News

Five cadets, led by Lt Grieve, from TS Lord Nelson, Norwich Sea Cadet Unit, travelled 100 miles by mini bus to the Army Camp at Beckingham in Lincolnshire. Arriving at about 2030 they were booked in and shown their billet which was shared with cadets from other parts of the Eastern Area for a week-end of shooting.

They were woken up the following morning with the door crashing open and the sleep penetrating voice of Lt Grieve stating that if he was up, everyone is up. After making sure they were all awake he left the building with another crash of the door stating he would be back in ten minutes and they were to be washed, shaved and dressed ready to go for breakfast. breakfast was a nice leisurely breakfast of fifteen minutes they were marched to the classroom where the course was to be held.

Safety rules were explained alongside the do's and do nots. After lunch, they marched to the armoury where they collected the L81 target rifles and took them back to the classroom where they were taught how to assemble to back and fore sights and to fit them onto the rifle.

After a hard day's slog in the classroom they were allowed to relax for the evening. There was no shore leave as the camp is situated several miles away from civilisation, so they hung around the tuck shop and watched the TV. Turning in at 2300 they were advised not to mess about and get some sleep as the following day would be hectic and tiring.

Sunday started with the door crashing open at 0600 and Lt Grieve waking them up with "I'm up, everyone's up". After another leisurely breakfast, they collected the weapons from the armoury, and after a further safety talk they boarded the transport and went to the shooting ranges. The 400 meter range had been allocated but they were to shoot from the 300 meter position. They were divided into teams, one team were sent to the butts with the butts officer to learn how to 'work' the butts, they were shown how to use the machinery which holds the targets, how to 'mark' where the shots hit the target and where to stand when not employed doing this.

The rest of the cadets were directed how to set up the firing points and the safety communications were tested. After this was done they were shooting for the rest of the day rotating with the cadets from the butts so they all had the experience. All of the cadets had never fired this type of rifle before, and the shooting coaches were very happy when some of the cadets showed a huge potential for shooting at a higher level, which means that they may be invited to attend further training, with a possible chance of shooting at Bisley which is the premier shooting location in the world.

The course ended late Sunday afternoon and the Norwich Cadets returned to Thickthorn Services where they were met by their parents.

It was a very enjoyable week-end with lots of fun and cadets getting an experience they would not normally be able to have.

At the end of 2013 S/LT Sally Spinks decided to step down from the role as First Lieutenant of Norwich Sea Cadets,  to focus on her role as District Training Officer, S/LT Spinks will still be involved with the Unit just in a smaller role. We would like to thank Sally for all she has done over the years. From the 1st of January CPO Michael Massen has been appointed as First Lieutenant, CPO Massen brings alot of experience to the SCC with over 40 years service at Norwich Sea Cadets. CPO  Massen has held a number of jobs at the unit, from Training Officer to being 1st Lt  for a short time a number of years ago. We wish Chief the best of luck with this role and we are sure he will take the unit from strength to strength for many years to come. 

Some other changes our Unit Coxwain APO Steven Parker has left Norwich Unit to join the Royal Navy,  we wish he all the best with his new career. Because of this A/SGT James Flaxman has taken on the role of Unit Coxwain. The Unit Coxwains role is to make sure the Unit is tidy and running on time during the night.

Also, our Unit Training Officer PO Martin Westgate has departed our Unit to join the Merchant Navy, Martin will still be in the SCC as a member of staff at Warsash Unit, we wish him all the best,and hope he will come back to visit us. To complement this change APO Kurt Massen has taken on the role as Unit Training Officer. The Role of Training Officer is to make the training plans for the year, and to make sure that cadet training is running effectively and making sure the Unit is meeting all its Training Objectives among other roles.

On Sunday the 8th of December, Norwich entered three teams into the District Drill and Piping Competition which took place at RAF Honnigton, we entered a unarmed squad of 13 cadets, a standard party, and a piping team. The cadets worked really hard in the training and really put in the hard work. The competion consisted of Beccles, Felixstowe, Ipswich and Great Yarmouth sea cadet units, and it was not an easy competition. the cadets all had to make sure their uniforms were to the highest possiable standard, as they were throughly inspected by the District Officer LT Blackburn SCC.

Norwich results for the day:

Unarmed squad - 2nd Place

Stanard Party - 1st Place

Piping team - 2nd Place

Individual piping - L/C Parker - 1st place, L/C Coady - 5th Place  

Best Dressed Piper - L/C Coady

Best Unarmed squad commander - L/C Coady - 1st Place

Best Dressed Drill - L/C Coady - 2nd Place

Well done to all who took part, you all did an excellent job.

On 26th October the unit took part in the annual district football competition. Norwich entered two teams, a junior boys team and a senior boys team, both teams played really well all day and the final results were:

Senior boys - 2nd Place

Juniors boys - 3rd Place

A big well done to all.

On October 20^th Norwich unit gathered at Norwich Cathedral to commemorate the battle of Trafalgar, the Unit marched round to the front of the cathedral and halted in front of the Lord Nelson memorial, our CO Lt Jannerburgess laid a wreath and our unit chaplain performed a small service. The cadets then marched down to the river and dismissed. The unit then gathered at the church for a small service led by our Chaplain Revd Christopher D Ellis, and of course the traditional bun fight followed the church service. All of the cadets looked very smart and the standard of drill was very good.

Lt Greive also represented the unit at Honingham Church for a service for the battle of Trafalgar attended by many representatives from other organisations.