February 2007
St Albans Marine Cadets started 2007 the way they mean to carry on, spending time at sea on their affiliate ship HMS St Albans, successfully completing their annual inspection and winning three Eastern Area trophies within the past few weeks......all this despite recently loosing valuable troop members to rugby and skiing injuries.
The year started with staff and senior cadets attending an excellent evening reception on board HMS St Albans as guests of Commander Newland (thank you Sir), followed by a unit visit whilst the ship was on show as the most expensive centrepiece of this years London Boat show at Excel, Docklands. This terrific day resulted in an invite for two lucky troop members to briefly experience life at sea on the sail back to Portsmouth, followed by a lift home in the Mayoral limousine – ‘Well blagged lads’ !!
February started with winning ways when three troop members and three Sea Cadets represented Hertfordshire District in the Eastern Area SCC ‘Rose Bowl’, small bore shooting competition in Lincoln. With 10 teams competing St Albans ‘A’ team shot exceptionally well to win the RAISE trophy using standard, unmodified No 8 service rifles and achieving runner-up to the best shot of the competition. Unfortunately we couldn’t compete with the outstanding shooting from Cambridge SCC who won the Rose Bowl using the superb SCC Anschutz match rifles – maybe next year?
The month continued at a pace (no pun intended) with drill practice for the Eastern Area Armed Guard drill competition, last weekend at Newark Showground, Nottingham. After two senior cadets were suddenly crocked with sporting injuries recruits Malloy and Berman ably volunteered to literally step into their boots and make up the team with only two weeks practice. Despite this the troop pulled together well and worked exceptionally hard preparing their personal kit and drill routine, ultimately winning the Best 6 man Armed Guard as well as Best Guard Commander – won by Cadet Sergeant Lansdown.
The year continued with a night out at the Albert Hall witnessing the awesome music of the RM bands performing at the Mountbatten Festival of Music and continues further with some major field exercises, the beginning of the boating season (lets get the canoeing up to speed guys), Easter & Summer camps and promotion cadres. Later in the year there may even be the opportunity for an Adventurous Activity venture in the French Pyrenees, climbing, canyoning, rafting and kayaking…. if we can pull together the sponsorship – Any offers?
Adult volunteers are welcome too, there's great training, and the opportunity to make a real difference to the local community. Plus the management committee, who meet just once a month, have spaces and are interested in new faces.
By Cdt Sgt Adam Lansdown