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 acheiving a Credit. F/Sgt 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.

Here’s a quick recap of some of the larger events we took part in last year:

Wing Athletics - Much running, jumping and throwing resulted in a reasonably haul of medals but sadly no trophies.

South Downs Challenge - A select few (nutters who volunteered) went for a lovely stroll in the July sunshine (well technically moonshine as it was a night). All 40km or so of it.

Edenbridge and Oxted Show - The highlight of the car-parking calendar. Three days of standing in fields in a valiant effort to park a couple of thousand cars in smart, uniform and cadet-like rows. It’s more fun than it sounds, honest…

Shoreham Airshow - Just like E&O but with the addition of planes! They fly overhead, we don’t try and park them. That would just be silly. Awesome, but silly…

Wing Swimming - Again, an impressive haul of medals but trophies were in short supply.

Wing Field Weekend - A weekend of friendly competition at Crowborough. The highlight of course being the Drill Competition. Apparently there was adventure training, shooting, first aid and a whole bunch of other stuff; but back to the drill…

Remembrance Parade - Our most prominent public event and as usual, everyone turned out looking very smart, uniform and cadet-like. Despite mounting guards on the East Grinstead, Forest Row and Ashurst Wood memorials and carrying four banners we still had a decent sized squad for the parade; and our marching was better than the Army Cadets…

That doesn’t even include the flying. gliding, shooting, crawling through mud, first aid, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, etc, etc!

• Cpl Allen, Cpl Le Vey, Cpl Petit and Cpl Simms for succesfully completing their JNCO course.
• Cpl Petit and Cdt Carter for being selected for the Wing junior rugby team.

1343 achieved an above average position in all but two of the activities we entered, the highlights of which being 4th in the shooting competition and 5th in the drill competition. We missed 3rd place in the shooting competition by a single point!

Given our relatively junior team we performed admirably, and with a year to practise in we should be able to win both the shooting and the drill next year.

Well done to all the cadets that took part, along with extra credit for staying behind after the final parade to tidy the cinema.

• Cdt Allen on passing his gliding scholarship and achieving his silver wings.
• Cadets Farrant and Kavanagh on passing their 1st Class Cadet exam.
• Sgt Anthony on passing his Staff Part 2 interview and his subsequent promotion to F/Sgt.

Only a few at the moment but more to come…

ISCRM sees the top shooting teams from the three cadet services (ATC, ACF and SCC) compete for a multitude of silverware over three days of competition, firing from 300, 500 and 600 meters.

In addition to representing the squadron the team were also part of the larger Corps team, helping to put the ACF and SCC in their place. They were also the first team from Sussex Wing to enter for, well pretty much ever.

With very little practise or experience at target shooting, and having to beg, steal and borrow kit, the team performed excellently, almost every detail bringing a new personal best. For their efforts the team received both Wing and Corps Blues and the even more coveted high-five from Sgt Downes.

Despite the varying weather, the flooded tent and the ridiculously early mornings, everyone had a great time and can’t wait for next years competition.

P.S. A big thank you to Flt Lt Wright from 45F (Worthing) Sqn who kindly volunteered to be our coach, and to Sgt Forrester from 45F who stepped in at the last minute (literally, 12:30am) to be our butt marker. We couldn’t have done it without you.

The photo gallery has been installed and is now waiting to be populated.
If you have a decent photo from a cadet event then email it to cadets@1343sqn.org.uk.

There’s not much here right now but check back soon as we’ll be adding more very shortly…