Ladies and Gentlemen
As you may be aware, I took up the post of SW Area Officer earlier this week, and I am absolutely thrilled to be in this job. I am hugely looking forward to engaging with and getting involved in area activity, and doing what I can as part of the Area Team here in Bristol to help support all of you continue the safe and effective delivery of Sea Cadet activity in the South West. I have spent this week starting to find my feet, and understanding how the organisation works - and learning what I can and need to do to make sure that all the hard work of so many others continues to the benefit of the cadets in our area.
As a Naval Officer with 30 years experience, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to offer some of that experience to the Sea Cadet Corps, and to continue my Naval service and association with maritime activity as a part of such an outstanding organisation as the MSSC. As a sailor, Dinghy Instructor, and Walking Group Leader, I am delighted to be part of an organisation in which Adventure Training plays a key part in building and developing responsibility, teamwork, leadership (and a sense of fun and adventure !) in young people. As a South West native and resident, who was brought up and at school in Cornwall, and still has family in the County, I am delighted to be in a role based in and focussed on the South West.
I am greatly looking forward to meeting as many of you as I can, as soon as I can – starting with the National Sailing Regatta tomorrow. I hope you will understand that with such a large geographic area and a large number of units, it is simply not possible for me to visit all as soon as I would like. However, I will be sitting down to work through the diary in the next week or so, and will be identifying opportunities to get to all Units as soon as I possibly can. If any of you are in or passing Bristol with the time to do so, then please do call in and say hello.
Finally, I am aware that the Area Officer gap over the past months has caused additional workload to a number of people. In particular, I would like to say a public thank you to Commander Clive Smith who, as the DAO, has taken on the responsibilities of AO as well over the past few months, and to the others on the Area team. However, I know that additional loading will have cascaded down the command chain to many other staff – and I am most grateful to all who have helped out, in addition to the huge amount that you do already.
Very best wishes and I look forward very much to meeting you all in the not to distant future.
Nigel Morton