2007 Update

Well, firstly I must apologise for not having made a posting for some time. Things have been pretty hectic, both at work and cadets so something had to give. Anyway I'm back now and I'll try to give you a quick resume of what has been happening for the last couple of months.

The cadets have been working on Police Service for their Duke of Edinburgh Award which so far they have really enjoyed. Last week they had a tour of Thurso Police Station which was very interesting. They were all really keen to have their fingerprints done so I guess that means they have no little secrets I should know about. They asked loads of questions at the end which was really great and showed their enthusiasm for what the officer has been doing with them.

We had Ali Murray in speaking to them a few weeks ago about the ICT Youth Challenge and it looks like we will be entering a couple of teams. They have come up with some good ideas and are pretty enthusiastic about it. We need to find time over the next week to finalise their ideas and get their entries in.

We also had a visit from the local Coast Guards who spent some time explaining what the Coast Guards are all about and took in some of their kit for the cadets to have a look at. Luke got fitted into a climbing jacket and Jason got tied up in a stretcher ... I am sure you can imagine some of the comments but all good for a laugh.

This week saw the local TA coming in to speak to the cadets about their experiences while serving in Iraq. This was an excellent visit and really made everyone thing about what is happening out their and the bravery of our local TA team. Unfortunately, I missed this one as I have been at home with a chesty bug all week. I'm really frustrated about that as I really wanted to be at that one.

Christmas Dinner next week before we break up for the holidays and a well earned rest!!!

Working with the BBC

Highland Lives is a BBC Project running as part of the Highland Year of Culture and is about promoting Digital Literacy in the Highlands. Several centres across the Highlands are taking part in the project and I was invited to act as the project co-ordinator for North Highland College. People were invited to take part in the project, to create a digital archive of life in the Highlands. Being bashful Highlanders, getting people to take part was a problem but after lots of phone calls we managed to get 7 participants plus myself.

The first weekend was about handing out all the kit to the 7 participants (3 sets of video recording equipment and 4 sets of audio/photography equipment) and learning to use it effectively. A month later all the participants attended another weekend workshop to learn how to Adobe Premier video editing software. This was very very rewarding and all participants edited their own shows. Finally, their was an evening to showcase everyones work. It was amazing! You can find the end results of all the Highland Lives workshops at the Highland Lives website.

If you know me, I guess it will be no surprise what the topic I chose for my digital project “Just This Once”.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Last night I had a 40th Birthday Party - I know 40, I can hardly believe it! But not as scary as the day I realised Paul was older than my dad was the day we got married... now that was really scary. I had great fun, did loads of dancing, perhaps had a little too much bicardi and blethered all night. There were a few surprise: Anne recited a poem all about me (it was pages long), and I got a stripper (but of the wall paper type, much to my disapppointment) and a cake that does rather reflect my life!

All the cadets, and some of the parents, were invited to the party and most were there. I have to say they were absolutely great. It was a good, old fashioned scottish dance band and the kids were up dancing to everything. I was so impressed and surprised. Perhaps we should think about having a Squadron Burns Supper. Maybe it could be done as a kind of Dining-In Night? Must look into that one, along with with other millions of things I plan to do!

Despite being told absolutely no presents, part way through the night I got presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers, a card and some wine from the cadets.

Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Paul, Stevie & myself took eighteen cadets to Edinburgh at the beginning of August. We stayed in cadet accommodation at HMS Caledonia in Rosyth which was great as lots of the participants from the Tattoo were staying too. We kind of got a little bit of a sneak preview of what we were to see, and it was exciting.

Paul at the Warrant Officer's Bar in the Royal Yacht!

We made a weekend of it and did lots of other things during our stay. The visit to the Royal Yacht Britannia was much more interesting than I anticpated. In fact, it was facinating and the way they have set up the tour is really good. You are given a device, kind of like a big mobile phone, when you board the ship. As you move around the ship there are numbered points which, when you press the appropriate buttons on the device, you get a chunk of information about. To cap it off, they had a fabulous sweetie shop on board. I had strawberries & cream fudge, rum & raisin fudge and pecan & maple syrup fudge!

