Wing Competition Day - 4th Sept 2011
A very impressive weekend for 158 Squadron with placings in nearly every competition! The Drill Team won the Drill Competition and will go on to represent Essex Wing in October. We also won the staff photography competition and retained our trophy for the aircraft modelling Diorama competition. The Diorama will also be at the Regional Field Day. The squadron also came second in the First Aid Competition and Senior Photography. In Aircraft Recognition we also came 5th! A fantastic weekend for the squadron. Very well done to all those who took part in the competitions!
Inter-Squadron Swimming Competition - 3rd Sept 2011
Essex Wings Inter Squadron Swimming Competition took place at the Chelmsford Swimming Pool and once again we took a strong team to compete. For the Second Year in a row we came a very impressive SECOND! With Cdt Higgins doing extremely well in the Boys category winning two Gold Medals, he is going on to compete in the Inter Wing Competition in October. Sgt Tucker also did extremely well with 2 Silvers and a Bronze! The whole team worked very hard and the Second Place Position was well earnt.
Pirbright Camp: 29th July - 6th August 2011
RAF Leeming Camp: 31 July - 7th August 2011
158 Cadets joined others across the wing at summer camp at RAF Leeming last week. The cadets were able to participate in activities such as flying, shooting, high ropes, hanger visits, fire station visit, Army Air Corp Visit amongst many other things!
Flying at RAF Wyton:30th July 2011
It's something every cadet must do and on the 30th July 2011, we sent 9 cadets flying for the first time! And no-one threw up!
Paddling Skills Induction- 27th July 2011
5 cadets attended 276 (Chelmsford) Squadrons paddling induction course on the 27th July. They learnt skills in canoeing and kayaking and took part in a paddlesports challenge at the end. All the cadets who took part thoroughly enjoyed their evening and have recommended it to the rest of the squadron. Photos coming soon!
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Expedition 23-34th July 2011
The weekend saw 7 cadets from Braintree take part in a 2 day expedition as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award. They walked from Braintree to Gosfield Lake where they camped overnight. The group walked about 30km over the weekend, and the weather stayed in their favour. They were all very tired after their weekend walking but finished with smiles on their faces and stories to tell.
Military Skills Day 20th July 2011
As part of the curriculum week at Tabor Science College, 158 squadron were invited to teach 80 year 7 pupils some basic military skills. The pupils were put through their paces in leadership, cooking, orienteering and camouflage and concealment. The pupils thoroughly enjoyed their day and the cadets worked extremely hard. The school staff involved in the day were very impressed with the maturity of the cadets and the way they related to the pupils. Well done to all those involved!
Carwash 17th July 2011
Once again the squadron had their fundraising hats on and turned the squadron car park into a carwash. Although there were a few rain showers the cadets spirits weren't dampened, and the cadets and staff even broke into the YMCA to keep the morale up! Everyone was kept busy with a steady stream of cars. Around £200 was raised which will go towards our minibus fund.
Wing Parade 26th June 2011
Chelmsford Cathedral played host to Essex Wing for their 70th Anniversary Celebration. Cadets from across Essex paraded through the streets of Chelmsford and then had attended a service in the cathedral. Memorials were read out for staff and cadets who had died whilst either in military service or cadet service. One of the memorials was for our Late CWC member Mr John Wrignall who had recently passed away. All those attended looked extrememly smart and were a real credit to the Air Training Corps.
A busy weekend...4th-5th June 2011
This weekend proved to be a busy one for our cadets and staff with activities happening across the wing. 4 cadets attended a Bronze Expedition at Carver Barracks, with 2 of those, Cpl Baron and Cdt Collett, completing their award. Well done to you both. In Colchester our Drill Squad competed in the Sector Foot Drill and Banner Drill competition where we achieved a second place in each competition meaning that we will compete in the wing competition in September. Well done to Sgt Hallet's squad, we know you will do well in the wing competition. Also, one of our newest cadets, Cdt Dawson, competed in the Inter Wing Athletics competition in Crawley. This is a brilliant achievement for the start of her cadet career, well done!
Exams Passes and Promotion 9th May 2011
Once again we've had an amazing exam pass rate with the Leading, Senior and Master cadet exams. Since the recent syllabus changes we have gained our first two Master Cadets, Cpl Parkin and Cdt Lock. Overall the cadets did very well with many gaining merits in their exams. We also have a new Flight Sergeant, after an interview with wing staff we now have Flight Sergeant Holbrook. His promotion to this positionis the culmination of his hard work and effort in the 5 years he has spent in the corps. Well done Flight Sergeant.
