Page 23 - Cadet Review Spring 2021

ARMISTICE PARADE
Sheffield Sea Cadets and Royal Marines Cadets
News was coming in that Remembrance Parades were being cancelled across the country and Sheffield Sea Cadets and Royal Marines Cadets wouldn't be taking their usual place in Barkers Pool for Remembrance Sunday, but how could we let this go by without some kind of ceremony.
The Big Poppy Push was a way to get everyone in Sheffield thinking about the sacrifice people made across our community, no matter what religion or where they came from. We decided to create a poppy cascade to drop down our unit wall and have a field of memorial in front of it. Initially this would be easy, our unit had just gained lime status and we were preparing to begin face to face training again. Sadly, the national lockdown occurred leaving our live-in team to complete the task, this didn't stop people delivering poppies from across the city by the time the cascade was installed over one thousand pop bottles had been painted, drilled and tie wrapped to our net.
The field of remembrance was made up of dedications, a name of a family member who had served, they made a small donation to the RBL and we would add their names, create a book of remembrance for 2020 and a short video to be hosted by HM Lord-Lieutenant of South Yorkshire.
We couldn't let this
event go by unrecognised, now, for years to come we can set up this installation
to remember the people who sacrificed so much
All the names would then be marked with a religious icon in our small field of remembrance. These came from across the country and, like the people who fought in the war and came to our aid in our greatest time of need, from all religions. These were all lit up on the 11th November at 1930 hours, just before our live broadcast.
The live event started at 1950 on the 11th of November and had well over 200 viewers whilst live. Apart from a small technical issue with the flag it created a poignant thank you, a look at times when we considered other "new normals" and look forward to a brighter tomorrow, when cadets will be back together parading side by side.
The BIG POPPY PUSH raised 254.00 for the Royal British Legion.
The Commanding Officer, Sub Lieutenant Garry Chambers MBE, said; "We needed to look at
new ways to say thank you, our cadets have been parading at the Cenotaph in Sheffield since it was first commissioned. We couldn't let this event go by unrecognised, now, for years to come we can set up this installation to remember the people who sacrificed so much."
Please see our YouTube video for the dedications https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWCJDk0T5PE
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