Cadet Warrant Officer Suzanne Callan was named as the Lord Lieutenant’s Cadet for Renfrewshire in early November. The Lord Lieutenant is the Queen’s representative in the area and is asked to accompany Royal Visits in Renfrewshire.

Each year, nominations for the post are received and the cadet and their achievements in the ATC are discussed until finally, the best cadet is chosen for the position. The Appointment lasts for a year and involves attending several official functions with the Lord Lieutenant, Mr Cameron Parker.

CWO Callan was very pleased as it is not everyone who is chosen to be the Lord Lieutenant’s cadet and she is extremely proud of herself.

CWO Callan has already accompanied the Lord Lieutenant on two separate occasions. In early November she was invited to the opening of Mitsui Babcock’s new Technology Building for a visit by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. There, she was able to meet Princess Anne, receive a champagne lunch and accompany HRH to her private jet, with a police escort!

In addition to this she accompanied the Lord Lieutenant to the Remembrance parade at the Paisley Cenotaph on the 11th November. Afterwards, she was invited to a dinner at the Paisley TA Centre, where she was also present to see the Lord Lieutenant present several awards, including one for saving a man’s life.

CWO Callan has been presented with her Lord Lieutenant’s badge; however the Lord Lieutenant is due to visit the squadron where he will present her with a second badge and a framed certificate. The squadron is looking forward to another night devoted to her achievements.

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On the 30th of November our annual Cadet of the Year Night was held in the Rolls-Royce factory. Due to the rise in cadets in attendance at our squadron we required a larger venue than in previous years.

All the cadets were sitting around tables, just like the Oscars. The Guests, who included Ex CO’s Flt Lt McConnell and Flt Lt Brad, also representatives from Lourdes Secondary, Penilee Secondary, the Police And Rolls-Royce, were all treated to talks given by cadets on events over the year. In addition slide shows showed our guests some of the highlights of the year including our success at the Wing and Regional Drill comp, modelmaking, sports and much more.

On Cadet of the Year Night a large number of medals were presented to the cadets for sports events both for the Wing and Regional level, including our recent triumph at the Wing Netball competition. Which reflected how successful the Squadron really is. Other awards were given out for achievements; Cpl  Neil Surgenor received his gliding Scholarship, several GIC certificates were presented and Cdt Moira McLellan was awarded her Bronze DofE Badge.

In the annual awards, the winners were:

Two Cadets joined the NCO team this year. Cdt Neil Surgenor and Cdt Chris Bradley were both promoted to the rank of Corporal.

CWO Paula Hastie was also awarded The McConnell Trophy for her outstanding achievements in the Air Training Corps over her 6 years service. The McConnell Trophy isn’t presented annually but only when someone has made a great achievement in his or her life. It has been presented in the past to others, like Cpl David Bell for saving a drowning man’s life.

In addition to this the cadets also hosted their own awards, highlights include:

The Squadron has been very successful this year and will continue to do so in the future. Commiserations to those who didn’t win awards and better luck next year. Well done to everyone who was presented with awards.

Further pictures can be seen in the gallery.

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The wing cross country is an annual event that takes place at Pollok country park, generally around the end of November just as the weather gets harsh.  The competitors (cadets) are split into age groups and sex, for male you have the junior, intermediate and senior categories, and the females just a junior and senior category.  You would then get called up in your group, starting with the youngest first so those unfortunate enough to be in the senior group get left with a course of mud!

This year we had a full mini bus load of cadets to compete, it was great to watch every one come back covered in mud from head to toe, some with more inventive clothing like cadet little’s lucky hat with the flashing lights, and cadet Morrison turning up and running in full camouflage!

Unfortunately by the time it got round to myself and Sergeant Hastie running, the squadron, after many hard fought attempts still had no medals.  Inevitably it started raining before my race but not even this would stop us claming the victorious first and second place.  This was the Sergeant then me, both in our first year at the senior category, it felt great getting the medal and all but then it hit me I had to run regional…

Further pictures can be seen in the gallery.

