Page 26 - Cadet Review Spring 2020

SWY Wing ATC
A BUSY WEEKEND FOR
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
AND OTHER EVENTS
Support for the Royal Air Force Association Wings Appeal and parades to commemorate the Battle
of Britain mean that September is always a busy time for Air Cadets and this year even more so for members of 868 (Mirfield) Squadron, with a number of other activities running as well.
Over the weekend of 14-15 September, and in common with squadrons around the country, their cadets were out on Saturday with collecting tins to raise funds for the Wings Appeal, which helps raise the vital funds needed to support serving and former serving RAF personnel and their families, whenever they are in need. Whether it’s an injured airman fighting to get back onto his feet, a young child missing their parent away on overseas operations or a WWII veteran needing a shoulder to lean on. Co-or- dinated by the Batley and Birstall Branch of the Royal Air Force Association, cadets from the area (covering also Batley, Dewsbury, and Spen Valley squadrons) collected an amazing £1597 for the appeal!
But also, that day saw cadets from Mirfield attending 645 Volunteer Gliding Squadron at RAF Topcliffe, leading to the award of Blue Gliding Wings for Cadet Warrant Officer Kiara Baillie (18) and Cadets Joshua Clark (13), Oscar Clayton (14) and Sebastian Gallagher-Wild (13). Their day consisted of
ground training, covering the controls of an aircraft and how they can be used to manoeuvre to glider in the air, practicing in a flight simulator and finally consolidating their learning in an actual flight in one of the Air Cadets’ Viking gliders, launched by aerotow, behind a powered aircraft.
Meanwhile another party of cadets from
the Squadron set out on a Bronze level Duke
of Edinburgh’s Award expedition through the countryside of West Yorkshire, which would also run overnight and through the next day. A tiring but successful venture for Corporal Toby Mathews and Cadets Morgan Francis, Ace Parker and Eliot Ryan, all fourteen.
The tempo kept up for the Sunday as well, as cadets turned out, alongside their colleagues from 185 (Batley), 96 (Dewbury), and 2490 (Spen Valley) Squadrons, for the Battle of Britain Memorial Parade organised by the Batley branch of the Royal Air Force Association.
The parade included a short service at Batley Memorial Gardens; a very moving event as the names of each member of the Royal Air Force who had died in the conflict were read out and cadets placed a cross on the memorial in memory of each one. Local MP Tracey Brabin and the Mayor of Kirklees, Councillor Mumtaz Hussain, were
in attendance. Together with the Royal Air Force Association branch president, Vernon Jones, they each laid a wreath on the memorial during the service. Banners from the four local Squadrons and the Royal Air Force Association were paraded and the event was supported by about 50 members of the various cadet squadrons.
Co-ordinated by the Batley and Birstall Branch of the Royal
Air Force Association, cadets from the area collected
an amazing £1597 for the appeal!
Batley Battle of Britain Parade
That was also the day that the Mirfield Squadron
26 CADET REVIEW SPRING 2020
Eliot Ryan, Morgan Francis, Toby Mathews and Ace Parker at the end of their expedition