Marking their 75th Anniversary the 1211 (Swadlincote) Squadron, Air Cadets are celebrating with their Annual Open Day at their Eureka Park Headquarters on Sunday 12th June.
Commencing at 11.00am, the crack South Derbyshire Squadron will display a variety of their activities throughout the day including First Aid, Marching Drill and Pioneering Scenarios. Also in attendance will be the Squadrons Marching Band and Corps of Drums..
Also on display will be information of the 1211 Units 75 year history within Swadlincote where the recently published book on the history of the Squadron will be on sale. Squadron Leader Alyn Thompson, the Officer Commanding told us, “Written by local author and former 1211 member, Kirsty Wallace we are hoping many former members of the Squadron will visit us on the day and purchase a copy.”
Originally formed at Swadlincote’s Town Hall in 1941, today the South Derbyshire team go from strength to strength with over 100 Cadets on their books who go on to Fly, Glide, Shoot and attend Camps both in the UK and overseas.
Opportunities are not only being offered to local teenagers but also to adults as the Unit is currently recruiting new staff. A spokesman told us, “we are after four new staff members, two of whom will have a real interest in aviation who can enthuse our youngsters, another team member with an interest in target shooting and yet another to run our choir.”
Flight Lieutenant Ruth Morgan, the Squadron Training Officer told us, “We continue in the tradition of those first young men who originally joined the Squadron and who went on to achieve great things both in Civilian and Military life and we hope all of our visitors will appreciate the work that the current generation put in on the day.”
Squadron Executive Officer, Rob Moore added, “We have a reputation as being probably the best Air Cadet Squadron in the country, and we want to try and ensure that the local community have the opportunity to find out more about us as a local youth group that has that extra something special about it. The Air Training Corps is the most incredibly diverse youth group in the UK, where Cadets can be enjoying themselves at the same time as achieving B-TEC qualifications in Aviation Studies, Public Services and Music all of which are equivalent to 10 GCSE’s!”