The original plan was to spend the afternoon in Ocean Terminal, but the kids weren't all that keen on shopping so we took an open top bus tour which allowed us to get on and off the bus at different stops. We made for the Royal Mile where the cadets were able to enjoy the street performers and atmosphere of the Edinburgh Festival. This was the first time I had been in Edinburgh during the festival and it was great - kind of exciting and certainly entertaining. They all made it back to the meeting point at the designated time which was a relief (my biggest nightmare - losing a cadet!)

Then came the highlight of the trip - the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Driving the buses to the parking was interesting and the queues of people were unbelieveable. Talk about being worried about losing cadets. Scary!!! We all made it safely to the Castle and took our seats. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was really excited. Then the show began!

Fantastic is the only word I need to use. It was awesome from start to finish. I love pipe music anyway so the the Massed Pipes & Drums were great. The Taipei First Girls' Senior High School Honour Guard and Drum Corps were amazing. They were throwing rifles around like they had been doing it since they were in their cots. I have to say though, it was a man that designed their uniforms - short skirts and long White Boots!

The Mounted Band of the Royals & Blues were fab. The horses are amazing and so placid - nothing seemed to phase them. The Imps motorcycle display team were ... scary! Some of them were tiny and they were zooming around like mad things on wheels. They did jumps and cross overs which much have taken so much practise and I bet lots of crashes. There were highland dancers, the Trinidad and Tobago Limbo Dancers and the Middlesex County Volunteers who were in period costume. Of course, there was a lone piper on the castle. Very moving, I definately had a tear in my eye.

But the highlight of the show was the Band of The Moscow Military Conservatoire, whose combination of drill, music and humour was spectacular. They came on and I thought, oh this is going to just be a drill demo... oh how wrong can you be. Their timing was immaculate, they kept doing little quirky moves which made everyone laugh but in reality the training and dedication must have been huge. Fantastic, my absolute favourite of the show. This video doesn't really do it justice but at least it will give you the idea. You can view all of the BBC Edinburgh Tattoo Videos at on the BBC website.

We all went to the Edinburgh Dungeons on Sunday morning. It was quite good, and their was a fair bit of history in it. Jamie, who had been the year before and should have known what to expect, just kept screaming but he kept everyone else amused. We went back to Caledonia for lunch then headed for the Fordel Firs activity centre where the cadets had a go at climbing, archery and a challenge course. The weather was really wet which made the challenge course interesting (and the bus journey back to Barracks).

Sunday evening we opted to go Ten Pin Bowling which was fun. The Warrant Officer couldn't get a ball big enough for his fat fingers, or at least that was his excuse! When we got back to the billet, the Cadet's invited us to a 'party' which we decided we would go to but we were all so shattered we just sat around chatting and then it was to late.

Monday morning we packed up and headed north again. We stopped at Killicrankie and walked down to view the soldier's leap. Pretty awsome that a human could have made that jump, but I am often amazed at what people can do when under pressure. The scenery was spectacular and I have promised myself to stop there again when I have more time to have a proper look around.

It was a long journey home but it was worth it for a great weekend.

You know you've been an Air Cadet too long when ...

Found these on the net. Scary thing is some of them are so true!

