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APO Lake and apo dowsing become the first APO's in Abingdon sea cadets for 10 years!

In March 2018, CI Lake and CI Dowsing were promoted to the rank of APO (Acting Petty Officer). As an APO, you recieve your training to prepare you for your promotion to the rank of PO (Petty Officer). This includes taking lessons within the unit, and this is also where you decide which activity you would like to become an instuctor within. Some of these activities are: Powerboating, Sailing, Catering, Drill, Kayaking, Rowing, Communications and Information Systems, Campcraft, Rock Climbing etc. These are a small percentage of what you can learn to teach within the Sea Cadet Corps. We wish them both the best of luck as they progress through the Sea Cadet Corps.

Ordinary Cadet Charlie Young's offshore experience

I went offshore on TS Jack Petchey for a week in August 2017, and I had one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. You get to do everything onboard, from stowing lines, to Navigation, lookouts and being at the helm and controlling the ship.

I travelled up to Largs, on the West Coast of Scotland to meet the ship. When I got off of the train, I got a taxi to the yacht club, where I saw her in the "flesh" for the first time. She was even bigger than I had imagined.

Once onboard, I made my bunk (bed space), and the Coxswain showed me, one of the first to arrive, around the ship, places such as the Wardroom, Galley and Cadet Mess. The facilities onboard are amazing, and the beds were surprisingly comfortable!

There were three "watches" (people who are up on the bridge doing their jobs), Red watch, White watch, and Blue watch. I was a part of Blue watch, and also part of "Team not-sickness" when the sea got rough later on.

Anybody who is thinking about going offshore at any point in their cadet career, I would definitely recommend it. I have never met a cadet on any camp that I have been on that has regretted going offshore. Most of them regret not going offshore!

Cadets Visit HMS Smiter

On the 17th January 2018, cadets and staff from the unit were lucky enough to go out for a trip into Portsmouth, and go out to sea onboard HMS Smiter, one of the Royal Navy's 14 P1000 class patrol vessels. Finding out all about the different roles onboard, and having a tour by the ship's Executive Officer, we all learned lots of interesting facts about everything that happens onboard.

Also, later that day, we visited the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Gosport. Inside, they had lots of interesting, interactive activities to try out, and even a real submarine to explore, HMS Alliance, the only remaining WW2-era submarine. Inside, there were lots of different things to see, such as the Operations Room, where we learnt the physics of how a submarine rises and dives at sea.

Overall, it was a very interesting day, and the cadets and the staff enjoyed the visit a lot. Thank you to everybody that arranged the day, and everybody that was onboard HMS Smiter and at the Submarine Museum for giving us a fantastic day!

ORDINARY CADET LAUREN BALL becomes mayor's cadet for 2017

Last Wednesday, OC Ball officially became the Mayor's Cadet for Abingdon-on-Thames for the year 2017. We are very proud to have Lauren in our unit, and we are sure she will progress further and keep her high standards with her. This is a great achievement for Lauren, and she has worked very hard to earn this. Congratulations! This is an achievement that we hope all of our Cadets will achieve when the chance arises, just as Lauren has. Thank You to Chief Young and PO Bowes for attending, we hope that you enjoyed the event, and celebrating Lauren's achievement.