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Cadet 150 Royal Review
In the year of celebrations for the 150 years of cadets, there are many different events taking place. One of these was a Royal Review of the different cadet forces at Buckingham palace on the 6th July 2010.
LC Phillips was 1 of 2 cadets to represent Wessex district, at this amazing parade. As the Queen was in Canada Prince Charles took the salute and met with the cadets at a garden party afterwards.
The whole parade went really well and the cadets were highly praised.
If you want to see the parade there are several videos on You Tube, under Cadet 150 Royal Review. If you look closely you will be able to see LC Phillips the Second one in on the front row left hand side.
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Burgee Unit
For the first time in the unit’s history, after a lot of hard work by the cadets and staff we were awarded a burgee.
Commander A Giles RN the Southern Area Officer visited the unit on the 29th October 2009 to present the burgee.
The burgee is awarded to the best units in the country. This is scored on the unit’s RNP (Royal Naval Parade) on the evolutions, ceremonial, appearance and achievements of the cadets.
So a very big well done to all cadets and staff, here’s hoping for the same in 2010.
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Royal Naval Parade (RNP)
Every other year we have an RNP on the other year we have a unit review and the marks from the RNP are used again.
So on the 1st October 2009 we held our RNP.
Cdr A Giles RN (Southern Area Officer) and Lt T Rutter (SCC) RNR (Wessex District Staff) come to the unit to inspect the cadets and see the achievements gained. As part of the RNP the cadets are required to carry out 2 evolutions.
The major evolution was the progression of a sea cadet from joining at 10 as a junior till the age of 18. Each rank of cadet planned a small talk on what they do and what they need to do to gain promotion. To demonstrate this process the cadets chose several photos of activities they have carried out.
Cdr Giles RN found this presentation very informative as had not seen the progress of the cadets laid out in this way before.
The minor evolution was to tie a reef knot using 2 people who were not able to touch the rope.
The Cadets started this by teaching their parents and other visitors how to tie the reef knot. They then had 2 parents attempt to tie a reef knot using a giant rope tied on a belt round there waist.
This proved harder than first thought and the parents needed quite a lot of assistance. Then 2 of our new entries showed the parents how it is done in just less than 5 seconds.
The evening ended with the Cdr presenting several awards/promotions to the cadets.
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Lt Bassett leaves T.S Itchen
After 16 years(the longest serving member of staff) at Winchester unit a large majority of this as 1st Lt, Lt Bassett is now moving on in Sea Cadets to become the Assistant District Officer for Wessex district. Although he has now left the unit he will be helping with boating this season. All at T.S Itchen would like to Thank Lt Bassett for all his hard work within the unit and wish him all the best in his new role.
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New 1st Lt
With the departure of Lt Bassett the role of 1st Lt has been passed to Sub/Lt Leverett.
Congratulations Sir!
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Offshore Training
LC Phillips and AC Thorne were lucky enough to get some funding for a weeks trip on the 2 Sea Cadet Yachts.
On April 3rd they left Weymouth on their voyage to Plymouth, via Portland, Brixham, Dartmouth and Salcombe. The crossing from Portland to Brixham left everyone feeling rather unwell due to the rough seas, although once moored they were soon feeling better.
Both cadets achieved their competent crew on their first time on the yachts. This is no mean feat so well done to both of you.
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PPO Miles
Cadets is for young people aged up to 18 years, when they reach this age they can apply to become a member of staff. Leading Cadet Miles turned 18 in April and now has become a PPO.
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New Staff
We have also gained a new member of staff in CI Daubney who is studying in Winchester. We all welcome you to T.S Itchen.
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Births
In September 2009 the Officer in Charge CPO Dyer become a father. Due to this and other circumstances he has taken 6 months leave, we look forward to his return.
Whilst CPO Dyer is on leave Lt Dyer has stepped back into the role of commanding officer.
Just a month later and rather early than planned Lt and PO Bassett become parents to a little girl, due to her being born so early she had to spend time in hospital so they have not been able to attend the unit as much as before.
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Chairman Bob
Sad news in the loss of the units long standing Unit Management Committee Chairman in October 2009. Bob Tilley was the longest serving member of the UMC and ex 1st Lt of TS Blue Eagle Andover Unit.
Bob became Chairman of Winchester in 1993 and gave many years of dedicated service and commitment to the UMC, in more recent times despite illness he showed great courage to achieve the fund raising for equipment at our new home at Worthy Down. Whilst we are sure that Bob will be looking down upon us and our achievements, he sadly passed away just before our unit burgee was presented, so Bob our first Burgee is dedicated to you.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Chairman Bob’s family and friends.
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Junior Achievements
With a thriving junior section many awards are gained by the juniors, however not many achieve the Commodores Award Pennant.
This is awarded to juniors who have gained all their colour modules and then completed a further 20 modules.
Well done to Leading Junior K Cook and Leading Junior L Woods.
Many more to come in the future we hope so keep going juniors.
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Seniors Promotions
The seniors also aim towards advancement, two recent promotions are
Cadet A Robertson to Ordinary Cadet and
Able Cadet S Phillips to Leading Cadet
Well done to you both and lets hope for many more to announce.
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Unit Dedication
Having spent 15 years at our home at Peter Symonds College we needed to move to new premises, it took 3 years of being ‘homeless’ when the Army came to our aid. So we moved to Worthy Down Army Station and a purpose built unit. In the tradition of the Navy we needed to organise a dedication ceremony. The dedication was held on May 4th 2008 with around 80 cadets from units across the area in attendance. On the parade which was the pinnacle of lots of hard work were a 12 person guard, with LC George as an excellent guard commander, 2 cadet divisions, a junior division and a band.
The invited V.I.P for the ceremony was The Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Mary Fagan. She was greeted by OC Hough and OC Kimber piped her ‘on board’. She inspected and spoke to most of the cadets and staff; she was very interested in their achievements.
The Unit padre Jonathon Cruickshank conducted the official prayers of dedication, the C.O then asked the Lord Lieutenant to unveil the dedication plaque which now hangs on the main deck. Lt Dyer then presented the Lord Lieutenant with a unit plaque, as well as the retiring District Officer.
The official ceremony was completed in true naval tradition with the C.O’s wife Mrs Sue Dyer and the youngest cadet on parade Junior Andrew Milne cutting the cake with a naval sword.
There was then the chance for parents and guests to explore the new unit, and enjoy refreshments.
All the cadets and staff did an amazing job over the whole weekend and I’m sure all will agree looked very smart.
Well done all…
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Lt Roger Dyer’s Dining Out
After 10 years as the units commanding officer Lt Roger Dyer decided it was time to step down. In the tradition of the Royal Navy to show how much we appreciated all his hard work and excellent leadership a mess dinner called a dining out dinner was held in the officer’s mess at Worthy Down Army Camp. Amazingly we managed to organise this magnificent meal without Lt Dyer knowing, so when he walked into the mess, while Ac Sam Phillips piped the side to a room full of his friends and colleagues, past and present.
The staff at the officer’s mess provided a wonderful meal and all thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
The president of the unit Rear Admiral Lang presented Lt Dyer with a framed collection of pictures of his ten years as C.O, signed by all in attendance. His wife Sue Dyer was presented with a large bouquet of flowers for all she has done for the unit.
Thank-you so much Lt Dyer for all you have achieved as your time as commanding officer of Winchester Unit.
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