01. You walk in step with people infront of you.
02. You walk 120 steps in a minute.
03. You judge how shiny people's shoes/sharp people's creases are.
04. You refer to normal people as "Civvies".
05. You answer only to your Last Name and/or rank.
06. You're really good at getting changed in vehicles.
07. You start using phrases like "[edited] hot", "gash", "gucci" and "good drills".
08. You no longer think flying aerobatics is impressive.
09. You think making up drill moves is 'fun'.
10. You say "Sir" and "Ma'am" to most adults.
11. Especially if they're doing a register of some kind.
12. You ALWAYS start off on your left foot.
13. You know how to spell 'epaulette'.
14. ..and get pissed off when people refer to them as 'flaps' or something.
15. You find polishing shoes relaxing.
16. You lock your arms in when going upstairs.
17. You get annoyed if you see civvy jackets with chevrons on (particularly if they're a higher rank than you)
18. You put tent pegs in at 45 degrees without being told.
19. You know what a 'Cuban 8' is.
20. You sometimes think "5th Feb 1941" when asked your birthday.
21. You correct people on the pronounciation of 'Corps'.
22. You wish you played an instrument/different instrument just so you could get the silver badge.
23. You've considered forming a one man sqn band to get the badge.
24. You KNOW classification means everything to cadets - and it's funny.
25. You've started opening stories by saying "Well, back when I was a Cpl .."
26. You thought at least once "ooh shiney"
27. When you start thinking "left, right, left, right" as you walk.
28. You think ANYTHING is worth doing if you get a badge.
29. You see Second Class cadets as second rate people (but don't get what's wrong).
30. You're shocked when someone doesn't know what 'NCO' stands for.
31. You've started using the phrase "how the [edited] did he/she get cpl?!" too much.
32. You're satisfied if hotels have real beds.
33. You automatically look up to the sky if you hear a plane.. and go apeshit if it's an RAF one. 34. Everyone thinks you're a plane geek (even though you insist you're rubbish at air rec).
35. You know places in Scotland because of their RAF stations.
36. You no longer say "One hundred and something", every digit is it's own - "174" - unless it's four digits but below 2000 then it's like "1940"!
37. You just plain DON'T LIKE Wilmslow.
38. You'd rather iron your uniform than do that homework.
39. You know 'webbing' has nothing to do with Spiderman.
40. The standard of Officer's drill pisses you off.
41. You associate places with Squadron numbers.
42. You think First Class Corporals are a joke.
43. You've had at least one bf/gf stand to attention for you. (in more ways than one)
44. People realise why you're a CWO and you lose some friends.
45. You have at least 2 officer's numbers on your mobile.
46. You refer to knives, forks and spoons as 'KFS'.
47. You hate it when people flout the Countryside Code on school/educational trips.
48. You question the leadership abilities of your managers.
49. You know the 'dirty' version of the 6 Ps.
50. You're mates think you're a nympho because you talk about sex all the time (but that's all you ever seem to do in cadets anyway).
51. You wish you could have that fruit cordial that all the RAF stations have..
52. You've seen Top Gun.. more than three times.
53. You call your friends by their last name.
54. You pity those who can't spell "sergeant".
55. You don't get told off by anyone.. because they wouldn't dare..
56. You know what 'tick tocking' is.. and physically CAN'T do it.
57. You can remember drill sequences with 50+ maneouvres but that oral presentation still evades you..
58. You know JUST where to find a generic risk assessment for Gardening/Table tennis/something equally pathetic.
59. You know EXACTLY how to tie a windsor knot. and finally..
60. You can't leave and you don't know why.. - And a few more that Members have submitted or suggested -
61. You've been at your squadron longer than 90% of the staff.
62. You remember the good old days where breaking noses in fieldcraft wasn't uncommon (and no-one was sent to the hospital unless bone was protruding through their skin)
63. You've been to a social event for at least one of the staff (eg wedding / birthday)
64. You feel lost on the day you normally parade if Cadets is cancelled.
65. You know why Nijmegen was cancelled last year (and were ecstatic that you got a week in holland without all the effort of walking 100miles)
66. You get excited about seeing your sqn number (or anyone else's) even if it's on a packet of sandwiches... or a bus... or a door...
67. Your full title ends in "RAFVR(T)" or your rank slide now has a small anodised pin on it.
68. Your wardrobe consists mostly of Grey/Blue/DPM or OG clothing.
69. You seem to develop a homing device for McDonalds and no matter where you are in the world you can find one in 10 mins.
70. You criticise movies on how actors wear their berets. (not to mention their drill!)
71. You just DON'T DO facial hair.
72. You walk around town cursing under your breath about 'scruffy' people with long hair.
73. You want or have your sqn number and/or 'ATC' in your car's number plate.
74. You salute instead of waving.