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After dragging my self out of bed and down to north Hanover Street to get the bus bound for Grangemouth I met friends from past camps and made new friends.  Once there, there was probably more of a competitiveness between certain squadrons within our own wing than with anyone else! It was my first time with a wing sporting event and I was lapping it up, chatting to everyone and basically having fun.

Then I made an acquaintance with the wing running kit, the worlds smallest shorts, a see through vest and it was about this point it dawned on me I had to run. I had honestly forgotten, I just got lost talking to the group.

Then when we did run it seemed so much longer than at wing but the Sergeant came up trumps with another gold unfortunately I didn’t place but hey I tried my best and there’s always next year.  Nearly forgot I got a token silver senior team medal.

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About 13 cadets went out to enjoy themselves on Monday the 17th of December, going to the XS Superbowl in Paisley. Among bowling we also played pool, air hockey and table football.

Over the 2 games that were played the highest score was 141, scored by Cdt Craig Jones. As usual the flight competition was involved and Green flight had claimed the gold this time for bowling. In the air hockey match Green flight won again 2-1, and table football was won Red flight.

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On the 11th November 2001, seven other cadets and I went Air Experience Flying at Glasgow Airport in the Grob Tutor.  When we arrived there were a lot of other cadets from another squadron waiting to go flying before us, so we started talking to them to burn some time.

We eventually got kitted out in flying suits, boots, helmets and gloves and were just waiting for the other squadron to finish their flying before it was our turn.

Cadet Morrison was the first of us to go, then it was myself and I don’t know who was after me.  I was introduced to the pilot, but I can’t remember his name.  The pilot quickly showed me the controls and told me what everything in the plane was for.  He then performed his pre-flight checks.  It was now time for Take-off.  The pilot stopped the plane at the edge of the taxi way and asked permission to take-off, as soon as the Air Traffic Controller said Permission Granted we were on the runway.  We had to go more than half-way down the runway before the pilot could set the flaps for take off or make the engine go faster, I don’t know why this is coz I wasn’t really listening to the air traffic controller when he said we were clear for take off.  We were finally up in the air and the pilot asked me what I wanted to do.  I asked to perform some aero-batics, then he asked me what aero-batics I wanted to do, I couldn’t really remember the names of some them except loop, barrel roll and stall turn.

It took him a while to find an opening in the clouds to perform them but he found one after flying in circles for 10 minutes.

I think the first thing he done was a loop into a barrel roll then he gained some altitude and repeated this, he then decided it was time for something new so he performed something called a 4 leaf clover (I think that’s what it’s called).  Then he just stuck with stall turns and loops, and 1 barrel roll just before he decided to head back.

When we were coming in for our landing he showed me four sets of lights that let you know if you are coming in too steep or too high for your landing.

Once we had landed I was taken out of the plane then back to the storeroom to take my kit off.  I was then told to go and sit up-stairs with the rest of my squadron who had already flown and who were still waiting to fly.  I asked everyone else how they had enjoyed it and they all thought it was excellent and they all wanted to do it again as soon as the opportunity was given to them.

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Sadly, Cadet Warrant Officer Paula Hastie left the squadron on Friday the 7th of September to move onto bigger and better things in the University Air Squadron. She made the difficult decision to leave to prepare herself for life in the Royal Air Force where she hopes to become a pilot.

So, the cadets and staff decided to have a leaving do in her honour. At the beginning of the night we had a traditional 2175 pantomime (pictured below) starring CWO Hastie, the rest of the NCO team and a few cadets.

After the break CWO Callan presented “Paula Hastie, This is your Life”. This consisted of a number of pictures depicting CWO Hastie’s life and time in the ATC. Did she really have that many boyfriends?

For final parade we took the Mickey out of her Andrews sash of Honour by making our own sashes out of blue crepe paper!

