the junior’s clothes fitted and the cadet’s clothes didn't!!!!!

Some how the juniors won! Was it a fix?????

We finished with Evening Colours, which was carried out by the Junior Section. Again they enacted the roles as the Navy does and were nearly as good as us Cadets. (Nearly? – CO)

We finished with a bun fight (refreshments) prepared by our committee – thanks, we enjoyed them. We also thank Mrs Macintosh for baking a special Sea Cadet Cake for us which attracted a lot of attention and was delicious. Thanks for this.

It was a very successful evening and we enjoyed it, and we hope all our guests did too!

Highland District 5-A-Side Football Team 2010

Match Report 17th January 2010

This year we had two teams represent Highland District, Junior Boys and Senior Boys, made up with cadets from Orkney, Wick, Moray, Inverness and Campbeltown.
Play started promptly and was fast and furious from the start. Our first game was for Junior Boys team against Fife & Tayside with us winning 2-1. The pattern was set and their other league games saw us beat Tyne South (4-0), Edinburgh (4-0 again) and a draw with Clyde South (3-3).

The good fortunes of the Junior Boys were unfortunately not quite repeated by our Senior Boys team. Once more play was fast and competitive from the start, but they were eclipsed in all three matches by the very high standard from the other teams.

Through to the semi-finals, our Junior Boys proved strong again and we beat Clyde North 3-2. That put us in the final against the only team to beat us on the day, Northumberland (1-3) who took home Gold medals and the cup. We are delighted with Silver medals though, and that the Man of the Match trophy between all 8 District teams in the Junior Boys went to AC Christie from Moray Unit.

In the end, the Senior Boys team cheerfully enjoyed the day and shared the Highland glory.

Team managers this year were PO Ross & S/Lt Hay, with CI McCauley timekeeping.

Moray Sea Cadets Party

11 Dec 09
We travelled to the RNA Building in Lossiemouth in our minibus to attend the Moray Sea Cadets Party. We think we were very beneficial to the Moray Unit’s entertainment as we were the only ones to interact with the karaoke singing. All too soon we had to leave as we had to be back at the Unit for 11pm.
Thanks to Moray Sea Cadets for inviting us and to our staff and parents for driving and escorting us there and back. Good team work and please keep it up as we really enjoyed ourselves.

Inter-Cadet 5 A Side

6-Dec-09
PO Lindsay organised an Inter-Cadet 5 a side football tournament for all cadets from Inverness to Elgin, played at Charleston Academy Community Complex.
There were two ATC teams from Elgin and three Sea Cadet teams - two from Inverness and one from Moray.

Kick off was noon. Inverness team A got off to a bad start but still managed to get to the semi-finals and Inverness B team got beat in every game they played.

Moray Sea Cadets came in first and the ATC teams came in second and third. Overall we had very competitive games and good fun and would like to repeat it next year.


Thanks to all cadets that came and the staff for organising the 5 a-side football.

Highland District Weekend @ Moray Unit

20-22 Nov 09
Twenty-two cadets attended the Moray District Weekend in Elgin. Seven Inverness cadets attended. There were lots of courses, such as Seamanship 2nd and 3rd class, Chartwork, Marine Engineering and Piping Proficiency and there were over thirty qualifications achieved. We appreciated the five minute breaks every half an hour. It helps us to remember the information. Some went swimming on Saturday evening and some of them got qualifications. The food was fantastic and there was lots of it, Sir got very exited because there was apple pie and ice cream, AND SECONDS. The fried breakfast was the best. We give this weekend five out of five stars. We enjoyed it so much we would all like to go again SOON!

Remembrance Weekend 2009

On Saturday morning we met at the Careers Office where we were given our collecting cans and poppies then went out on the streets to collect money for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. It is a very important collection but standing on the streets you get very cold and we were delighted to be treated to a MacDonald’s lunch paid by the Unit Comittee (thanks sirs!). Some of us continued the street collection while other cadets went to Tomnahurich Cemetery where they laid crosses on war veterans’ graves followed by a brief Remembrance Service in the cemetery. Senior cadets then attended a church practice for Sunday.