75. You have a right to criticise your sqn officers drill because you taught them.
76. The predictive text on your phone favours words like "nco", "raf", "acp" and "cdts" over much more widely used words.
77. A Land Rover is no longer a Land Rover. It's a Landie!
78. You see normal people wandering around in half uniform/DPM and you hate them and want to tell them off!
79. You want to salute every time you walk out of an office, even at school/work etc.
80. You come to attention whenever you hear a whistle, just in case it's an ensign going up or down!
81. You don't know what your life would be like without it.
82. You have dog tags. With your name on them. You probably got them at an air show.
83. You wince everytime you here some prat say "over and out" (especially in films) and want to beat said prat into ground using the radio he/she defiled.
84. You simply CANNOT turn anti-clockwise when turning around..
85. You bring your 3822 everywhere. Including going shopping.
86. You know at least one popular song that you can march to (and it's probably by Michael Jackson) - And even more that Members have Suggested! -
87. Your natural position when standing is at ease.
88. At least one elderly member of your family thinks you are in the TA or similar.
89. You didn't do as well as you should have in your GCSE's and A-levels because ATC activities ALWAYS come first!
90. ..yet passed with flying colours on parts of physics and geography exams seemingly from nowhere.
91. You've explained how a plane flies to AT LEAST one civvy person.
92. You get asked if you've ever killed/shot anyone.
93. Cadet's parents are your age..
94. You've broken at least one L98A1
95. You know of, or have taken part in, waxing or shaving a guy's legs on camp..
96. You remember when there was no such things as 'Risk Assessments' and just did everything anyway!
97. You were actually scared of senior NCO because if you upset them they would beat the living [edited] out of you on the next night ex (love this one)
98. You judge the quality of a cadet's character, loyalty, descipline, service, etc... by the accuracy of that 6mm gap between his (or her) Identification Badge and the top of their brassard.
99. You know 'Identification Badges' have nothing to do with your name and everything to do with your reputation.
100. (waited for 100 to put this one, because it's so important) You know what T-NATO means - not to mention Tea Whoopi Goldberg and Tea Julie Andrews!
101. You go on camp and you feel silly dancing at the disco cos everyone else there is at least 2 years younger than you... 102. As well as knowing what 'Screech' is, you can also name several people who have snorted it. 103. You say "say again" instead of "Pardon?" or "Could you repeat that?" (You don't want anybody getting blown up!!) 104. You know, and have used the "There are only 2 types of Sarge.." etc. quote to a group of very shocked cadets.
105. You get chuffties over paper plates with some random NCO's scrawl all over them..
106. You know there should be a 'G' in front of SMEAC.. and everything turns into a GSMEAC brief..
107. You go on the USS and they defer you - saying you need to do more outside of the ATC!
108. You've had a squaddie tan before. Twice. And you looked a muppet. (But it was ok because someone else had it too)
109. You found out what 'freezing cold' really means.
110. You've got enough left over bits of ration packs to make a new one! And enough wind/waterproof matches to start a bonfire!
111. You feel controversial if you've got a facial piercing or hair/tattoo/brightly dyed hair even when you're not in uniform..
112. You know the first two verses of the National Anthem (and stand to attention to sing it, just like your Sgt told you to so many years ago)
113. You NEVER wear ties with shortsleeved shirts.
114. Your beret is more like Army Air Corps blue than RAF blue.
115. You know 'VR(T)' actually stands for 'Virtual Reality Trooper' or 'Very Rarely Trained'.
116. You called a teacher "Ma'am" once and hoped to god everyone thought you said "Mum" because it's less embarassing..
117. You see an air cadet in uniform and even though you aren't, you make a point of letting them know you're in the ATC too (because that's how cool you are)
118. Wing Training Day is written in HUGE bold writing on your calendar but you forgot to put your/your Mum's birthday on.
119. You remember when brassards had white elastic..
120. You prefer Bivvies instead of Tents (just in case you need to bug out, obviously)
121. These two words bring back vivid memories: 'Drill' and 'Drunk'. Extra credit for 'Pepper potting'.
122. The phrase "Don't salute me; I work for a living" has escaped your lips.
123. You have already, or will be, chuffed when your Sqn Number shows up on this list.
124. You make a habit of pointing out your (or someone else's sqn) when you go past it in a bus or car.
125. You spend hours melting off and repolishing your shoes just for one little cadet to stand on them 10 minutes later. (said cadet almost without exception ends up cleaning toilets)
126. You bring lots of spending money on annual camps, knowing it'll only ever be spent in SPAR.
127. You have a dedicated 'Cadets' or 'ATC' folder on your computer.
128...It has many sub-folders..

