On the 3rd and 4th of June Cpl Richmond, Cpl Clough, Cdt Todmann, and Cdt Neville went hiking through the Pentlands for their bronze Duke of Edinburgh practice expedition. Over the two days they walked 15km, camping at Bonaly Scout Centre. At the Bonaly Scout Centre they were required to cook their own dinner in the evening, and their own breakfast the following morning. This was in order to teach them what they needed to bring and what they would be required to do for their qualifier expedition on the 24th and 25th of June. They all said how use full it was and how much they learnt with map reading and how it will help them for the 'Real' expedition. They all enjoyed themselves and look forward to completing the Expedition on the weekend of the 24th of June. Good luck to everyone!
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Between the 19th to the 21st of May Cpl Lawrence attended the first part of his silver comms at Leuchars Station. He said that he thoroughly enjoyed the first part and learnt a lot. He said it was also very different to bronze that he done a couple of months ago, this went more in depth and went away from just the radio and went more into the theory side of communications and why they do everything they do and the impacts if it is not done correctly. Cpl Lawrence said "I can't wait to complete the next part of the course to achieve my Silver Communications and hope to go on and also get my gold!"
Cpl Clough and Myself (FS Maxwell) attended the L98 training and shooting weekend at RAF Lossiemouth. After a 3 and a half hour bus journey and a good nights sleep, we woke up, had breakfast and started training. I had some refresher training and re passed my Weapons Handling Test (WHT) and this meant after lunch I could start shooting the L98. The first 10 rounds, 2 groupings of 5 aloud me to get used to the rifle. After some more shooting, I got to try multi position which includes sitting and kneeling along with the standard prone. My last prone grouping was 29mm (furthest apart) and 40mm for kneeling. Cpl Clough enjoyed learning about the rifle including how to take it apart, cleaning, firing positions and passed his WHT in the end. On the 23rd of April, 9 cadets from the squadron attended the inter squadron athletics. The weather stayed clear throughout the day which was very nice and added to the great atmosphere. The cadets participated in multiple events including 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, Javelin, Shot-put and many others over several age categories gaining 8 medals total. Gold – Cdt Murrin Mckenzie (Shotput) Silver – Sgt Jenna Scott (Shotput) Bronze – Cpl Cameron Lawrence (1500m) Cdt Lewis Lawrence (400m) On the 30th of April, we partook in a Duke of Edinburgh walk at Miller and Carter Steakhouse in Crammond Brig. this was conducted in order to assess our competence in navigation and make sure we were able to navigate for the Duke of Edinburgh expedition. This took us two hours, on a round trip through the nearby woodland, in three separate groups with other squadrons. Cpl Clough, Cpl Richmond, Cdt Todman, Cdt Journeaux, Cdt Watson, Cdt Neville, and Cdt Mckenzie were all in attendance, and all earned the National Navigation Award. We all feel as if we have learned some valuable skills and enjoyed ourselves greatly.
On Monday, the 1st we partook in some mountain biking skills as the boss, Flt Lt Kyle has recently passed his mountain biking course. Leading was Flt Lt Kyle and CI Turner with Cpl Black, Cdt Penman, Cdt Lawrence and Cdt Howitt all taking part. As this was the first time they done bike safety whilst on the bike and assessment of the bike to check it was also safe. After doing that they learnt about some of the basics of cornering, position on the bike. They learnt about descending and climbing and to put all of these skills into place by going for a ride around the base. On Sunday the 30th we partook in the wing first aid competition held at HMS Scotia. This was a competition to test cadets capability of their first aid knowledge which they have learnt on their first aid course which everyone who was in attendance would have attended. This course you can attend to be eligible to enter for the junior teams is 'Youth First Aid' this is a 3 day course where you learn 'heart start' on one evening heart then the other two do bleeding, shock, chocking, recovery position etc.