We attended the Methodist Church on Sunday where our
Padre conducted the service. He spoke of wars past and present and of the many sacrifices by naval personnel. The church ladies fed us soup and sandwiches after the service which was much appreciated as we had the afternoon parade to attend. We assembled with the veterans, members of the Royal British Legion, members of the Armed Forces, cadet units, Sea Scouts and schools, and two Pipe Bands marched us to the Cavell Gardens behind the Colour Party where we met representatives of the council and clergy. Then a short Remembrance Service was held. After that we marched back again, and had a salute passing the church. We feel that this is an important ceremony recognising the sacrifice of so many.

RBLS Inverness

Launching HMS Defender

21 Oct 09 (Trafalgar Day)
One of the highlights for our Unit this year was travelling to Glasgow to see HMS Defender, a type 45 Daring class Destroyer being launched. It was an amazing experience to see a ship so large being launched and it was a great honour for us to be there. The journey and ship launch took us 12 hours but it was well worth it. We are very grateful for our staff who took us.

Nessie Hunt '09

October 2009
We travelled in our Minibus to Laggan (near Fort William) for a Nessie Hunt. We had four Cabin Cruisers for the voyage. We all had our photo taken standing on the bows of the boats at Loch Oich . We sailed on Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness, and went through a total of nine locks and three swing bridges in convoy! The first time many of us have done this. Although we did not find Nessie we had a lot of fun. We hope to have another Nessie Hunt soon.

Area Swimming Gala 2009

4th Oct 2009
We went to HMS Caledonia, Rosyth for our Area Swimming Gala. We competed in lots of races, such as Breast Stroke, Front Crawl, Back Stroke and Butterfly. Highland District competed very successfully and we came back with 9 medals including 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze. We are very proud of our cadet’s efforts.

Kirking of the Council

13 Sept 09
We assembled in the town centre at 10:30 with other youth organisations. The parade formed up and the Parade Commander inspected us. At 10:45 we marched off and passed the town hall where the provost took the salute. We then marched to the Old High Church for the service, but because Church Street was closed we had to go a long way round. After the service, we marched back to the Town House for a bun fight. In the afternoon we enjoyed our usual boating session.

Full Bore Shooting Course

6-11 September 2009
Two Senior cadets travelled from Inverness to Rosyth for a week long Full Bore Shooting Course. We stayed in HMS Caledonia where met 30 Canadian Cadets who were touring Scotland for a fortnight. We swopped cap tallies and epaulettes with them (staff are not allowed to read this)!
A dozen cadets from all over Britain were on our course. We started with 2 days dry weapon training to prepare us for live target firing. We did 3 types of firing - rapid, single and grouping. As an inexperienced firer we preferred single firing as it gave us time to practice and improve our groupings. By the end of the week we felt much more confident with handling weapons and we all achieved our Full Bore Basic Shooting qualifications and received our badges.
I am disappointed that I cannot wear my shooting badge, because I already have a higher one on my uniform.
It was a tiring week because of the intensive training (and doing lots of hard deals with the Canadians in the evenings? - CO) but enjoyable and worthwhile as we gained experience and qualifications.

DAfT Weekend @ Orkney

4-6 Sep 2009
The District AFloat Training (DAfT) weekend in Orkney was excellent. To get us in the mood we travelled to Orkney on the new catamaran ferry from Gills Bay to St Margarets Hope.
During the day there were lots of activities including power boating, paddle sports, sailing and pulling (rowing). Orkney is a fantastic place and the seas are very challenging and great experience.
In the evening we saw people para-surfing – that was great. We played football in the pitch dark which was an interesting experience and great fun as we could not see the ball! We also had a first aid session and played games such as tig.
The food was good and we enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to meet and work with other cadets. We hope to be able to go again and would like to say thank to all cadets and staff who made this possible.

Inverness Tattoo 2009

28th July – 2nd August 2009
This year, our Unit TS Briton took part in the Inverness Tattoo, as we have for 58 years. This is a major source of funding for all the Inverness Cadet Units. The Tattoo takes a year of planning, at least four days to set the scenery and then a week of attendance. Some cadets managed to attend all six night’s performances – an excellent effort! The visiting dignitaries representing the three Armed Forces came to greet and meet the cadets every night before the full performance began. We all think The Imps on their motorcycles were the best act. On Saturday night a huge crowd gathered in Eastgate to watch the cadet units and Pipe bands assemble and march through the town to the Northern Meeting Park.