International Air Cadet Exchange Update

The International Air Cadets were with only with us for 3 full days but we managed to pack loads of stuff into the few days they were here. Unfortunately, the Caithness Highland Gathering was cancelled due to bad weather so we didn't all get together on Sunday. Each host family did their own thing, with most going out doing some local sight seeing.


Monday saw 25 of us doing the Orkney day trip from John O'Groats. It was a beautiful day in the main, with lots of sun shine, and only one brief torrential downpour. The bus tour took us round main of the Orkney sites including the Churchill Barriers, Scapa Flow, Orphir Round Kirk, Yesnabay Cliffs (see photo), Standing Stones of Stenness, Ring O'Brodgar. The highlight of the trip though was Skara Brae and the Italian Chapel - they never fail to amaze!


Our visit to the Castle of Mey on Tuesday was equally well received with the cadets commenting on how relaxed and plain the castle interior was and on the number of 'normal' family photographs on view. The especially liked the Queen Mum's wellie boots and waterproof coat hanging at the front door. I have to say, my personal favourite bit was the fresh scones with clotted cream and jam from the cafe! Tuesday afternoon saw all the cadets enjoying ten pin bowling and some arcade games at the Viking Bowl.


We held a barbeque, at our home in Forss, for all the visitors, cadets and hosting families to round off their visit. This proved to be a successful evening with all the older exchange cadets and our younger local cadets really mixing well and enjoying each other's company. The highlight of the evening was an International Giant Jenga tournament, which the International cadets won with a tower that was over 6' tall.

Our Wing Commander, Brian Munro joined us for the evening as did local Lord Lieutenant, Anne Dunnett. I bet there are not many Squadrons who can boast that their Lord Lieutenant was cooking at their barbeque!

Machrihanish Camp 2007 - The News

All our cadets and staff had a great time at Machrihanish. Haven't managed to get all the details from the cadets yet, but the staff are on a high! All I've heard about since Paul got back is "when we were at camp" and "then this happened" - definite "band camp" feel (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've ever watched American Pie).

The cadets doing Radio Controlled Flying managed to crash 4 planes the first week, and 3 the second week but they did manage to build some planes too so I guess that makes up for it. The cadets doing fieldcraft had a great night exercise, which didn't finish until 6am - how cool! The shooting module cadets passed Weapons Handling Tests for both the No. 8 and the L98 rifles and managed some pretty good scores in the live firing.

Other modules available included First Aid, Duke Of Edinburgh Expedition, Police Flight and Leadership. Stole this leadership video from YouTube which shows what they were up to during Week 1.



All cadets took part in Air Experience Flying in the Grob Tutor and some got flights in a Lynx helicopter. Cpl Gray took his bagpipes with him and was lucky enough to be asked to pipe the RAF Scotland Commendant onto the camp.

