Report from Officer in Command of TS St Albans to A.G.M.
27 September 2006 by C/Sgt Peter Lansdown
I took over as OIC of TS St Albans from Sub Lt Matt Waylett (who has moved on to become District Training Officer) in March this year following the Annual Inspection of the unit where we achieved Burgee status - being in the top 25% of units in the country. As a result we have been exempted from a RNI next year - 2007 .but I intend to hold a formal inspection in a similar vein to showcase our achievements this year and for prize giving.
My stated aims for the forthcoming year were to increase cadet numbers to 50, through active recruitment of Sea Cadets and passive recruitment of Marine Cadets and to improve on boating hours and qualifications (particularly sailing) and shooting qualifications (which had been non existent over the previous year).
Our success as a Sea Cadet Unit and as a Youth facility for St Albans undoubtedly relies on our highly visible, long standing and ever increasing status and reputation. We are by far the largest of the three Cadet organisations in the Borough and positioned as we are, in a prominent location within Verulam Park, we attract passing youths to all three organisations.
We enjoy the safety of the park as a training and recreational area, with children as young as 10 years old engaging in supervised activities within the park until 21.30 hrs at least twice a week, if not throughout the night on our many training weekends. We appreciate the presence of the general public to view and learn about our activities and ensure that our training is not spoiled by aggressive, abusive or anti-social elements.
Our transport and communications links are unparalleled and bring cadets from all around the Borough and beyond, ranging as far as Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Harpenden, Borehamwood & Finchley; with staff travelling by rail links from London and Watford. Our location is renowned and accessible to the many National units that visit us yearly for training activities or to collect our Cadets for coach trips to National events and competitions.
We have recently enjoyed a closer relationship with Westminster Lodge, utilising their facilities for our swim & safety training and some of our more adventurous pursuits in competition with the Army and Air cadets. We hope this will continue.
We are a 'Flagship' organisation within St Albans. We are subject to almost weekly articles in the local press, have regular (if not monthly) articles in the international 'Navy News' and are to be seen at numerous Borough and County events. We were part of the HMS St Albans crew granted the prestigious honour of 'The Freedom of The City of St Albans' last year and historically, as the senior service, lead the march on the Cenotaph in the town centre on Armistice Day providing the Guard of Honour.
As a result of our reputation and success we have been invited for the past two years to provide Cadets to form the Honour Guard in London on the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, where our Cadets escorted the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Andrew and The First Sea Lord and on St Georges Day, when we were additionally invited into 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace during the inspection of the guard by Prince Michael of Kent. A unique honour bestowed only on a privileged few We still parade two evenings a week, Tuesdays and Fridays between 19.00hrs and 21.30 hrs but have increased our weekend training to over 30 events or activities this year. This puts a tremendous strain on the limited volunteer staff and the successful cadets who compete at the highest level in more than one activity. The benefits of the current unit infrastructure and location ease this burden to a manageable level.
CADET NUMBERS
We currently have 30 enrolled Sea Cadets, 9 Marine Cadets, 9 Juniors and 4 New Entries giving us a total strength of 52. Although this is an excellent figure exceeding our target, I intend to contact the local authority and schools over the next couple of months to request permission to carry out recruitment visits.
Our Cadets come from a range of educational and ethnic backgrounds as diverse as public school boarders (on day release) to children statemented with special needs. We have accepted cadets on referral from youth offending schemes and are proud to say that our discipline and structure prevents those with behavioural difficulties from displaying or repeating their behaviours, to the extent that they are not identifiable from the general cadet.
Any cadet who steps outside of our boundaries would be expected to change or leave.
STAFF
Unfortunately Mrs Nash our Admin Officer retired in March following the RNI - Fortunately she can't stay away and can still regularly be found working in the Ships Office with CI Chris Ridgeway - Welcome back.
We are in a strong position having 11 enrolled members of staff, although the reliability and attendance of some due to other commitments has caused concern..
This should improve with recent changes but we must anticipate the imminent birth of CI Ginn's son and her well-deserved maternity leave - Happy Birthday.
P.Sgt Packham is attending his Officer Selection Board this weekend and hopes to return to the unit as a 2nd Lt - Good luck (he passed).
CI Wright (our seamanship instructor) has had to resign due to family commitments but we have recruited 2 new CIs :
TI Robin Oakley our Publicity Officer who keeps local papers and Navy News afloat with our stories and photographs and also maintains our excellent Unit Website - and who is currently undertaking a dinghy instructor course (he passed see here), &
CI Roger Frost who is transferring from Welwyn SCC and is coincidentally a keen sailor and qualified seamanship instructor - Welcome aboard.
