Page 36 - Cadet Review Summer 2019

SWY Wing ATC
Royal Air Force Air Cadets National Awards
Sunday 12th May was the big day for Air Cadets from all over the country: the day when all
the year’s major awards were presented at a prestigious ceremony held in the famous College Hall Officers’ Mess at the RAF College Cranwell, hosted by Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty, Commandant Air Cadets, and with Air Marshal Julian Young as principal guest.
Both North Region and South and West Yorkshire Wing were well represented by CWO Joshua Clegg of 59 (Huddersfield) Squadron and CWO Shannon Copeland of 148 (Barnsley) Squadron who were the nominations from North Region for the Dacre sword and ATC 75 Sword presentations. These are annual awards to recognise the top male and top female cadets in the Air Training Corps.
Each of them went through a rigorous interview process with at HQ South and West Yorkshire Wing to gain the nomination to go forward to further interviews at HQ North Region, following which they were selected by Group Captain Mark Leeming, Commandant North Region Air Cadets, to be the Region’s nomination for the National Awards. There are five Wings in North Region, so for the two nominations to come from the same wing is very unusual.
These are annual awards to recognise the top male and top female cadets in the Air Training Corps
So it was that a delighted Wing Commander Brian Daniel, Officer Commanding South and West Yorkshire Wing, was present to support them at the awards ceremony.
Also attending the ceremony was Sergeant Jonathan Barrett from 868 (Mirfield) Squadron who was to be presented with the Cubby Sword for the best candidate on the Air Cadet Leadership Courses for 2018. The presentation to Sgt Barrett was made by Mr Amril Sandhu of the Avjir Singh Sandhu Leadership Foundation, which supports the highest performing young people in academia, military, enterprise and sports.
Each July four of these week-long Leadership Courses are run at RAF Cranwell, aiming to:
a. To provide leadership training for cadet NCOs or
potential NCOs so that they may return to their
units as better leaders.
b. To teach leadership training methods to improve
this training at unit level.
c. To improve the standard of drill commands,
especially among the less experienced cadets. d. To foster greater understanding and co-operation
between the staff and cadets.
During the course, cadets are instructed in fundamental skills including leadership techniques. They practice these in a strenuous regime, culminating in a 48-hour exercise under canvas during their assessment week - the days are long and demanding, and at the end of the week cadets tackle a peer assessment exercise and are then reported on and interviewed by their flight commander.
Although in the end CWO Clegg and CWO Copeland were runners up to the award of the swords, to be in the top six male and female cadets, respectively, in the country is a major achievement for them, and led Wg Cdr Daniel to comment “I was immensely proud of CWO Clegg and CWO Copeland who both represented North Region as the top male and female cadet from the Corps. They were a credit to their Squadron and Wing. I am also very proud of Sgt Barrett from 868 (Mirfield) Squadron for winning the Cubby Sword for the top graduate from the Air Cadet Leadership Course. All in all, it was a great day for South and West Yorkshire Wing.”
CWO Copeland, Sgt Barrett,
Recipients on the steps of College Hall Officers' Mess
with Air Marshal Julian Young and
Air Commodore Dawn McCafferty
Wg Cdr Daniel and CWO Clegg
36 CADET REVIEW SUMMER 2019