Inverness Tattoo - click here

Ellen Macarthur Presentation

10 July 2009
We went to the Caledonian Thistle Stadium to meet Dame Ellen MacArthur and see her presentation about her solo voyage around the world. She explained that she had started sailing with her nan, progressed to buying her own boat and later successfully sailed solo around the world. Dame Ellen then went on to raise funds to ensure more young people in the future have the opportunity to experience the challenge of sailing and regain their confidence as they recover from cancer and leukemia. We found her talk very informative, amusing and interesting. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Ellen MacArthur Trust

The Queen visits Culloden

29 Jun 09
A few of us, Sea, Army and Air Cadets, were invited to the to the Queen’s reception when she opened the new Culloden Battle Field Experience Centre.
The Queen accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh spoke to all the cadets who were there. She seemed very interested about what we are do in the cadets.

The Duke of Edinburgh asked if we were doing his Award Scheme and was pleased that we said yes. Then they went for lunch and opened the centre. Many of the guests came over to speak to us and ask us about cadets. It was an interesting experience and for many of us the first time we had met or spoken to royalty.

Giant Sleepover 2009

21 June 2009
30,000 take part in world’s largest simultaneous sleepover
Over 22,000 children and 8,000 adults took part in a Giant Sleepover last night, with simultaneous events taking place across 890 locations in the UK and abroad.
Highland District Junior Sea Cadets from Inverness, Moray, Orkney and Thurso Units took part in a

Sleepover at Inverness Unit, which coincided with the Crossing, a part of the Homecoming 2009 celebrations.

We spent a lot of time getting wet, including a dragon boat race against the 18th Inverness (Muirtown) Sea Scouts (we won't say too much about that, other than to say their guys were bigger than ours!), and a massive water fight at the Unit before enjoying a barbeque.

Sunday morning we had to brush our teeth together, attempting to break another record, before going back to the boats for the rest of the day. While there, we also completed 18 qualifications for the cadets.

The Giant Sleepover has grown to a Guinness World Record of 35,000 participants in 2008.

Click here for more info

Inverness Sea Cadets Show the British Bulldog Spirit

18 June 2009.
The recent visit of the Sail Training Ship ROYALIST to Inverness was a great opportunity for the Inverness Sea Cadets to show off the Square Rigger to their sponsors and well-wishers. Amid some driving rain squalls and chilly winds about sixty persons mustered by the ship, berthed at the Muirtown Basin, enjoying refreshments and chips to help keep out the cold.

Tim Honnor, Chairman of the Inverness Sea Cadet Unit, said that it was quite clear that the British Bulldog Spirit was within the assembled company who thoroughly enjoyed the reception, and the tour of the ship - even if for some it was a chance to get shelter from the rain! With representatives from the Highland Council and many of the maritime organisations of the city it was also a chance to meet the young crew of boys and girls who had had their first baptism to life at sea in a sailing ship.

With head winds and rough seas all the way from Dundee, making port at Inverness had been a great challenge, but one which they were very proud to have achieved. This was most obvious from the way they showed the guests round “their” ship, answered all the questions, and showed the ropes, sails and rigging that they had had to handle in such difficult conditions. As one cadet so proudly said: “A week ago I would not have thought I could do it”.

Whilst the reception was in progress the Inverness Sea Cadets were enjoying boatwork within the basin. They joined the guests on completion of their training for some chips and to hand out literature about the Sea Cadet Corps, and to join in the group photograph. Some money was made for the Inverness Unit, who as a youth training organisation is a Scottish Charity, unfunded from public funds. And a good time was had by all!

