Winning unit bids farewell to Simmy


BECCLES unit said farewell to one of its long- standing members. S/Lt (SCC) Simmy Sadler RNR was given


gifts and cards from the ship’s company on her last parade night at the Suffolk unit before she moved to Huddersfield to be with her partner. Simmy originally joined Beccles as a cadet, achieving the rate of petty officer cadet before moving on to become a staff member. With a short break in service, Simmy has gone on to become a qualified rowing coach, piping examiner and seamanship instructor, devoting many hundreds of hours teaching and training cadets.


Officer wins award for half-century


LAST year the Captain Sea Cadets, Capt Mark Windsor, announced a new award to reward those who had served 50 years as adult volunteers in the Sea Cadets – and an officer from Yorkshire has become one of the first to receive the award. Lt Cdr (SCC) Allen Dixon


RNR (above) joined Rotherham unit as a boy in December 1947, progressing through the ranks to Instructor Cadet and representing the Corps at the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. After National Service, in


1956 he returned to Rotherham as a chief petty officer, and on February 24 1970, was appointed CO of TS Rother. Lt Dixon was instrumental in the re-affiliation of the town and the unit with Polaris submarine HMS Repulse, a story that made the papers and led to the unit becoming TS Repulse. A promoted Lt Cdr Dixon


was appointed District Officer (DO) for South Yorkshire, and in 1984 made Sea Cadet history by appointing the first female Assistant District Officer (ADO). As all the units in South


Yorkshire are inland, at least 50 miles from the sea, he decided to run an Easter Camp in Portsmouth in 1986, and the hugely-successful camps continue on HMS Bristol to this day. Allen stood down as DO in


1996 but continued as ADO until 2000 when he took on the role of District Training Officer. Other duties during his time in Cadets include acting as Executive Officer for drill competitions and regattas at area and national level, and chairman of Area Officer selection boards. Since 1961 he has run all parades in Rotherham, keeping the Corps firmly in the public eye. Lt Cdr Dixon was presented with his Captain’s Medal at the Eastern Area Conference by Capt Windsor.


Corps National Piper, and up until the point she left she was the Principal of Beccles’ RYA Centre. The unit also had reason to celebrate the


latter part of 2011. In October Beccles was presented with the


East Anglia District Cup, awarded to the best of the seven units in the group. They were then handed their annual efficiency award from the area office, which manages more than 60 units across the East of England. Awarded to the best units in the area,


She is currently the Girls Nautical Training


Beccles was pleased to discover that they had been ranked third overall. In November the CO, Lt Cdr (SCC) Joe


Meadows RNR, was presented with the Peter Bayliss trophy at the Eastern Area conference, a prize given to the unit with the best training organisation. Lt Cdr Meadows said: “These awards go to


prove that the massive amount of effort that the cadets, staff and committee put into the unit really pay off. “To be awarded such high accolades gives a


massive boost to the team and we have set our sights even higher for 2012.”


West Ham donation a tribute to Larry


A MEMORIAL service to a Pearly King who was also a staunch supporter of the Sea Cadets is to be held in Essex


in April. Larry Golding, who died in July


last year, was the Pearly King of the Old Kent Road, and a former Sea Cadet who went on to join the Royal Navy in World War 2 and served in the Fleet Air Arm. Rotherhithe-born Larry went on to work as a London cab driver, and more recently he and his wife Doreen organised the annual London’s Pearly Kings and Queens Costermongers’ Harvest Festival event.


of the Old Kent Road and Bow Bells – continues to organise the late September event, and at the 2011 festival a cheque for £300 was presented to a representative of the West Ham unit by the London’s Pearly Kings and Queens Society.


from West Ham, and a group from Southwark unit, attended the festival, which started in the yard of the Guildhall in the City of London when a parade formed up and continued at the church of St Mary le Bow in Cheapside. In her opening speech,


Alderman Sheriff Fiona Woolf paid tribute to Larry, who was renowned in the East End and beyond as an active fundraiser.


Cyber Corps


DON’T forget you can follow the Sea Cadets on Facebook. Go to www.facebook.com/


SeaCadetsUK to get a flavour of what is happening across the Corps.


A large contingent of cadets Doreen – the Pearly Queen


l The Pearly Queen of the Old Kent Road and Bow Bells, Doreen Golding, with Sea Cadets from West Ham and Southwark units at last year’s London’s Pearly Kings and Queens Costermongers’ Harvest Festival


festival was LC Oliver Field, the Mayor of Swale’s Cadet from Sittingbourne and Milton unit, who accompanied Cllr Ben Stokes and the Mayoress, Cllr Sylvia Bennett, at the festival. Although the London Royal


Naval Reserve unit HMS President was unable to be


Certificate marks a milestone


THE Eastern Area Staff Officer for


Award, Lt Cdr (SCC) Malcolm Grant RNR, has successfully completed all requirements for the City and Guilds Graduateship in Youth Management and Training. The officer was presented with


the Duke of Edinburgh’s


his certificate of attendance by Admiral Lord West of Spithead, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of CVQO.


