On Friday 20th January the Cadets, Staff and invited guests joined together at the Newbold Comyn Arms to celebrate the successes of 2016 at the Annual Awards Evening and Dining-In Night.
This
annual event is the highlight of the Squadron's social calendar each
year and cadets look forward to finding out who has received the top
trophy awards for the year just gone and to see if there were any
resulting promotions! The meal is also part of their cadet experience
as it is run in similar fashion to a traditional military dinner. The
cadets are expected to wear evening dress and the youngest cadet is
nominated as Mr Vice to lead the Loyal Toast to The Queen.
The
Guest of Honour this year was Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Paul Foutaine
who was an ex-84 Squadron member and son of the Squadron Chairman.
His key message during his speech was for all the cadets to value the
special membership in the 84 Squadron 'club' and the Air Training
Corps as a whole. He spoke fondly of his time with the unit and his
subsequent career in the Army which no doubt had been influenced by
his time in the ATC.
After
the speeches the main awards ceremony began with trophies for
Academic Excellence, Aviation and the well-coveted Best Cadet award
to name just a few. There were also presentations of promotion to
Cadet Sergeant Dylan Chauhan and Cadet Corporal Jack Johnson.
In
the days following the event the Squadron received a letter from Lt
Col P Foutaine thanking them for the invitation saying "All the
team clearly feel part of the special club that is 84....it was
wonderful watching all the surprised faces on this year's winners -
some very happy young people".
All
the cadets are to be celebrated and commended on their achievements.
As such, they all received a gift from the Squadron of personalised
dog-tags to celebrate their involvement during the Corps' 75th
Anniversary year.
For all the photos, please see the 84 Squadron Facebook page.
Written by Flight Lieutenant Rosie Robinson RAFVR(T), Officer Commanding.