Army Careers Event 2009

8 Jun 09
The annual Army Careers Event was held at Cameron Barracks. There were lots of things to do and see, such as, a dog tag engraving machine where you filled in a questionnaire and then you were presented with your personalised dog tag - it was cool. There was an inflatable obstacle course which had ramps with ropes and bouncy bollards which we all successfully completed. That was great fun. There were free pancakes made by the army chefs demonstrating how to cook in the field and some cadets were lucky enough to get one. Laser tag was brilliant and very popular and most cadets had a go. There was an Army helicopter and we were able to sit in it and see the controls which was very interesting. There were tanks you could climb into, we were amazed how cramped it was and we don’t envy the guys who use these in hot places like Afghanistan. There were information stalls about the Army and Navy (Army boats!) who we were especially pleased to see to give us some moral support as we were seriously outnumbered. The climbing wall was steep but great fun and hard work to climb to the top – you had a real feeling of achievement. All in all it was a great night out and we look forward to going again next year. Thanks to those who provide it and our staff who take us.

AFCO Inverness

British Divers Marine Life Rescue

18-Apr-09
A whale and dolphin stranded on the beach?

Don’t worry, these were two of the inflatables (filled with water) used for training during the Marine Mammal Medic Course run by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) at our Unit.

Since 1988, BDMLR have been involved in the rescue of marine wildlife after every major marine disaster, including the Braer shipwreck in Shetland.

In 2004, BDMLR set up its own small seal rehabilitation unit near John O'Groats in the far north of Scotland.

This year BDMLR celebrates its 21st Birthday and 3,000th call-out. BDMLR has responded to over 2460 seal call-outs and over 540 cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) call-outs as well as 8 sharks, 14 turtles and 35 call-outs involving seabirds.

This is an amazing response for a small charity which trains volunteer Marine Mammal Medics.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue

Highland District Junior Boys 5-A-Side Football Team 2009

Match Report by PO Ross & S/Lt Hay
25th January 2009

Play started 40 minutes late, and it was 1100 before we had our first game in Boys Junior League 1 (of 2), beating Fife & Tayside 2-1. An hour later, Tyne South just beat us 1-0, but after another hour, Edinburgh won 5-2. Just over an hour later, we were in the lead 2-0 against Clyde South, eventually losing 4-3.

After the playoffs, Clyde South took Bronze, Northumberland took Silver and Grampian were the trophy winners with Gold.

Other results:

Boys Seniors: Bronze Fife & Tayside; Silver Grampian; Gold Northumberland.

Girls Juniors: Bronze Teesside; Silver Fife & Tayside; Gold Grampian

Girls Seniors: Bronze Teesside; Silver Tyne South; Gold Clyde South


Highland came away with 4 District points, and Tyne South were winners of the overall points trophy, having lots of teams entered! Player of the day was from Grampian.

To round the presentations off, Lt.Cdr. Ian Wilson was introduced to the Canada Trophy awarded to the best unit in the UK, in advance of formal presentation by the Second Sea Lord.

Our Laser Stratos arrives

16th November 2008
Upgrading our fleet, today we took delivery of a Laser Stratos. This sturdy craft will be used mainly to introduce cadets to sailing, and sailing with a crew, and also coaching sessions as they move on to the Toppers (by themselves) and the Picos.

The Wedderburn Standard paraded for the first time.

9th November 2008
Firstly in the church of our Padre, Peter Howson, for the Service of Remembrance, where he specially mentioned the "Wedderburn" Standard and the memory of Ian it provides.
And in the afternoon it was paraded to the Cenotaph on the banks of the Ness River taking its place amongst all the other Standards, such as the British Legion.

The Wedderburn Standard

26th October 2008
The Wedderburn Standard was presented to our Unit this evening, and dedicated by Rev Howson in the presence of many guests and supporters. Following a tribute from our Chairman, the presentation was made by the wife and son of the late Commander Ian Wedderburn, in memory of his long service on the Unit Management Committee.

Royal Visit

27th May 2008
As the Duke of York, also Earl of Inverness, was piped aboard TS Briton, the Royal Standard was raised. The Duke then inspected the Guard. Following the Colours ceremony, the Duke then made a formal inspection of the assembled Cadets and Juniors, some 30 strong, pausing to speak personally to many of them. He then presented to the Unit an Efficiency Pennant for their general standard of efficiency in 2007. These national awards are only handed out to the very best of Units in the country. The Pennant was received by the youngest Cadet on behalf of the Unit.