Telford hope to raise roof


BACK in September we told you about how the cadets of Telford were keen to raise a fair bit of money to tackle overheads. And that is overheads in the literal sense – the roof has been leaking for years, but water ingress into classrooms and the heads has become a major problem. Surveys showed that repairs will not be sufficient; a new roof is required, but the unit has been unsuccessful in applying for grants.


So in addition to normal unit www.navynews.co.uk


running costs, the cadets and staff of Telford are hoping to raise enough money to replace the roof of their HQ, allowing them to then go on to repair the interior. And one new initiative embraced by TS Wrekin is ‘Just Text Giving’ from Vodafone – a simple way of making a donation by texting the word WREK40 and an amount to 70070 – therefore to donate £10 you would text WREK40 £10 to 70070 – as illustrated by the Telford cadets in the picture.


Malcolm said: “Completing the Cadet Vocational Qualification is a challenging achievement for anyone and a worthy cause. “To be awarded the graduateship has again proved to myself I have taken a big, responsible step to further develop myself. “I have been in the Cadet Corps for some 30 years now and gained a vast amount of knowledge as well as life skills.


have given me much confidence to do many roles whilst being an instructor and officer within the Corps. “I recommend CVQO ‘Real


Learning Real Benefits’. “As an adult volunteer within the cadet force doing the graduateship, it has enabled me to reflect on what I have got out of volunteering and what benefit I have been able to give.”


Also in attendance at the


represented, the former chairman of the HMS Glory Association, S/M Gerald Evans, along with association secretary S/M Patrick Williams and standard bearer S/M Julian Wylie did attend – one of Larry’s squadrons, 806 NAS, was based on board HMS Glory in the mid-1940s. The memorial service to Larry


will be held on Sunday April 22 at the Waltham Abbey Jewish Cemetery,


Lane in Waltham Abbey, starting at 4.30pm, and afterwards at the Village Hall, Wanstead Place, High Street, Wanstead. This year’s Harvest Festival will take place in London on Sunday September 30.


Skillett Hill, Honey


l OC Sian Cummins and twin sister Cdt Kelly Cummins


Second Cummins on parade


WHENEVER the uniformed youth organisations of London get together for ceremonial events there is always the chance that spectators might end up seeing double. Take the Remembrance Sunday parade at Kennington Park in November.


Southwark unit, took her place in the ranks of Sea Cadets, not far from her twin sister, Cadet Kelly Cummins, of 75 Detachment Army Cadet Force. The twins have their inter-cadet


OC Sian Cummins, of


service rivalry between them – but it doesn’t end there, because the twins’ older sister, Zoe Cummins was on parade with her Air Training Corps squadron at the National Remembrance parade at the Cenotaph. It was by no means the first time the Cummins siblings have paraded together. At the 2011 national Trafalgar


Day parade in the shadow of Nelson’s Column, Sian fell in with the London Area Sea Cadet platoon and Zoe paraded with the ATC platoon.


Light activity


JUNIOR cadets from Swansea unit paid a visit to Light Vessel 91. The lightship, moored as a museum ship in Swansea, finished her working life at Helwick in the Bristol Channel, just off Worm’s Head.


l Proud City of Liverpool cadets display the unit’s unbroken record of 14 Burgees, with Junior Cadets Faye Cassin and Michael O’Connor holding the newly-awarded 2011 burgee


14 in a row for Liverpool “These skills and knowledge


CITY of Liverpool cadets are celebrating another impressive unit review for 2011 – and the 14th year in succession that they have been judged amongst the best in the business.


The review resulted in yet another efficiency


award – represented by a burgee – landing on their doorstep, putting them in the top 25 per cent of units.


Which means that the good people of TS Mersey


have achieved the highest level of efficiency possible by a Sea Cadet unit since 1998. Commanding Officer S/Lt (SCC) Jake Orr RNR said: “This is a momentous occasion for TS Mersey


and Liverpool District. “These awards are a testament to the local youth,


that they have the ability to achieve success year on year.


“Achieving a burgee standard is difficult to achieve as it is – to do it 14 times in a row, it takes a lot of hard work and effort.” TS Mersey are now looking forward to their next milestone, which is the Juniors Section celebrating ten years, and the coming year will prove busy in other respects – the unit will not only be celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee but its own 70th birthday.


FEBRUARY 2012 : 39


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48