(27.03.07)
Cadets come through for units Annual Inspection (Royal Naval Parade)

Each year all units undergo an annual inspection - know known as a Royal Naval Parade. This year the newly appointed district officer for Manchester Lt Cdr(SCC) Jim Garner attended as inspecting officer. The unit was made spotless with a cleaming main deck thanks to a number of staff, the cadets attended and put on their best uniforms for the start of the inspection.

Their is a formal inspection of all cadets and staff in the unit, time to take a look at the class rooms for the parents and to ask staff what their child gets up to before moving on to the evolutions (tasks) which are performed by the cadets. These tasks show the abilities of the cadets to work together as a team with an end goal in mind.

This year the cadets were to display on the main deck a day in the life of a Royal Navy ship. Narrated by Leading Cadet Charlotte Saycell the other cadets went from getting out of bed, cooking in the galley, navigating the ship, dealing with engineering issues to handling a fire starting in the galley.

The final task was a University Challenge type affair with 3 teams competing with questions from the cadets task books. Unusually and being a Q&A session the University of Marines won led by Jorge 'Rambo' Sanderson.

The district officer, a former unit Commanding Officer thanked the cadets, staff and parents for a great evening. At the top of its class in the North West Area Tameside Sea Cadets put on a great show in order to show the diversity and ability of its cadets.

More Photos of the Evening can be found here



(Above) Leading Cadet Melles presents Walney Division to the Inspecting District Officer

(02.02.07)
New Kayaks and Canadian Canoes for Tamesides Sea Cadets

For some years the canoes used by the cadets were great fun but the majority were cumbersome and big. Equally we didnt have the spray decks or tops to go with them. Well thanks to the Foundation for Sport and the Arts in Liverpool and the fund raising over the past few months by the units own cadets the unit has been able to procure 10 New Kayaks and 2 New Canadian canoes.

The changes in the training and qualification of the BCU (British Canoe Union) as well as the fact that over the last two years we have upgraded both our sailing and power fleets so we felt that it was the right time to update the canoes.

An application for the grant which was made in 2006 by Mr Mottram to The Foundation for Sport and the Arts who provided a total of £3,000 of the £5,000 needed for this project. Thanks to the units members they managed to find the other £2,000.

The Commanding Officer Lt Cdr(SCC) Graham Broadbent said "this is another example of our persistence to ensure that we upgrade and renew our equipment to the benefit of its members. Most of the donations/subscriptions made each night by the cadets goes towards the running cost of the unit itself, this doesnt leave anything to upgrade and renew equipment so we rely a great deal on the efforts of staff finding funding options as well as the great fundraising work the staff and cadets do every year".



(Above) New Kayaks, Buoyancy Aids, Helmets, Kegs and Spray Decks


(01.02.07)
Cadets take delivery of a new closed sign written trailer

Each year the cadets take off on one of its many camps, up to now the equipment needed for these camps is endless. Forget the tents, thats nothing when you add all the food, cooking gear and then on top of that we have the canoes to worry about. Well in the past we strapped the canoes either to the top of a bus or event on top of our sailing boats. Well now we do not have to worry, we have a lockable, signwritten trailer that we can put things like canoes in so they are not stacked on top of our laser sailing fleet.

There are still a number of projects that the unit still requires funding for and we never stop trying to get the required funds, but this is just another step in the right direction to ensure that the equipment, purchased for the benefit of the cadets of Tameside is taken care of correctly.



(Above) Units New Trailer Duly Sign Written so nobody can lose it