The History Book on Display |
84
Squadron has a long and diverse history which dates back to its
formation in 1946 following a re-shuffle of the Coventry Squadrons.
Initially called the 2nd
City of Coventry Squadron, 84 were based at Cows Lane in the city
centre and thrived throughout the years making its mark as one of the
strongest sporting squadrons in the Wing. After a move and subsequent
rename, to Coventry Airport the squadron continued to thrive with
additional classrooms added to the building to accommodate the
strength and range of activities on offer. Many of the cadets ended
up giving time back to the unit as either staff members or on the
Civilian Committee.
Over
the last nine months two such ex-cadets, Dan Saxton and Andy Greenway
have worked hard on a project which entailed scanning and compiling
all the photographs from the archive and gathering information for
each year of the Squadro
n’s history. This culminated in the
production of “Looking Back with 84 Squadron”, a professionally
bound book detailing the Squadron's history filled with full colour
photographs and documents found in the archive. During the event on
Sunday the book was formally launched and went on sale for the very
reasonable price of £10 each.
Presentation to Denis Smith |
Guest
of Honour for the event was Denis Smith who joined the ATC back in
1944 and followed 84 Squadron when it formed staying for many years
as a cadet. He was extremely pleased when contact was made and the
initial invitation sent for the event. He was the longest surviving
member of the Squadron to attend the party and to mark the occasion
he was presented with a Squadron plaque. Afterwards he sent his
congratulations and praise in an email saying “it was clear that
the attributes displayed show that discipline, respect,
determination, ability, comradeship and the sheer desire to be in an
organisation that is dedicated to aircraft, flying and all
that is associated with that sphere of life, are very much alive
and well in 84 Squadron”.
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Gingerbread Cadets! |
Flying
Officer Rosie Robinson, Officer-in-Charge was extremely proud to show
off the current cadets on parade and made a short speech between rain
deluges! Along side the main reunion event there was a cake and plant
sale to raise funds for two very lucky cadets who have been selected
to take part in a community project in South Africa during Summer
2017. The total raised from these elements was a whopping £290
proving that baking all those gingerbread cadets really was worth it!
Afterwards Rosie Robinson said “Today was the culmination of a lot
of hard work and it certainly paid off. To see so many ex-members
back in the unit was just fabulous and it makes me very proud to be
part of the next generation”.
Check out the Squadron Facebook page for all the photos.