In attendance on the day was Sgt Scott, Cpl Richmond, Cpl White and Cpl Black who were all first aid trained. We also had a casualty in attendance Cdt Stephens who is currently heart start trained but is hoping to complete her Youth First Aid and this was good experience for her. The team then started with the group exercise, this is when you and your team go into a room unknown of what the situation is then you find the casualties unknown of their injuries or illnesses and then have to work out through your first aid skills you've learnt best how you should treat them. After we then had our individuals where it is similar to the groups accept it's just one person with a casualty. This tests other skills as you can't rely on other people and just have to use your own skills. Overall the squadron came 7th which we hope to improve on for the competition next year. On the 10th of April we attended our first Easter Service as a squadron for many years. We would like to thank our own Padre and Trinity Church, Crossgates for hosting us and for making the evening so enjoyable. We would also like to thank the Civilian Committee along with members of the church for putting on teas and coffees for everyone afterwards. Well done to all of the readers on the evening and hopefully have many events like this in the future. Radio Controlled Flying Today, cadets and staff from South East Scotland Wing participated in introductory training for RC Flying. The event, held at RAF Kirknewton, gave the trainees the opportunity to have their preliminary flights with high wing trainer aircraft. Some of these aircraft have been built and maintained by cadets and staff from throughout South East Scotland Wing. Corporal Ewan Ramage (2180) showed off his skills and aircraft flying an ACRO - WOT and Flight Sergeant Calum Maxwell (1145) flew his Bixler 2 motor glider with an attached action camera. Many thanks to OC 661 VGS, Sqn Ldr Tom Gray, RAF Charitable Trust and staff and cadets from 1192, 1232, 1145, 1145DF, 571 and 2180 Squadrons. FS Maxwell Cadets from 1145 Sqn had the opportunity to go clay pigeon shooting and also got the chance to complete training on the air rifle but unfortunately no shooting this time. It was a really good day and although it was bad weather we still got lots of clays. After having a wee taster on a poacher shotgun, we moved onto a full 12 bore shotgun and we shot 20 shells. The cadets who went were Cpl Black, Cpl White, Cdt Mckenzie, Cdt Martins, Cdt Clarke, Cdt (L) Lawrence, Cdt Letham and Cdt Watson. The cadets really enjoyed this for their first experience and for Cpl White building on existing experience. We look forward to doing this again in the future. On the 24th of February, the squadron was visited by the Regional Commandant Group Captain Leggat and Squadron Leader Erasmuson for the Regional inspection. This inspection is in order to grade the squadron on how well it functions and how well the cadets are doing within the squadron. The night started with the arrival of our visitors and first parade in the HMS Scotia with an interview of sorts with the cadets. afterwards there was an overview of the RC modelling robotics projects followed by a drill display. Grp Cptn Leggat then had a tour around all of our projects which included Media, Music, aeromodelling, and Flight Sim. After this Cpl Black and Cpl Noble gave a presentation to the visitors on how we recruit new cadets and present ourselves to the public. Then finally we then done final parade where Grp Cptn Leggat gave out may awards including first aid, heartstart, classifications and many more. He then gave his closing speech and thanked us for showing him how our squadron, with us presenting him with a photo from the first parade of the night. We'd like to thank them for visiting our squadron, and we hope that we can go through to the corp competition. On Friday the 17th 10 of our cadets when to Ratho, Edinburgh International Climbing Arena. This was the first time for the majority of the cadets in attendance so they were working towards their NICAS 1 award. The NISAS award scheme is there to develop climbing skills and to do this at all abilities. Some of the NICAS level 1 participants said "I really enjoyed the night and learnt some new skills of how to climb different types of walls, how belaying works and the different types of knots I need to use and how to tie them".- Cdt Lawrence. This is also similar for the NICAS 2 participants they consolidate this skills they have already learn't when they completed NICAS 1. At the end of the night the cadets also got to do some bouldering this is where you are climbing a relatively small wall that is really steep and quite hard to climb your are also not harnessed in like you normally are in climbing. This helps to improve your climbing as it shows you a different aspect of climbing and improves your skills and helps you for when your climbing the normal walls. On the 19th if February me Cdt Lewis Lawrence and Cpl Cameron Lawrence attended the bronze communication course. The course took place at 1192 (Kirkcaldy) Sqn held by CI Horne. The bronze award consisted of previous basic radio communications that I learnt when I done my blue communications award and progressed my skills that I learnt when I done it.
We learnt a lot during the course, we also had fun meeting new cadets and building confidence on the radios by playing various games such as the game battleships but for obvious reasons me and my brother played the Air Force version as we may want to join the RAF in the future. My brother and I fourthly enjoyed the teaching of the well experienced instructors and we can’t wait to achieve our silver, hopefully build up to gold and possibly even cyber. Thursday evening (16th Feb) saw the final evening of Cadet Sergeant Lyle Fairfield.