Air Experience Flying

I had a telephone call from Jim tonight regarding our allocation of flying places for August. We have 16 places (a minibus full) but unfortunately, rather than a daytime slot, we have a 5pm to 8pm slot on Wednesday 8th August. This is due to AEF having a commitment to fly Summer Camp cadets during the day. A little bit annoying considering we have a 3 hour drive to get to Kinloss and a 3 hour drive home. However, if we arrive early they will give us priority so that we can get away early too - how kind!

Now comes the difficult part - who gets to go flying? How do you allocated 16 places to 25 cadets? What criteria do you use:

• Those who have never been flying before
• Best attendance
• Best behaviour
• Those who have missed out on other activities
• A combination of the above (how complicated)
• Eenie, meanie, miny, mo!

It is not easy and I hate making these decisions because ultimately, not everyone is going to get a place and, to be honest, they all deserve a place. Oh the joys of being a Squadron Commander.

1322 Squadron Air Cadet video - I Get Knocked Down

This has to be the best Air Cadet video I have seen! It is really well done and simply rocks. Take a look everyone! I came across it when I asked Matt Hughes for permission to use photos, that I found in Flickr, in our website and this blog. Matt then kindly sent me the link to this video. Three NCO's at the Squadron created it. Brilliant!

Thurso Air Cadet Group on Flickr

A GOOD WAY TO SHARE CADET PHOTOS

I have created a Thurso Air Cadet group on Flickr, a great photo sharing site. I thought this would be a really good way to share all our photos with the cadets, staff and parents of the Squadron. Visit the group at

http://www.flickr.com/groups/thursoaircadets/

Plans for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo

Well, today I have been working on finalising the arrangments for our trip to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Personally, I have wanted to attend the tattoo for years and we have been trying to get tickets but they are like gold dust. This year though we decided to go as a Squadron and yippee we got 30 tickets (booked in November last year), excellent!

We are staying at the Sea Cadet accomodation at Rosyth and are going to make a bit of a weekend of it. We hope to arrive at Rosyth around 4pm on Friday afternoon and after dinner plan to take the cadets to one of the local Air Cadet ranges for some .22 marksmanship (an excellent tool to teach youngster self discipline).

On Saturday we are going to visit the Royal Yacht Brittannia at Leith. Their website states we will tour "five of Britannia’s magnificent decks, taking you through the fabulous State Apartments and crew’s quarters, and ending in the gleaming Engine Room". Photo "Men's Quarters in the Britannia" by cyocum, Flickr.

After dinner we will then be attending the highlight of the Trip, the Tattoo before heading back to Rosyth. On Sunday we are taking a trip down the Edinburgh Dungeons (bit scary for me but hey ho) then we are heading for Fordel Firs activity centre for some archery, climbing and the challenge course. We will then round off with some swimming or bowling on Sunday evening before heading home again the following morning.

Sound great, I'm so glad I am part of the Air Cadets!

International Air Cadet Exchange 2007

I have spent most of today trying to sort out our programme of events for the International Air Cadet Exchange visit. I am pleased to say that Thurso Squadron are hosting all of the international cadets visiting the highlands from the 21st to the 25th July.

The party, who share a common interest in aviation, are visiting us as part of a two week, UK wide vistit. The visiting cadets are from New Zealand, the USA, Canada, Turkey, Austria, Belgium and Ghana - a fair old mix.

The aim of the programme is to foster international understanding, goodwill and friendship among young people and I certainly hope that Highland Hospitality will go a long way to meeting those aims.

On Sunday, after a relaxing morning, we plan to take them to the Caithness Highland Gathering in John O'Groats (a small games, but I am sure enjoyable none the less).

I don't believe a visit to Scotland is complete without visiting Orkney so a Maxi Day Trip to Orkney is scheduled for Monday including Skara Brae, the Standing Stones, the Churchill Barriers, Scapa Flow, the Italian Chapel and some time in both Stromness and Kirwall. Dinner will be provided in the Albert Hotel in Kirwall who, I have to say, were extremely helpful in organising a reasonably priced meal for 25 people.

