Page 37 - Cadet Review Summer 2019

Air cadets progress
to silver level
leadership
Five cadets from 868 (Mirfield) Squadron were among 12 cadets from across South and West Yorkshire Wing who have progressed from their Bronze level awards in Leadership to the Silver Level, as part of the Air Cadet progressive training syllabus.
The Silver level course is run over two days:
day one delivering the training and day two for assessment. The training phase took place at the Wing HQ, in Castleford, and included topics such as Group dynamics, Followership, Team leadership, Belbin theory of team roles, Task prioritisation and target setting, Delegation, Performance levels, Personality types, Behaviours and Transactional Analysis and Delivering leadership.
Having completed the training phase, cadets were invited back to attend the assessment day. The assessment consisted of a short test of knowledge from the training phase and a series of leadership tasks, during which the cadets’ ability to put their learning into practice was assessed.
Corporal Freya Pugh said this about her participa- tion: “On the first day, after introducing ourselves, we proceeded to the classroom where we had the first of our lectures – on group dynamics. This lecture lasted about 40 minutes, which was a trend that was kept up throughout the day. We received lessons on a variety of topics, from the ego states to the roles that are present in any group – nine of them. The lectures were engaging and informative and proved to be
Toby Mathews and Jacob Stockwell were among three cadets invited to join the training team
effective when we came to the second day. Two weeks after, we went back and sat a theoretical exam on the content we covered
previously, before going to start on the practical portion. The activities considered of situations such as casualty recovery, bridge building, river traversing, and much more.”
As a result of the course, twelve cadets from South and West Yorkshire successfully completed their assessment for the Bronze Leadership badge, including the five cadets from Mirfield: Aiden Booth, Matthew Devine, Toby Mathews, Freya Pugh and Jacob Stockwell
In addition, Toby Mathews and Jacob Stockwell were among three cadets invited to join the training team to assist with the assessments on future Bronze course.
COMIC RELIEF
It has become an established tradition for the Squadron to hold 'Fun Night' as a fund raiser for Comic Relief - this year was no exception!
There were the usual edible treats and cakes to buy, and cadets enjoyed a variety of light-hearted activities such as: Pin the cherry on the gateaux (blindfold) and a race to eat a chocolate bar with a knife and fork!
A highlight of the evening was a short video from many years past, of Flt Lt Peter Doubell performing the Dance of the Cygnets from Swan Lake - dressed as a charlady!
The second half of the evening featured each of the flights presenting a Sods' Opera - a humorous sketch, often at the expense of staff or fellow cadets. This was the cause of great amusement, and featured some very well observed caricatures of Squadron members; the Squadron Commander Flight Lieutenant Peter Doubell commented: “that was hilarious, I nearly laughed ‘til I cried, and there were some wonderful individual performances – I never realised that we had such talent for humour among the cadets!”
This was viewed by everybody, and all those concerned took the associated ‘leg-pulling’ in good heart. The best performance was voted on by donations of money, and all went into the night’s overall kitty.
Amid all the frivolities, £150 was raised for the charity.
CADET REVIEW SUMMER 2019 37