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Recent Activities

Between the 20th and 22nd of June, 5 NCOs of Honiton Squadron attended the Devon and Somerset Wing Adventure training competition on Woodbury Common for a chance to win the Dalditch trophy.
The Competition assesses cadet’s skills at navigation, observation, first aid, agility, map reading, initiative exercises, shooting, distance judging and, as a final exercise, a timed run on a modified route of the Royal Marines Endurance Course. Cadets were also marked on teamwork and their personal field craft skills, (equipment, cooking, tents etc.)

The NCOs  who represented Honiton Squadron were Flight Sergeant Alec Small, Corporals Lewis Marks, James Pecover and Selina Small, 
Sergeant Tommy Wilkins was also picked to participate as part of the team for the East Devon Sector (also known as the “Eastern Bloc”) of Devon and Somerset Wing, a mixed team with cadets from Exmouth, Sidmouth, Exeter and Honiton. As the senior rank he was then designated as the team leader.

Despite heavy rain and winds the competition was held with great success, the teams all showing determination and teamwork.
After the results were collected, Honiton squadron came third behind Chivenor and Exmouth.
While Sgt Wilkins’ team won the inter-sector competition, a great achievement for a team who had never worked together or even seen each other before and much is owed to the leadership of Sgt Wilkins, who pulled them all together.
Overall a great success all round for Honiton cadets.

Regional Selections:
Sunday 10 Feb and two of Honiton's cadets join with others for the inter wing competition which doubles as the selection for teams for "South West" against th rest of the world. Well, the rest of the ATC at least.
Cpl Selina Small played netball and Cdt Miles Harvey Rugby as they attempted to join the elite that are "South West ATC" ...
But it was not to be. Next Year maybe, but in the meantime, they have their Wing Blues to show off for their efforts already.
Well done both, with more trials coming up very soon.

Alex Departs for Warmer climes
CWO Alex Dacre has now started a period of approved absence from the Squadron, to go and learn to Fly in Spain, in anticipation of being a commercial pilot with FLYBE locally. We all wish Alex the VERY best of luck, in this long and expensive learning experience. We all hope he will have tiem to rejoin us all when he completes, and starts a career flying (hopefully) out of Exeter Airport.

Tom joins up
Cdt FS Tom Hamilton has left the Squadron to join basic training at RAF College Cranwell in Lincolnshire. His extensive training will equip him to be an Officer in todays modern Royal Air Force, and from there, he will go on to learn to fly the RAF way. We wish him EVERY success.

Alex reaches top of tree
Cdt FS Alex Dacre finally got his just rewards on June 19th. He has finally been promoted to Cadet Warrant Officer. The top Cadet rank has eluded him for quite some time, as he was one of the youngest Cadet Flight Sergeants we've seen. Well done Alex.

Tom makes the Big Time
Cdt FS Tom Hamilton impressed well at the trials for the Regional Soccer team, and has secured his place for the April 20 fixture. He subsequently went away for a few days to OASC at Cranwell, where he completed the selection procedure for joining the RAF. THEN he disclocated his knee while playing football, and will be in a leg brace for the next five weeks, so no picking on him - depsite his "five minutes of fame " in the RAF News as well!!
busy chap. Get well soon.

The Wing Commander dropped in...
to present FS TOM HAMILTON with the certificate for his Flying course at Dundee last Autumn. Tom was one of only a few dozen in the whole of the ATC to gain the scholarship, and the only cadet in Devon & Somerset Wing.

RANK RAFFLE
The Squadron took on a completely different look for one night, after the Officers and NCOs decided to put their stripes up as prizes in a raffle. The "winner" was Emma Weir, who got to be Flt Lt for the night. SWO became Selina Small, followed by a string of "new" NCO's. The 'real' NCO's and the CO and SWO all became 'just cadets' for the night. 
The Activity raised Ł55 for Squadron funds.

CHRISTMAS SHOOT
Mr Mac arranged a Chrstmas Shooting competition which ran in parrallel with the Rank raffle night. The  winner at the end of the session was Cadet Watkins. Well done.

BAG PACKING
The Cadets turned out in force again for a double hit in the run up to Christmas - a Morning at M&S followed by an afternoon shift helping at the tills in the Coop.  At this early stage it is not known how much was raised in cash terms, but the Cadets presented themselves well, and it was a VERY useful PR exercise in reminding the people of Honiton that we still exist!
Training Weekend
We had seven Cadets at Fremington for the September Training event, on courses including JNCO, SNCO, First Class Cadet, Provisional Radio, and Advanced Radio.
We await the feedback from the course staff to see how many of them managed to excel once again.

