Cadets will be taking their annual Christmas and New Year break and will return on Thursday 6th January 2011. Thank you too all those that braved the weather conditions to turn up on the final night of cadets and with particular thanks to the cadets presentations!

Well done to all those that were promoted and given prestigious cadet awards!

The awards are as follows:

• Cpl Pettit was awarded Redsell Trophy for Sporting Achievement of 2010
• Cdt Currid was awarded Frank Blanchard Trophy (Junior Cadet of the Year)
• Sgt Farrant was awarded Henry Standen Memorial Trophy (Senior Cadet of the Year) of 2010
• Cdt Simms J was awarded Guinea Pig Challenge Cup (Cadet of the Year) of 2010

Promotions were given to;

• Sgt Farrant to FS
• Cpl Pettit to Sgt
• Both Cdts Fisher and Simms J to Cpl.

Well done again to all those, they were all throughly deserved!

Have a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Our most high profile event in the town and one which all cadets are expected to attend. We have the honour of providing a guard on the memorial itself as well as carrying the standards of the East Grinstead branches of the Royal British Legion and Royal Air Forces Association.

We also provide a memorial guard and a standard bearer at the services held in Forest Row and Ashurst Wood; and this year we provided a small contingent at the service held at Dane Hill.

This year the East Grinstead memorial guard was Sgt Farrant, Sgt Kavanagh, Cpl Cox and Cpl Petitt, with CWO Simms as guard commander. The RBL standard was carried by Cdt Currid, the RBL Women’s Section standard by Sgt Le Vey and the RAFA standard by Cpl Carter.

The Forest Row and Ashurst Wood memorial guards were Cdts Fisher, Gooders, Hurford and Soopramanian, with Flt Lt Foster as the guard commander and Sgt Allen as the standard bearer.

Cdts Bunyan and Clarke made up the Dane Hill contingent along with Plt Off Milligan.

Even with so many cadets involved in special duties we still had a significant presence within the parade itself and managed to march in a reasonably smart, uniform and cadet-like manner even without a band and despite the somewhat unpleasant weather. We also looked smarter than the Army Cadets, Nautical Training Corps, Scouts, Guides,… well we think we did, but then we’re probably biased…

Well done to FS Simms on his promotion to the highest rank possible as a cadet, Cadet Warrant Officer (CWO)!

The squadrons chance to keep the high reputation was well taken advantage of in this exciting event. The squadron participated in some “friendly” competition against other squadrons in sussex wing! There were events such as; Drill, Banner, Shooting, Aircraft Recognition, Modelling, Photography, First Aid and a whole day of Adventure Training.

The whole weekend wasn’t just about the competition of course as the cadets got a chance to take part in other activities such as; abseiling, rock climbing, rocket engineering and mini leadership exercises with 2 RAF career advisor’s. The final parade saw the cadets huddled in a tiny room (due to poor weather conditions) to hear the results. Entering a team in nearly every event, meant that the taking part really did count! Flight points will of course be added to all the cadets that attended and took part! The full results of the competition will be posted out soon so keep checking!

P.S Well done to the staff; Flt Lt Foster for judging the aircraft recognition, FS Downes in judging the drill, Sgt Fisher adjudicating the First Aid and Plt Off Milligan manning the climbing wall for the cadets to throw themselves up, good job!

The cadets of 1343 (and staff) attended the once a year event, Edenbridge and Oxted Show! Our cadets joined forces with the rest of the Sussex wing and stood out in the middle of a field to park hundreds of cars (for a second time).

The event consisted of four days with the squadron setting up the campsite on Friday for the rest of the wing to take advantage of, before setting up the car park and helping out in the grounds of the show on the Saturday. On the two big days (Sunday and Monday) the cadets then got to show of their skills and park the cars of the public! Fortunately, the weather was excellent and the cadets did a fantastic job over the period of the days! They also participated in a passing out parade in which they performed in a smart and cadet like manner before packing up and heading home. A big thank you to all those attended, their efforts did not go unnoticed and consequently resulted in flight points.

P.S Well done to the staff as well, although FS Downes was a lil’ upset with the lack of rain!

The first car parking event of the year!

The cadets and staff of 1343 drove down to the south coast and attended the Shoreham Airshow at the weekend. They teamed up with the rest of Sussex wing on the friday to set up camp before car parking thousands of vistors cars in separate car parks.The weather was unfortunately never looking good and so was consistently foggy throughout the weekend. This did delay and cancelled some of the planes that were suppose to acrobatically passing over shoreham but it didn’t stop the beautiful Breitling girls… sorry I mean aeroplanes! Anyway, the cadets did a fantastic job and even got some free time in the show ground to show off their aircraft recognition skills and naming many of the old, new and wonderful aircraft! It all counts towards flight points!