Following the inspection, the Duke moved to the Unit recreation space where he met and chatted with many parents and friends who were glad to be inside for a cup of tea.

Addressing the Unit, the Duke said that, in his capacity of Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps, he made many visits to sea cadet units throughout the country, and could immediately tell which ones were firing on all cylinders and those which were not: it was clear to him that the Inverness Unit was firing on more cylinders that he thought it was possible to possess!

He congratulated the cadets on their smart appearance and bearing and urged them to participate fully in all the unit activities that were offered, on shore, on boats and on visits to other places. All this would stand them in good stead on their life’s journey and would enable them fully to contribute to their community.

He reminded them of the importance of teamwork and to be grateful to their parents, the staff of the Unit which devoted so much time to them, and to the Committee which worked so hard in the background to raise the money needed to keep the unit afloat.

The Duke was then piped and cheered ashore to his next engagement.

Cadets honour Chief Edward

18 December 2007

Chief Wilma Edward, of Inverness Sea Cadets, is retiring from her uniformed position as Chief Petty Officer to become a Civilian Instructor, having dedicated 15 years of her life to the voluntary organisation.

On Tuesday night she was surprised with a bouquet of flowers, a trophy and a certificate signed by Captain Jonathan Fry RN, the Captain of the Sea Cadet Corps.

Mrs Edward joined TS Briton, Inverness, when her daughter Tina and son John were cadets but the family connection with the Unit continues. Tina's daughter Coral is now a cadet and Wilma's husband Jim, a bus driver, continues as an instructor.

She joined the uniformed staff as a Probationary Petty Officer. In 1994 she became a Petty Officer and five years later she rose to Chief Petty Officer.

In 2005, she was awarded the Cadet Forces Medal for 12 years service. As well as looking after the admin at TS Briton, Mrs Edward also helped instructing the cadets, supervising camps and trips, and generally always being there.

Yesterday, Sub/Lt Robbie Hay, the unit's Officer In Charge, said: "Wilma thoroughly deserved the award. Obviously, with Jim and Coral involved she'll not disappear completely. But we have greatly valued her help over so many years."

Yesterday, Mrs Edward, of Westhill, said: "I definitely wasn't expecting anything. It was totally unbelievable."

Highland District Regatta 2007 - Second Leg, Inverness

Twenty-seven cadets and twelve staff from all five units of Highland District attended a Powerboating and Canoe training weekend at Inverness Unit.

We had 5 power boats; we had borrowed 3 of the sea scouts and the other 2 were our own. The power boaters were at Dochgarroch and Loch Dochfour, and the kayakers were at the Muirtown Basin on the local canal. Everybody had a great time as it was a fabulous weekend (and the weather was not so bad!).


The final score was 2 RYA Power Level 2, 11 RYA Power Level 1, and 9 BCU Level 1 certificates - 22 of the 25 candidates passing their course.

Highland District Regatta 2007, at Orkney

43 Cadets and 18 Adults from Highland Units attended a Sailing and Pulling weekend with 19 Cadets achieving Water Safety, and 5 Cadets and A/CPO Sutherland passing for Pulling Competent Crew. A number of Cadets also completed parts of their training towards RYA Dinghy Sailing and SCC Pulling qualifications.

Originally intended as an afloat training weekend and District Regatta, training had to be altered to shore based due to inclement weather, and 4 cadets gained Seamanship 3rd Class. However a small weather window presented itself on Saturday afternoon and thanks to the assistance of Instructors from the Orkney Sailing Club all Cadets got some afloat time either sailing, pulling or power boating. This was of particular benefit to the recently formed Wick Sub Unit whose Cadets had their first experience of SCC boating.

On the way back to mainland Scotland by ferry, the mv Hamnavoe, we were priviliged to visit the bridge where the Chief Mate explained all the buttons to us.

Well done everyone, and thank-you Orkney.

Ski Week 2007

On the Northern Area Ski Week, there were 17 cadets from all over Scotland, NE England and N.Ireland staying in Newtonmore, including one from Inverness.
The weather was not all it could be, but we did manage sking once on the top of Cairngorm.

20 April 2006

New website launched.

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