Lyle has been a Air Cadet at 1145 (Dunfermline) Squadron for the last 4 years, during which time he completed Swimming Competancy levels, Youth First Aid Training, Training in Aviation Studies, Adventure Training and multiple charity fundraising events. He has also attended several camps at active RAF stations and has represented Scotland and Northern Ireland Region ATC for Rugby. Lyle leaves us to focus on his training for his career in the RAF Regiment and is due to embark on his Pre-Training Course in early March, with a view to beginning his initial training by April. The Staff, Cadets and Civilian Committee would like to wish Lyle the best of luck as he takes this big step towards his future! We are delighted to announce that the Squadron has decided on the new charity of the year. We decided to support the Captain David Seath Memorial Fund. We are supporting this charity as it is close to the Squadron as David was an ex cadet of our Squadron. David tragically died last year whilst running the London marathon for Help for Heroes. Libby and Gary Seath visited the Squadron to talk about the charity and its aims. We are sure that all members of the Squadron will want to get behind this cause as it is both worthwhile and personal. Wait for further announcements and please feel free to make recommendations for ways we can raise funds this year and make this a memorable and record breaking year for our charity efforts. Friday 2nd of December saw our annual squadron prize giving held at HMS Scotia. Special guests in attendance included the Earl of Elgin, Wing Commander McRae and Fg Off (retired) Mitchell. Hosting the evening was OC 1145 Sqn Flt Lt Kyle. The evening also included presentations for 1145 (Kinross) DF.
The evening started off with a brief reprisal of another successful year for 1145 Squadron. We then moved on to a round of promotions. Promoted to FS was Sgt Maxwell, promoted to Sgt was Cpl Fairfield, Promoted to Cpl was, Cdt White, Cdt Gray, Cdt Richmond and Cdt Clough. Congratulations to all promotees. We then continued on with all the other awards including the attendance cup which was won by Cpl Clough and Cdt Nevil, runner up FS Maxwell. Classifications that were earned by Cpl Gray, Cdt Lawrence, Cdt Todman and Cdt Martins. We then had two talks from Cpl Clough and FS Maxwell who done their talks in front of the Earl of Elgin. Public speaking, we had a competition at the squadron about a month before hand and Cpl Clough and FS Maxwell were the two who got to do it at prize giving in front of the Earl Of Elgin who would pick the winner but he listened to them both and was so impressed with them he awarded them both joint 1st. We then moved onto the charity award which we are proud as a squadron each year to select a charity and raise money for the selected charity. This year we raised £750 for Cerebra and Combat Stress. The winner of the charity awards for his efforts in fundraising was Sgt Scott. Next year our selected charity is The Captain David Seath Memorial Fund which we are looking forward to raising money for. This charity is close to our hearts as he was a former member of 1145 Sqn. One of the final events of the evening was our recruits getting their formal enrolment. They were enrolled by our new squadron padre who formally enrolled them by addressing them and giving them the cadet promise to read so they could officially become a cadet. The evening’s events concluded with a speech by Lord Bruce, Deputy Lord Lieutenant. On Sunday the 4th December, 8 cadets went flying up at 12 AEF, Leuchars Station. When we arrived we were given safety instructions and talked through everything that would happen. When it was our turn we would go through to the kitting area where we were fitted with our flight suits, chutes and helmet. once we were ready and everything was properly fitted we waiting until the pilot was ready.
When the pilot was ready we walked out onto the runway and stepped into the plane that we would be flying in, the pilot made me feel at ease and he explained what he was doing each step of the way as he was getting ready for take off. When he was granted permission he shot off down the runway and soon we were in the air. I got the opportunity to take the controls for a little while and he explained what each control was for as I used them. We did a few circuits of the airfield before coming back in to land. I had a great day and since it was my first flight I really enjoyed it and cant wait to go back for more! On Monday 21st November cadets participated in a charity rank auction to raise money for their chosen charities for 2016, Cerebra and Combat Stress UK. Cadet NCO's and staff alike donated their tapes for the evening and gave up their rank for an open bidding war. Successful cadets then took on the rank for evening taking part in NCO duties, teaching drill or even becoming the squadron OC for the evening. The rank auction was a hugely popular fundraiser with the cadets having great fun running the evening (or a mock). A superb £85.80 was raised.
On Thursday 17th November cadets took part in a charity Zumbathon. NCO's choreographed various routines and put the cadets through their paces in an effort to raise fund for the squadrons supported charities for 2016.
