Page 96 - MERCIAN Eagle 2011

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Queen Mary’s Grammar School CCF
The school year 2010-11 was a typically
full and active one as far as the CCF was concerned. As I write another cohort
of recruits is about to be inducted with Contingent numbers well over the three hundred mark. This is all the more impressive when it is remembered that membership of the CCF at Queen Mary’s is entirely voluntary.
Core training has consisted of the usual Friday night parade supplemented by a wide variety of weekends and other periods of extended training. Farchynys has been a vital element in putting on such events with three well attended RAF section weekends plus the ever popular and challenging Adventurous Training over Easter. Another version of the Command and Control Trainer Exercise took place in January, QM’s own version of the Army’s Command and Staff Trainer – less hi-tec but a fun way to teach cadets voice procedure and a lot more besides! The Army Section also found time to run a tactics weekend at Nesscliffe in June where a platoon experienced the delights of trench digging – and of course it rained (hard!).
Support from local TA units has been an important factor again this year and we are especially grateful to 210 Battery
RA at Fallings Park where old boy Capt Tom Williams was kind enough to invite a section of cadets onto a field training exercise at Swynnerton last Nov – and thoughtful enough
even further a field spending three weeks in Canada as part of the UKLF cadet exchange scheme.
Another highlight of the year was the formal parade held
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
to arrange snow and
overnight temperatures
of minus 10 deg C.
Lovely! The Battery also
supported Contingent
Army Section Camp at
Longmoor where Capt
Williams and L/Bdr
Rathbone both attended as instructors.
The number of cadets attending external courses has grown again this year. Several senior boys attended the Cadet Leadership Course at Frimley Park. Pardon the cliché but they really did find this a challenging but highly rewarding course and there
is no doubt they will be a great deal more effective as NCOs because of the experience. Sgt Kieran Macfarlane went
in May where the inspecting officer was Lt Colonel Andrew Devey RE MBE, another old boy who very kindly found the time to pay a visit to his old stamping ground. He spoke
individually to literally scores of cadets and he is sure to have inspired many who are considering a career in the Armed Services.
As previously mentioned the Army Contingent enjoyed a very well attended Annual Camp at Longmoor, with numbers just short of 100 cadets. It provided many highlights that will stick in the memory not least some interesting deconfliction with other units. The RAF section visited RAF Halton, Akrotiri and Rheindalen and as well as participating in a busy flying programme.
As a final note, old boys with CCF experience may like to inspect the freshly repainted and refurbished John Dickson block. Who says CFAVs are not multi- talented?
...snow and overnight temperatures of minus 10 deg C. Lovely!