P.S Well done to the staff, particularly Flt Lt Foster, he was in his element!

Congratulations to Sgt Farrant for completing a gliding scholarship at 615 (RAF Kenley) VGS (Volunteer Gliding School). He was trained on the Viking gliders that the RAF provide to the cadets. After completing his syllabus, he was checked out and went solo meaning he went up in a glider completely by himself. Scholarships like these offer cadets over 16 to have this opportunity to learn how to fly a aircraft by themselves and possible solo, so they will have learnt to fly before they can drive!!

Also congratulations to Sgt Allen for being awarded his G2 wings. Sgt Allen had completed his gliding scholarship and was asked to come back for further training. He completed the next level; Advanced Gliding Training (AGT) and was then selected as staff! After many months of helping out at 615 VGS he can now take up a glider by himself without being checked beforehand! G2 is the first of many pilot wings that cadets can achieve in their aviation career!

Every year, 1343 Squadron help out at the East Grinstead Mayfair.

It’s one of our big fund raising events of the year and also gives us a chance to show off our shiny uniforms to the public.
We have a stall located in front of Sackville College offering games, freebies, posters and recruitment; and sometimes cakes, providing that the Flight Sergeant hasn’t scoffed them all first…

With several of our cadets having recently achieved flying and gliding scholarships; it’s a prime opportunity for them to share their experiences with budding pilots or aircrew. Many of us know a great deal about how to achieve a career in the forces (and aviation based civilian life) and are happy to help anyone who asks.

See you there next year!

Every year the squadron takes part in an athletics event at the K2 sports centre in Crawley. Cadets are driven down (in our lovely new minibus) to the centre, where they compete against other cadets all around the sussex region. The day is full of excitement all round from events that include running, throwing and jumping. We had a handful of determined cadets who won gold, silver and bronze medals from different categories and events. In the Class B (Intermediate Boys) category, Cpl Petitt took the gold for the High Jump, Cdt Soopramanien for coming 1st in the heat, but being so tired only managed a bronze in the 400m final. In the Class C (Senior Boys) category, Sgt Allen was awarded a great 3 silver medals in the High Jump, 1500m and Javelin and Cpl Cox just getting his bronze in the Long Jump. Sgt Allen and Cpl Cox took an impressive joint third overall in the Class C with 19 (Crawley) Sqn respectfully. So Congratulations to those who were awarded the medals and not forgetting the other cadets who took part; Cdts Joyce and Kempson in the Class A (Junior Boys), Cdt Simms and Scanlan in the Class B (Intermediate Boys). The cadets then took part in one final smart and cadet-like manner parade to finish off their hard work!

Well Done!

PS Not forgetting the staff as usual… Well volunteered to Flt Lt Riley, Plt Off Milligan, CI Allen and FS Downes in adjudicating the events in the best possible way and not forgetting Sgt Fisher for being a great first aider looking after all the cadets in the wing and CI Lewis for looking after the 1343 cadets!!

Well that was 2009 but we’re already four months into 2010, so what’s happened so far this year?

Firstly we’ve been raising money for a new minibus and thanks to an outstanding effort from the cadets, staff and civilian commitee we’ve managed to raise £17,000! The new(ish) minibus will be delievered next week and all the details will be divulged in a separate post shortly…

There have been a significant number of promotions since the last congratulatory post: Cadets Carter and Cox were promoted to Corporal; Cpl Farrant and Cpl Kavanagh were promoted to Sergeant, recently joined by Cpl Le Vey; and Sgt Simms was promoted to Flight Sergeant, making him the most senior cadet on the squadron.

Examination results came through for those cadets who took part in the March exams. Cadets Beedle, Englebright and Gooders attained Credits in their Leading exams, with three others attaining partial passes. Cdt Simms, Cpl Cox, Cpl Pettit, Sgt Farrant and Sgt Kavanagh all successfully past their Senior exams with Cpl Cox achieving a Credit. FS Simms has also past both parts of his Staff Cadet and been awarded his lovely yellow lanyard.

Lastly, we’ve had an influx of new recruits who have already started throwing themselves at every opportunity that’s been presented to them and are hard at work making their new uniforms look smart and shiny…

That’s about it so far, that’s notable anyway. Some stuff happened on the staff front but no one’s really bothered about the staff…

Stay tuned for more updates!

PS. Congratulations to CI Milligan for passing his Region board and being awarded his commission as Pilot Officer; Welcome to Sgt Fisher and CIs Loome, Lewis and Lewis; and finally congratulations (or is that commiserations?) to Flt Lt Foster on being appointed the squadron’s new Commanding Officer. See, we do care about the staff really.