In giving up one of their sports nights for such an important cause the cadets managed to raise over £100 and counting... On the weekend of remembrance we took part in poppy selling and two parades. On Saturday we were poppy selling in the Dunfermline town center, where we had 17 enthusiastic cadets ready to help raise money for the poppy appeal on such an important weekend. After a long cold day the cadets managed to raise an astonishing £ 670.85 which we were proud to help raise for the poppy appeal. On Remembrance Sunday we took part in both Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath parades. In Dunfermline we marched in 2 flights and a banner party which this was the largest there, we marched from the Royal British Legion to the memorial next to the abbey where we showed our respect with Corporal Fairfield who laid the wreath. From there our next stop was the Cowdenbeath parade which we also attend every year. At this parade we laid wreath at the Monument and one at the Town hall where we all sang hymns. At this parade Corporal Black and Corporal Noble laid both wreaths. We also like to thank the British Legion staff, the staff at Cowdenbeath and finally our cadet staff who helped us to be able to attend such an important weekend of events. On October 2nd, Eleven Cadets and nine staff from Scotland and Northern Ireland Region Air Cadets who are part of the team for the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) - Mini Flight were invited down to RAF Coningsby home of the BBMF for Lincolnshire Lancaster Association day. Everyone was treated to a spectacular show and fly pasts much more exciting than any other show. The hospitality was first class and the Mini Flight were also on display in the main hangar, raising funds for the BBMF at the start of a new fundraising year! It was a long and tiring weekend but definitely well worth it! Cadets and staff alike had such a terrific day it was difficult to pull some of them away to make our preparations for the homeward trip. “I thoroughly enjoyed the display and the sound of the Merlin engine’s buzzing your head at 100 feet was amazing!” – Sgt Maxwell Thanks have to go to the BBMF for the invitation, to all of the staff who organised and supported the trip and to the cadets for their hard work in the team! Our Public Relations (Media) team recently competed at the Scotland and Northern Ireland Regional field day held at HMS Scotia with cadets representing their wings in Air Recognition, Modelling, Photography, PR & Media and both standard and Banner drill. It was a prestigious event with The Vice Lord Lieutenant of Fife and her husband in attendance. During the regional field we were very excited and pleased to be at the regional event we firstly set up all our media and PR equipment which included our pop up banners, squadron props, our exhibition board and Recruitment board. We take all of these things to all of our public events and recruitment events. We then had many visitors coming to see our area to see what we offer as a squadron and we were seeing what they also offered. We then had our inspection along with all the other squadrons that were competing in the competition where we showed them everything we had to offer as a squadron, what we done, our recruitment methods and much more. We were pleased to also have a model in the competition submitted by Cpl Noble he came second with his model in the miscellaneous section. Our PR team competed against three other wings, West wing, Highland Wing and North East wing to win 1st Place making us the best in all of Scotland and Northern Ireland wing for Public Relations & Media. Last week we visited Fife Ethylene Plant at Mossmorran (nr Cowdenbeath). The plant itself makes Ethylene, which is a gas used to make household plastics among other things.
When we arrived we were taken to a small training and education centre, a short distance away from the main plant, there we were shown a video on how the plant uses heating and cooling equipment to product Ethylene from the gas found in oil deposits. The gas is heated in large furnaces to help rid it of any other chemical impurities and bonds, the by-products are then recycled and used as fuel or as a power source for other areas of the plant. We really enjoyed looking around the plant seeing each area of the the process, which was narrated by our very own Civilian Instructor - Mr Barclay! We particulaly enjoyed the control room there were lots of screens and computers controlling every aspect of the plant and we got to speak to some of the operators. We would like to say a big thank yo to everyone at the plant who took the time to speak to us, particular Mr Barclay who organised the tour. Four cadets recently attended East Fortune air show. The cadets were stationed at the RC Model stand where they helped to recruit a number of cadets that were interested in the project and also had free time to enjoy displays from The Red Arrows, The Black Cats, BBMF Spitfire and Hurricane, The Matadors and Vampire duo.
On Thursday 21st July the Lord Lieutenant of Fife attended 1145 Dunfermline Squadron to Present CWO Aidan Collier with his Lord Lieutenants Cadet certificate at a presentation within the squadron. Guests included the Lord Lieutenant, Wing Commander McCrae, Parents of Aidan Collier, Civilian Committee, Staff and Cadets. The night began with a tour of the squadron including an introduction to projects. The presentation began with a brief introduction from Flt Lt Moray Kyle followed by the Lord Lieutenant presentation. Afterwards promotions were awarded to CWO Collier, promoted from Flight Sargent and Sgt Scott, promoted from Corporal.
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