Page 146 - Bugle Autumn 2014

Cornwall Army Cadet Force
7 Castle Canyke Road, Bodmin, Cornwall PL31 1DX
Tel: 01208-73183 Fax: 01208-74468 Email: wx-cor-ao1@rfca.org.uk Internet site: www.cornwallacf.co.uk
Honorary Col: Colonel T Butterfield MA County Comdt: Colonel L Donnithorne Deputy Comdt: Lt Colonel J Coia TD Cadet Executive Officer: Major G Titley Training Officer: Major P C Deakin
PR Officer: Major V L Magor RSM: RSMI P Jephcote
Inkerman Company OC: Major M Baker CSM: SMI J Geach
Lucknow Company OC: Major H Geach CSM: SMI S Warne
Gibraltar Company OC: Major J Summers CSM: SMI K Philip
Cornwall Army
Cadets Banners
Over several years, all Platoons of the Cornwall Army Cadets have raised funds for the purchase of an ACF Banner. As the purchase must be from non-public funds, many Platoon Commanders are very versatile
and inventive in raising funds. Most methods involve contacting the local Supermarket to either ‘bag pack’ or collecting boxes at the exits. Also asking parents for donations, or having a ‘Bring and Buy’ day at the Platoon location.
The Lostwithiel Platoon decided to approach the Town Council for funds, as the Council had a sum of money allocated to help out with any local charity or community run organisation; so with a nicely worded letter they achieved a large donation.
The Helston Platoon in raising
their funds applied to the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary’s Cornwall Community Cash Back scheme
which is money seized from criminals obtained by the forces Financial Investigation Unit, then offered back to the community.
Newquay Joint Services Cadet building being opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall Colonel Edward Bolitho
Newquay Joint Cadet Centre, Newquay, Cornwall
In the year when many Commemorations have been held relating to the First World War, it is appropriate to mention that many of the Cadet Force buildings in which they meet weekly were built over one hundred years ago and are still being used today. One of these is the Newquay Cadets Building at Crantock Street. It was recently refurbished and was re-opened by The Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho, OBE.
The guests, parents and Cadets
were welcomed by the Chairman of the Cornwall Joint Services Cadet Committee Colonel Les Donnithorne and following the unveiling of a Commemoration Plaque, by The Lord-Lieutenant, Wing Commander Francis Reis thanked
all who attended this
memorable occasion.
financial costs of maintaining both a Regular Army and a Territorial Reserve Army were proving to be very costly. Through the efforts of the newly appointed Secretary
of War, Mr Winston Churchill, a very lean Territorial Army managed to survive. In Cornwall the Territorial Battalions were halved and merged to form the 4th/5th Battalion Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry (Territorial Army).
On the 29th August 1939 the Territorial Army was mobilised. In March, 1940, a new Local Defence Volunteers was formed shortly to be re-named the Home Guard.
Newquay then became the Headquarters of The 11th (Newquay) Battalion Home Guard. It boasted 40 Platoons, organised
The building was
started in the 19th C
completed in the 20th
C and refurbished in the
21st C and now is fit for
purpose, with overhead projectors in each classroom, disabled access and outside parade area. Colonel Edward Bolitho, OBE, in his address, praised the RFCA which arranged the finance of the building and the Contractors in their execution of the construction, and hoped that the format
of the building will become one of the templates for future Joint Cadet Centres.
The Newquay Drill Hall, as it is more familiarly known, traces its beginnings to the late Victorian/early Edwardian period when it was used by the County Militia.
Under Lord Haldane’s Territorial and Reserve Forces Act of 1907 it was then used by personnel of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry Reserve Battalion and remained a Military Drill Hall for the Territorial and Reserve Forces throughout the First World War.
Following demobilisation of the Territorial Force Battalions, after the Great War, the
Newquay then became the Headquarters of The 11th (Newquay) Battalion Home Guard
into 7 rifle companies with a parading state, on the 16th May 1943, of 1,328 Officers and Men. The Home Guard was disbanded in December 1944.
The Territorial Army, founded on 1st May 1907, was
mostly composed of the 4th/5th Battalion personnel. Newquay Drill Hall was used for Bren Gun Training. Measures were made to swing out a portion of the Wall to allow
a Bren Gun Carrier to enter the Building. The “D” Ring static wire points are still a feature of the original floor and the training continued until the introduction of the
Army Volunteer Reserves on the 1st April 1967. The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, classified an A111 Unit, were reduced to the Headquarters element at Bodmin and two Rifle Companies, and based at Bodmin and Truro.
Although the Drill Hall was also the Detachment Building for the Army Cadet Force during all of the preceding years it seems apparent that it became the sole occupier from around 1958 until 781 (Newquay) Squadron, Air Training Corps also began to use the building in the 1980s.
144 CADETS
THE RIFLES