Overseas
We have now said farewell to our ex-Commanding Officer - Flying Officer Lorraine Ritchie.
She is off with her husband to America, where he is is working for two years. Lorraine has been associated with 1064 Honiton Squadron for the past THIRTEEN YEARS ! ! initially as a Civilian Instructoir, but more recently in Uniform, as a Pilot Officer, then FLying Officer, making Flight Lieutenant  when she took command of the Squadron in September 2004. She will be missed, and we hope she will remember us when she returns to Honiotn in two years time. We hope she has a GREAT two years in the USA, and look forwards to seeing her on her return.

Bag Packing
Yes, you may WELL have spotted our cadets in Lace Walk over the weekend - but they were not just Bag Packing - they were M&S Bag Packing!
This was not just  ANY weekend, fund raising, but M&S Fund Raising. 
By request.  It might appear that we have left something of an impression on the townsfolk of Honiton - and not before time, I hear you say. The squadron has been in the Town since 1940, but recent years have seen a major decline in the public profile of the Air Training Corps as a whole. Hopefully we are now seeing a change in fortunes.

Ten Tors Event
Although 1064 were not entering a team themselves this year, several of our cadets were members of teams doing either 35 or 45 mile routes on the Ten Tors Challenge on Dartmoor. Three of our Cadets joined the 35 mile team from 13(City of Exeter) Squadron, and were the first Devon &Somerset Squadron 'home' on Sunday Afternoon.
Two other cadets joined in the 2381 (Ilminster) team doing 45 miles, and came home shortly afterwards. Many of the Cadets featured in the local news bulletins on Sunday Tea-Time, and again on Monday evening, as the Regional News teams looked back on an excellent weekend for walking on the moors. 
Some more cadets who had been unable to gain places in Cadet teams, walked the tors as part of their School/College teams.
WELL DONE to them all - a truly magnificent achievement.

Wing Athletics : Exeter Arena May 7th
Defending the Junior Boys class trophy was looking dodgy from the outset, as we failed to persuade enough cadets to get out of bed for what was a great day, and a good day of athletics. Several of our cadets did well, and will now go forwards to represent the Wing against the rest of South West Region. Despite not being - as they themselves said - "great athletes". You only needed to be better that the other ATC cadets who turned out on the day. Some events only had ONE competitor - so there was no competition. We needed to put bodies up front, and compete in enough of the events to come away with more silver-ware for the staff to have to look after. 
But it was not to be. The event was swamped by 326 Hartland, who cleaned up in viurtually every category. 
Still - there's always next year. We'll remind the world we are here - and put our name on another trophy for the world to look back on for a further 25 years or so.

Ten Tors Event
Although 1064 were not entering a team themselves this year, several of our cadets were members of teams doing either 35 or 45 mile routes on the Ten Tors Challenge on Dartmoor. Three of our Cadets joined the 35 mile team from 13(City of Exeter) Squadron, and were the first Devon &Somerset Squadron 'home' on Sunday Afternoon.
Two other cadets joined in the 2381 (Ilminster) team doing 45 miles, and came home shortly afterwards. Many of the Cadets featured in the local news bulletins on Sunday Tea-Time, and again on Monday evening, as the Regional News teams looked back on an excellent weekend for walking on the moors. 
Some more cadets who had been unable to gain places in Cadet teams, walked the Tors as part of their School/College teams.
WELL DONE to them all - a truly magnificent achievement.

Wing Athletics : Exeter Arena May 7th
Defending the Junior Boys class trophy was looking dodgy from the outset, as we failed to persuade enough cadets to get out of bed for what was a great day, and a good day of athletics. Several of our cadets did well, and will now go forwards to represent the Wing against the rest of South West Region. Despite not being - as they themselves said - "great athletes". You only needed to be better that the other ATC cadets who turned out on the day. Some events only had ONE competitor - so there was no competition. We needed to put bodies up front, and compete in enough of the events to come away with more silver-ware for the staff to have to look after. 
But it was not to be. The event was swamped by 326 Hartland, who cleaned up in virtually every category. 
Still - there's always next year. We'll remind the world we are here - and put our name on another trophy for the world to look back on for a further 25 years or so.

Wing Parade : Minehead (Somerset) Apr 29th
1064 was probably the second largest contingent on parade, out of over 250 cadets plus staff from the 28 units that are collectively Devon & Somerset Wing ATC.
Although not at first thought the most attractive event to turn out for, I can assure you that as good time was had by all - with much fun and amusement - mainly at the expense of cadets from other units! Never one to miss a chance we showed up the six fingered inbreds that are the Somerset end of the Wing. No banjos on parade, but the Army Cadet band from Wellington School CCF were actually very good, and have already been booked for the "Wing" Battle of Britain parade through Exeter in September.

Training Weekend 10-12 March 06
A good number of cadets attended this training weekend to improve their skills further as a cadet and as a citizen. The Instructor cadet course was completed by one SGT whilst two cadet CPL's attended the Junior Non-Commissioned Officers Course, both enjoyed the whole experience and agree it's the effort that is put into the course that reflects what you get out of it. One of them held position of course leader for the first half of the weekend and found it helped greatly with their confidence.