Paula received an engraved tankard from the squadron to mark the occasion and the cadets raised a sum of money to present her with a few gifts. A sports trophy was presented to the squadron on her behalf to mark her sporting achievements and she also received a bottle of whiskey and a CD to remind her of the great songs we’ve sung on various hillwalks, “Imagine” by John Lennon.

We all wish Paula the best of luck and hope to see her visit us soon.

Further pictures can be seen in the gallery.

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On Sunday the 11th of November the squadron took part in its annual act of remembrance.

At 10.45 am, the squadron began it’s march from the Paisley British Legion to the Cenotaph at the centre of town. There, we stood on parade as prayers were said and wreaths were laid. We then marched back round to the British Legion were we were kindly given hot pies and coke to warm ourselves up!

The squadron then made its way to Cardonald Cemetary where, at 1 pm, we marched from the entrance to the graveside of an ex-cadet of the squadron who was murdered by the IRA whilst serving in Holland.

The cadets conducted themselves impeccably throughout and were extremely well turned out. A credit to the squadron.

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On the 9th of December the first Senior Wing football training session was held at 1138, Ardrossan Squadron. Cpl Chris Reynolds and Cdt Iain Shields attended the trial, and were asked to return to the next session.

Although weather conditions were very cold, the training session still went well. Before lunch the coaches put the young hopefuls though their paces in some skill development exercises and then after lunch they played an 11-a-side game to see what their game was really like. “There is some real ‘individual talent’ in the squad,” Chris said, after the game. “I think we have a good chance this year the team is looking really good.” Iain and Chris are really looking forward to the next training session, which is next year.

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The squadron completed fund raising bag packing at Safeway on the 23rd and 30th of December. We hope to raise enough money to purchase two new computers to help in our project work.

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28 Cadets from the squadron attended the Garelochhead Adventure Training weekend from the 16th to the 18th of November. The squadron had planned several training weekends this year; however, due to the Foot & Mouth epidemic we were forced to cancel our plans.

An advance party of 6 cadets were sent to the camp on the Friday afternoon. When we arrived at Garelochhead we arranged the sleeping arrangements, security and fire briefs and unloaded all of the equipment. Due to Cdt Morrison’s excellent time-keeping, we sat down to dinner at 3 pm, thinking that it was 5pm!

On the Friday night we all took part in a night exercise, before collapsing into bed exhausted. We had an early start on the Saturday morning when we were woken up at 6.30 a.m for PE! After breakfast, we were separated into three flights and took part in camouflage and concealment exercises, swimming and a bridge crossing exercise. In the afternoon, we all took part in a five-a-side football tournament before dinner, billet inspections and then our second night exercise.

At the end of the weekend, Flight A were declared the winners of the Inter-flight activities.

Everyone had an excellent time with many of the cadets experiencing their first Garelochhead with the squadron, and it certainly won’t be our last!

Further pictures can be seen in the gallery.

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The Air Training Corps reached the grand old age of 60 on the 5th of February 2001. To celebrate this Jubilee, Scotland and Northern Ireland Region organised a dinner which took place in Glasgow City Chambers on the 2nd November.

As the Regional Drill competition winners, a squad of 8 cadets from the squadron’s drill team formed an honour guard at the opening ceremony. In addition to this, CWO Suzanne Callan was present to represent the squadron at the dinner. Air Cmmdre John Kennedy, Group Captain Wight-Boycott, Wing Cmmdr George Campbell, Regional and Wing Staff and many guests attended the evening from the aviation industry.

The evening began with the guests viewing several presentations of the many activities the cadets of the ATC take part in. This was followed by a formal dinner to celebrate the occasion where CWO Callan was seated next to the Air Commodore!

The squadron has received a letter of appreciation from the Wing Commander for our smart turn out and good conduct.

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13 cadets from the squadron sat their classification training exams on the 5th of November. Their results are as follows:

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