News

We met on the 5th December at the Royal British Legion in Tiverton for our annual award night.  Cadets, parents, staff, UMC and invited VIPs all came along and enjoyed a buffet dinner, which Sonia from the RBL prepared for us.  As usual the food was superb with plenty to go round.  After dining CPO Chubb and Chairman Mr Holt invited Mr Hutchison from RBL Tiverton to present the cadets with their awards.  AC Newell was presented with Cadet of the Year for her outstanding contribution to Unit life and support at all external events.  In the Junior division Jnr 1st Class Dyer received the Best Junior Cadet Shield, it was nearly as big as her!  CPO Chubb was also presented with her Cadet Force Service Medal.  We ran a very successful raffle adding over £120 to our Trinity Rowing Boat Fund, thanks to all who supported us with donations.  We would like to give a special thank you to Mr & Mrs Williams for being our VIP guests from the HMS Hermes Association.  It was so nice to have them with us this year and we hope to see them back next year.  Unfortunately HMS Enterprise is still away on active duty so we missed seeing them. 

Everyone at TS Hermes, Tiverton Sea Cadet Unit would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and happy New Year when it comes.

The first ever Tiverton Inter-Cadet Shooting Competition took place during the evening of Wednesday 27th March 2014.

The Tiverton Detachment of the Army Cadet Force (A Company, Devon ACF) had proposed that the three cadet forces should enjoy more activities together and initiated inter-cadet competitions at local level. The first competition was shooting at the Cadet Centre in King Street.

The Sea Cadet Corps is only just emerging from an 18-month moratorium on shooting so our cadets have had very little chance to practice and none of them had ever fired the No 8 .22 rifle used for the event. Nevertheless, there was plenty of enthusiasm. After taking a weapons handling test, each cadet fired a total of 15 rounds at 5 targets over the 25 metre indoor range.

In the end the army cadets beat us into second place - but only just (352 to 336)!

Congratulations to the ACF cadets. Our thanks to the ACF staff for organising and running the event which everyone enjoyed. Now we have to think of our own competition and issue a challenge the AFC and ATC cadets.

It has been many years since the head of the Sea Cadets has been seen at the Tiverton Unit. However, on Friday 28th February, we were honoured with a visit by the current Captain of the Sea Cadet Corps, Captain Jonathan Holloway RN. Captain Holloway made an informal visit during our routine training evening.

He was piped over the side and welcomed by our Officer-in-Charge, CPO Nikki Chubb before watching cadets training and participating in activities. He talked to all the cadets and staff present and stayed for the whole evening, finally departing after the evening colours ceremony. Captain Holloway only took over the Sea Cadet Corps in July last year and he is obviously determined to get to know his command. We were very happy to have such a distinguished visitor.

The photograph shows Captain Holloway (centre) with veteran staff member, Lt Peter Saupe (L), and our chairman, Mr Martin Holt (R).

After 70 years of training there aren't many firsts for TS Hermes. However, on Friday 7th February 2014, one of our cadets was awarded his bronze aviation wings after a week of intensive ground school and simulator training.

We don't only do boating. Sea Cadets can fly - courtesy of the Fleet Air Arm and an enthusiastic group of aviation instructors. Only one or two courses are run each year. There are 12 places on each course and they are always oversubscribed. The course is run at the Sea Cadet Training Centre, Weymouth and the latest course included cadets from all over the UK including Northern Ireland and the Orkneys.  

The photograph shows Leading Cadet Hunter Annan receiving his bronze wings from the Captain of the Sea Cadets, Capt Jonathan Holloway RN. Hunter has been invited back to a flying course later in the year where he may qualify for his silver wings.

Once again, Tesco kindly gave us permission to collect for the Unit at their front entrance.

Saturday 21st December was a rather wet day but cadets, staff and committee members turned out in shifts from 0900 hrs to 1600 hrs.

It was a busy day, being just before Christmas, but we talked to a number of young potential recruits as well as many former cadets. As always, the people of Tiverton were generous and we collected £414 for unit funds.

Our thanks to all who donated and to the staff and cadets who spent a long day standing in the draughty entrance.