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Continuing a busy March a team of four travelled to Bromley Sea Cadet Unit for the London Southern District Seamanship competition. Eight out of ten Units from the District took part in this multi-facetted event involving:

Bends and hitches

Raft building

Mooring,

Navigation

Heaving line

Leading Cadet Benjamin Wood took on the role of team leader and all performed well.

Able Cadet Joshua McBride achieved an excellent mark for IM at the recent Area Advancement Board held at HMS President in the shadow of Tower Bridge. Achieving a mark of 23 he was awarded a Grade 2 for his lesson on the Electricians Knot. Well done.

At the same time results of the recent small-bore shooting competition were posted showing that the Southwark team finished a strong 4th out of 9 units taking part. Once again, well done to all involved ... PO Cadet C Malone, Leading Cadet Ben Wood, Able Cadet Joshua McBride and Cadet Alexander Smith.

In March Cadets attended the Shipwrights Admissions and Awards dinner at prestigious Fishmongers Hall located on the City of London side of London Bridge. Those attending were selected to receive Royalist bursaries donated by the Shipwrights Company to London Area cadets. Certificates were presented by the Prime Warden, Admiral Sir Jock Slater who is a former head of the Royal Navy as First Sea Lord. Cadets from Bexley and Thurrock were also present.

As there was too much snow for boating this Sunday it was off to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to see many aspects of the Royal Navy. Well worth the 150 mile round trip for a tour of HMS Warrior and HMS Victory together with the harbour cruise and time to explore Action Stations. Various ships were identified during the harbour trip including Ark Royal, Diamond, Dragon, St Albans, Iron Duke, York, Manchester and Gloucester. And obviously there was also the opportunity to see HMS Bristol just off Whale Island. Other sites of interest seen during the day included HMS Excellent, HMS Nelson, HMS Temeraire and the former Royal Navy establishments HMS Dolphin and HMS Vernon.

Petty Officer Cadet Callum Malone of Southwark Sea Cadet Unit has worked hard over the past few months aiming high for NVQ qualifications through the Cadet Vocational Qualification Office. And now the rewards have started to materialise as he has just been awarded the Institute of Leadership Management’s Certificate in Team Leading.

The ILM Level 2 Award and Certificate in Team Leading are specially designed to give practising or aspiring team leaders a solid foundation in their formal development as a leader. The initial Award in Team Leading is a qualification designed to give learners a basic knowledge of the various roles, functions and responsibilities of a team leader and the limits of their authority and accountability. The next stage, The Certificate in Team Leading, builds and broadens the skills and knowledge gained in the Award. Here, practical techniques in motivating teams, plus planning and monitoring their work are explored.

To gain the award Callum attended a week’s Leadership Course at HMS Raleigh during which he had to complete a variety of practical and theoretical tasks. On return to his Unit there were further paper tasks to complete on the theory of leadership. Obviously all were completed successfully before the award was confirmed.