I am particularly pleased to report the success of appointing PO Vicky Hastings as Unit Training Officer, a role she has undertaken admirably, benefiting the unit with a new structure and direction - Well done... Thanks to them all.
AIMS
I am very pleased to report that this year we have seen a significant increase in the number of hours spent both on the water predominantly canoeing and off shore sailing - (although small boat sailing will undoubtedly improve with CI Oakley's impending qualifications) and with weapons training, resulting in excellent achievements in District and Area competitions.
ACHEIVEMENTS & TROPHIES
This year Cadets representing TS St Albans won both the Topper and Bosun sailing trophies at the Hertfordshire District competitions and 3 Cadets went on to compete at east of England Area sailing. 2 Cadets also attended National Race Training.
At the District Canoeing competition, TS St Albans won every category. Unfortunately holidays and other National events resulted in only 4 Cadets going onto Area and consequently only 1 to National.. This is one of the consequences of success.
The unit won 19 out of 21 races at District Swimming and 12 of our Cadets went onto compete at Area. I should point out that there was very little competition at District level (one other unit entry) and this was reflected in our relatively poor Area results (two second places) where we were the ONLY Hertfordshire unit to compete.
We have attended two very successful full bore range weekends resulting in nearly 20 shooting badges and Cadets from St Albans winning every event at the Area Shooting competition (11 Area medals)... but despite this we were overlooked for the National events at Bisley! ...We plan to remedy this next year.
Our senior ET team won the District competition and attended Area where last weekend in Nottingham the team leader LC Sharp was awarded second place.
Last January both the Marine Cadet and Sea Cadet Drill Teams won the District competitions, going on to East of England Area, where the Marine Cadets came second, and the Sea Cadets 4th. There is real enthusiasm amongst the cadets to do better this year with requests to practice already. It is anticipated that this year we will compete against London Area teams to provide capable competition.
PROMOTIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS
Burgee standards dictate that each enrolled Cadet (30 SCC plus 9 MCD) must gain on average 3 qualifications, 1 specialisation and 1 promotion per year.
Since March we have achieved a total of 97 qualifications within the unit. We are now working hard towards specialization badges and are holding a multi training weekend for over 20 cadets in two weeks time. We are well into a seamanship course that should qualify another 10 cadets and will continue the year with piping and first aid.
Various junior rates (both SCC and MCD) have been promoted over recent months. 2 Cadets have been promoted to Leading Cadet, with 2 more attending promotion boards imminently. Leading Cadet Parker is being trained for her PO Cdt board but has also applied to join the RN. we wait a joining date!
Within the Marine Cadet Detachment, Cpl Watts was promoted to Sgt (achieving the highest pass mark in the national examination board) and is due to become a member of staff in October. Cpl Lansdown is applying for his Sgt assessment board in October Cpl Ridgeway left the MCD to start his career at RM Lympstone last week-Good luck.
INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES & NATIONAL COURSES
We have had a highly successful year with regard to Cadet expeditions. Four of our Cadets were fortunate enough to be selected for overseas exchanges to Bermuda, Canada, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. All of them had a wonderful experience and their escort officers have given them excellent course reports.
3 Cadets attended Frimley Park leadership course, with all obtaining very good course reports, one being appointed Battalion Sgt Major in charge of over 100 cadets.
6 Cadets have sailed on our off shore 'Tall Ship' TS Royalist this year, including 3 who took part in various legs of the Tall Ships race to Faro, Portugal.
Four younger cadets attended one-week offshore sailing courses on TS John Jerwood and six juniors spent a week at sea on TS Bob Allen. All cadets received creditable course reports and appropriate sailing qualifications.
Uniquely one cadet successfully passed a SCC 'windsurfing' course in Scotland.
COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE
We have assisted the Mayor with a charitable fund raising event at St Albans Arena and have assisted a young girl with her charity collection for a trip to Peru.
SUMMARY
A successful year to date with cadet numbers steady and qualifications on target for our aim of another Burgee. However, many senior cadets will be leaving within the next 6 - 12 months and this may leave a leadership vacuum that could affect performance in the longer term.
We continue to have to travel extensively due to our geographic position within the Area, our success in winning places at Area and National events and our need to send cadets on Area or National courses for qualifications. This has put a lot of strain on the unit minibus and on staff, particularly drivers who are being committed to too many weekend events.
It is hoped that over the next year more qualifications will be available from unit based activities (particularly boating and shooting) that can be organised locally and planned for more convenience. Alternatively, the burden of weekend events could be shared amongst more qualified adults. We welcome reliable volunteers.
We need to build on our success and capitalise our assets. We must NOT look backwards and loose our impetus in improving and moving forwards.
Yours Aye
C/Sgt Peter Lansdown
Officer in Charge
T.S St Albans SCC