Inter Squadron Athletics 8th May 2011This weekend saw our cadets partaking in the Inter-Squadron Athletics competition. Our team consisted of 14 cadets and overall we won 9 medals. The girls did very well with, Cdt Dawson, achieving a bronze, silver and gold. Cdt Dawson will go on to compete in the Inter-Wing competition later in the month. All those who took part gave it their all and they should all be very proud of themselves.
Falklands Memorial Competition 16-17th April 2011This year we took 2 teams to Carver Barracks to compete in the Falklands Memorial Competition. From the start we stood out in our very bright t-shirts and across the weekend we did very well in all activities. Our A team lead by Sgt. Thorpe kept their 4th place from last year and our B team lead by Sgt. Tucker came 8th. We were one of only two squadrons to have both teams in the top 10. All who took part did extremely well and should all be very pleased with themselves.
RAF Akrotiri Camp Easter 2011
CGI Old recently attended overseas camp to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus with 50 cadets from LASER and Wales and West Region. The cadets on the camp took part in activities such as Leadership exercises, visits to the aircraft currently located on the base, climbing, quad-biking and many other things. All those who attended thoroughly enjoyed their 10 day camp. CGI Old would definitely recommend the camp to anyone who was thinking of going, and would rate it as the best camp she has been on since being part of the ATC.
New C Flight Intake
On the 25th March 2011 the squadron had its first intake of the year. Sgt. Tucker, Cpl. Baron and Cpl. Worsfold have taken on the responsibilty of training the 16 new recruits. They will undertaken 6 months of exciting training before becoming first class cadets and part of the main squadron. Good Luck to you all!
Bag Packing
Cadets gave up their last weekend of the half term to bag pack in Great Notley Tesco to help raise funds for squadron funds. Although we were short of cadets, as most of them were away at RAF Wittering for the week, we managed to raise a massive £671.20. Well done to all those who attended and thank you to everyone who donated and helped out.
RAF Wittering Camp
A number of Braintree Cadets joined other cadets from around the wing for a week camp at RAF Wittering. The training programme was jam packed and the cadets came back happy, tired and looking forward to future camps.
C Flight Enrolment
After completing their initial training, 5 cadets from the C Flight were enrolled into the squadron and passed out into the regular flights. This means that the cadets can now take part in the majority of the activities offered by the Air Cadets. Well Done to you all!
This means that we are now recruiting for new training cadets. If you are interested, we have an Open Evening on Wednesday the 23rd of March for any interested individuals and parents. Please get in contact if you would like any more information.
NCO Cadre and Promotions
Over the last month, 10 cadets have taken part in an application process to enable them to be promoted to Corporal. The process included an assessment weekend, a team building weekend at RAF Wittering with current squadron NCO's and finishing with a short interview with the CO and Warrant Officer. The standard was incredibly high and as a result, we have four new Corporals: Cpl Gausden, Cpl Whipps, Cpl Worsfold and Cpl Baron. All applicants should be congratulated on completing the process.
Sainsbury's Bag Packing
If you ventured out to the Sainsbury supermarket over the weekend of the 25th and 26th of September, it is likely you will have seen the Braintree Air Cadets. We spent two days fundraising for new equipment and raised a total of £865.
On the Sunday, we left Sainsbury early and went on to join 295 (Witham & Rivenhall) Squadron for the Battle of Britain Parade. The parade marched from the RAFA club up the high street for a small church service and then joined veterans for tea and biscuits afterwards.
Wings appeal
On the 18th September, a group of cadets helped with the annual Wings Appeal collection in association with the Witham RAFA.
Wing parade
On the 4th of September, 40 cadets joined hundreds of others at the Essex Wing, Wing parade at Caver Barracks. We were joined on the day by the Essex Army and Sea Cadets as a celebration of the 150th Cadet Forces Anniversary celebrations. Braintree cadets took part in a number of activities including the aircraft modelling diorama competition and the drill competition. Congratulations are in order as not only did the Drill team obtain another 4th position, but the Modelling team stole the limelight by being awarded 1st place! Well done to all involved