1322 (Newton Abbot) Squadron

1322 (Teignmouth) Detached Flight

Air Training Corps

 

First Teignmouth Veterans Day 29th June 2008

 
A long day was had by all cadets who helped making the first "annual" Veterans Day on Teignmouth Den a big success. An early start to set up our recruiting stand and then to help the organisers meant a lot of footwork for all.

As usual the cadets worked hard all day, many having very little time for breaks and rest, but still remaining enthusiastic, even when the stand took off in a gust of wind! The recruiting stand was manned from 9am until 7pm and thanks to an ejector seat saw plenty of people – hopefully some new recruits too! Cadet Daniel Nash and Cpl Chris Oliver had the honour of escorting a WW2 bomber pilot around the arena, which he clearly enjoyed, despite his age and frailty.
  The Welcome Air Display
The early daytime events focussed around a competition arranged between the Air, Sea and Army cadets, which drew a good crowd. There were plenty of eager volunteers for the team, however, the ten cadets involved varied in age and rank from a CWO to a first class cadet and they really worked hard to prove that the Air Cadets are certainly the best! They sported a new T-Shirt printed for the day, sponsored by Teignmouth RAFA, which stood out wherever they were. The main competition was an obstacle course involving going under camouflage nets, assembling a puzzle under a parachute, tyres, beams, water bomb targets, balloon bursting and a stretcher run. Needless to say the Air Cadet team came home resoundingly ahead and had a really good time showing how Air Cadets do teamwork. The best part was seeing a sea cadet tangled completely in the netting and one lone army cadet circling around the air cadet team under a parachute as he had lost the rest of his team to the other parachute – very funny for the onlookers until he was rescued and returned to his team mates.
 
The team were presented with a winners trophy by the High Sheriff of Devon and then met Lt Colonel Lord Clifford, shortly before the veterans came forward to receive their Veterans badges.

 
A second impromptu time filler was called for in the afternoon so a tug of war competition was called. The Air Cadet team once again proved how good a team they were by winning every heat easily – even when there were twenty Sea Cadets and their adult instructor on the other end!
The main event for the afternoon was the grand entrance of the RAF Regiment Falling Rocks Freefall display team who struggled against some very blustery winds to land on The Den from 4,000 feet. Unfortunately the fourth jumper was unlucky and missed The Den by about twenty feet landing right behind the Air Cadet Recruiting stand. He was unhurt but it was a dramatic moment for those close by! FLt Lt Rick Webb had his moment of glory assisting the Parachutist back to the centre of The Den with his parachute.
Needless to say the Air Cadets were anxious to have a group shot with some of the team and it will be one for the memories of those who were there. Many cadets spent some time chatting to the Regiment and the guys were really accommodating and happy to meet the cadets.
CWO Josh Chambers and IFS Dan Bell, pictured, took the opportunity to get as close to the Rock Apes stand as they could….They still didn’t get a t-shirt from them! 

 
The end of the day was a full parade and Drum-Head service in the open air underneath cloudless skies. This made it very hot and a lot of very tired cadets did themselves proud on parade.
It was the first year for this event but it was a huge success. Next year the cadets will be back again to work hard, do their civic duty and bring home the trophy again!!

Last updated Date 12 July 2008
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