On Tuesday we are visiting the Castle of Mey and then letting our guests have some free time in the afternoon to recouperate and prepare for a more hectic time ahead. The Squadron are hosting a barbeque on Tuesday evening as a farewell before the party heads south on Wednesday morning.

I hope that both our guests and my own cadets, and their families, enjoy the experience. This is an opportunity that is available to our own cadets once they hit 16 years old. Of course, they don't do visits around the UK but they travel to one of the other countries to take part in a similiar activity. Hopefully, the visit will inspire them to apply for this opportunity!

Off to Machrihanish Camp 07

Five our our cadets and 2 staff left Thurso this morning to take part in a Regional Camp at MOD Machrihanish. During the week each will be working on a particular module, as well as doing some flying, sports and general getting to know everyone. The modules our cadets selected were Fieldcraft, Shooting, and Radio Controlled Model Aircraft Flying but the staff members were more adventurous and selected the Duke of Edinburgh Expedition module.

Machrihanish is a former RAF station, close to Campbeltown in the south of Scotland. It was formerly home to the US Navy SEAL commando unit but at the end of the cold war it was handed back to the MOD. The base is now on a 'care and maintenance' contract which means that it can be used by civilian airlines but the MOD still use it for exercises.

Lets hope all our cadets behave themselves. I did have a little chat with them all about "representing Thurso Squadron" and "behaving accordingly". I am not really concerned, as we are very lucky and have a really good bunch of kids at the moment. I might be slightly more concerned about the staff though!!!

Summer Camp - RAF Rheindhalen

Flight Sergeant Gray and Corporal Richardson are at Summer Camp at RAF Rheindhalen in Germany this week with 38 other cadets from across the UK. They flew out from London on Wednesday and the Flight Sergeant has been made senior cadet of the camp. This will be a very good experience for her and I am sure she will rise to the challenge, as she always does.

The camp programme includes karting, bowling, shooting, drill, fieldcraft, sports and visits to a Movie Park, Museums and Arnhem Bridge (of WWII fame). The week will round off with a final evening disco. Sounds great, wish I was with them!

Pic: Eusebius Church, Arnhem by Derek Lilly, morgueFile

Welcome to my Air Cadet Blog

I have decided to log what happens at the cadets. Seems like a better idea that writing a book. Don't know where this might go, nor how it might be used, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I am the Squadron Commander of the 1769 (THURSO) Squadron Air Training Corps. I have been a member of staff with the Squadron since 1989, initially as a Civilian Instructor then, going into uniform several years later. I got involved because my husband, Paul, was a member of staff with the Squadron and they were short of female instructors. He begged me to come along and help out. I bet he regrets doing that, given that I am now in charge!

The Squadron meet on Monday and Thursday evenings, from 7.30pm, in the Drill Hall, Princes Street, Thurso and have many weekend and holiday activities. We provide the cadets with many opportunities from flying, gliding and aircraft recognition, to skiing, parachuting and hillwalking, to sports, leadership & academic qualifications, with lots of others in between.

The most influential people, in my ATC career (well it might as well be, it takes up as much time as my regular job), has been Flight Lieutenant Stuart Dunnett, my first Squadron Commander and Anne Dunnett, the Lord Lieutenant of Caithness.

I worked alongside Stuart for many years and despite being a civilian member of staff was his 'right-hand' woman (I don't think he would disagree). He then moved away from the county, for another woman no less, and he ended up marrying her. Stuart was the one who got me into skiing and hill walking, much to my initial disgust, but I am very grateful now. I learnt so much from Stuart and he became a very good friend. I still miss him around the Squadron and would stand down any time he wishes to return. He is now the Squadron Commander of the Whitehaven Squadron in Cumbria.

Anne Dunnett has been an inspiration both to myself and the cadets. Her dedication and commitment to the County's youth is insatiable and they all admire her for it. There have been times when I have contimplated giving it all up and a few unwitting words of praise from Anne have made it all worthwhile. It is so nice to have someone who notices the work that my staff and myself put into the organisation.