Abingdonian 2017

60 The Abingdonian CCF The Abingdon Combined Cadet Force (CCF) have broken with tradition this year: firstly by not capping the amount of recruits they take on board in the Michaelmas term (54 up to a staggering 73); secondly by parading the new recruits on the annual Remembrance Day parade - something that hasn’t been achieved in over a decade; thirdly by organising some memorable visits to HMS Bristol as well as RMAS Sandhurst, and fourthly by introducing a live firing range day at Winchester. There was also the annual Easter Camp, where over 100 willing cadets travelled to Longmoor Training Centre and put themselves through a week of intensive soldiering tasks, which culminated in one of “the most explosive village attacks” ever seen by the Urban Training Centre staff who showered plaudits upon the young men who participated. As mentioned earlier, we have broken with tradition this year and we have for the very first time promoted our Senior Cadet - Alex Reynolds - to ‘Regimental Sergeant Major’ (RSM), a feat that hasn’t ever been achieved in the history of the CCF here at Abingdon. Alex has been inspirational, he has led from the front and has put huge amounts of his personal time into the contingent. He is to be commended for his sterling efforts, but alas, not his brew making skills. The contingent - headed up by Squadron Leader, Rebecca Cottam and assisted by the SSI, Capt Lee Edwards - would like to thank all of the staff volunteers: Chris Fletcher-Campbell, Richard Jackson, Mark Johnson, Kate Ley and Eleanor Kaye for their sterling efforts. As well as the school staff, a huge thanks must go to the Cadet Training Team - sergeants Mogridge and Simmons in particular. Without their input life would not be half as exciting. Another exhilarating aspect of this year’s CCF was the chance for 17 cadets to visit the Lake District and challenge themselves to a week’s worth of arduous adventure training pursuits. These included: vertical caving, climbing & abseiling, hill walking and ghyll scrambling. It was cold, it was wet, but most of all it was fantastic fun. The boys who attended all said they wanted to sign up for next year’s event even before leaving the beautiful surroundings they had just walked, climbed and then descended. When they weren’t outdoors, the boys enjoyed a cultural visit to the Lancashire Regiment’s museum, Extreme Trampolining in Preston and the chance to “kick back and relax” in the Cineplex, taking in one of the latest blockbusters. Over 70% of the enthusiastic bunch who signed up in the third year - despite not knowing what to expect when joining up - have re-joined again this year. The staff at Abingdon CCF have promised “bigger and better” this time around for those new fourth year cadets, and so have their work cut out to deliver a programme that is both more challenging and also more entertaining than ever. Already plans are in place to visit the fastest, longest zip wire in Europe, HMS Belfast in London, Snowdonia, Brecon Beacons, St Mawgan in Newquay, The National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire as well as the annual training camps in Bramley, Piddington and Longmoor. It appears to be yet another “full-on” year ahead for the members of the contingent, but chatter amongst the