On January 2nd of 2002 I jetted off to NASA’s winter space camp held at the Johnson Space Center Houston Texas.  I was able to achieve this through the Scottish Space School Foundation as well as a number of other major sponsors.  I was not the only person going on this once in a lifetime experience there were also twenty two others who had all went through the same selection procedure (the original number was around 60).  Whilst in Texas I went to a number of varied places such as, IMAX presentations, Simulation missions involving mission control and the space station, visits to space travel museums as well as three full days on site at the Johnson Space Center.

During my stay, I partook in rocket construction and launching, Mars Lander building and launching and Mars rover construction and operation.  I thoroughly enjoyed his visit and would recommend that if anyone got the chance then they should go for it.  After all the sky is not the limit.

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We are pleased to announce that the 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron RAAF Museum Association, situated on the complex and built by the previous generation of cadets, have decided to award us the sum of £1000.

After many years of faithful service, the squadron computers were well past their use by date and no longer functioning. It is essential for the squadron to have these computers as they are used to make up notes and overheads for classes, forms and notices. Our Internet connection is also needed so that we can communicate via e-mail and run our squadron projects.

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On December 12th 2001 I was proud to deliver the Scottish Parliament’s Time for Reflection at the Parliament in Edinburgh.  I was the first ever Glasgow schoolchild to address the Scottish Parliament at their Time For Reflection, which is usually given by people who have a lot more experience in life than I have.

Although the speech only lasted four minutes they were the longest four minutes of his life, but throughout the speech I remained confident and was later congratulated by many who sat in the hall during my speech.  

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On the 19th of January 2002, Sgt Hastie went to the corps-cross country championships, which were held at RAF Cranwell. It was a set course that was three miles long and a part of it was called Cardiac Hill, which explains itself.

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The squadron banner party paraded at the Erskine Bridge Hotel, on the 2nd of February 2002 for the annual Wing Conference. The party consisted of Sgt Hastie, Cpl Bradley, and Cdt Jones. We were down at the hotel for 7 o’clock ready for the parade at 8 o’clock. When we were standing in the hall various officers came up to us and were asking us how everything was which calmed our nerves. We had a few run-throughs with the piper and then we were ready to go. The banner and the piper were ready and waiting for the head table to go in. We marched in and round the room and handed the banner to Wing Commander Campbell. The night was a good success and we were proud to march in the banner.

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On 16th February, nine cadets from the Squadron went on a shooting detail down at the Royal Naval Base Faslane at Helensborough.  The shooting at the start of the day was abysmal but after some training down at the SAT Range (i.e. laser range) where cadets learned some marksmanship principles, which meant that the cadets aim improved.

Improve it did when we found out that all of the cadets either qualified or re-qualified for a marksmanship award, RAF and ATC.

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APOLOGY
Apologies to Mr Cameron Brown whom we failed to mention in our previous newsletter report on Cadet of the Year Night 2001. Mr Cameron Brown was in attendance at this event and we apologise for the omission. Thank You.

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  WING NETBALL

On Friday the 8th of February, six of our female cadets went to the trials for the junior wing netball team.  They were held in East Kilbride where the Squadron team had previously defended our title and came 1st out of all the squadrons in our wing for the second year running.  Four of the cadets who participated, were part of the ‘2175 A-team’ with two newcomers hoping to keep up the high standard of playing expected from the reigning champions.  In order to be selected for the junior team, the competitors must be under the age of 16 and FEMALE (sorry guys, not this time!). After continuous games and playing a wide range of positions, the wing team was chosen and three cadets from our squadron where chosen to be part of the 11 -strong Glasgow and West Scotland team.  These cadets were Cdt McLellan, Cdt Reynolds and Cdt Mack.  These cadets all played at Grangemouth on Sunday 17th of February in an inter-wing competion against 6 teams from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

However, it’s not just netball that 2175 girls are good at, as proved on the journey back from East Kilbride.  With sounds of Westlife and Leanne Rimes coming from the back of the bus, we think that may have some budding choral singers.  Who knows- 2175 choir maybe?  Watch this space!!

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Earlier on this year Cadet Jones, The chairman of the Cadet committee of 2175 (Rolls-Royce) Squadron, organised Indoor Football at Bellahouston Leisure centre for a maximum of fourteen Cadets.  The cost was £3.00 for each Cadet for two hours but at the end everyone got fifty pence from all the left over change.  The football arrangements were to be at the spots centre for three thirty in the afternoon until six o’clock at night.  When we all got there Cadet Jones received all the money that was to be collected and paid us in. We got changed and went to the far away court and played there for one hour then switched to the other court for another hour.  Overall the football was a good laugh it was fun and exciting.  There was several games played and because we all had so much fun we all lost track of the scores and the time.  We couldn’t tell whether Green or Red flight won because the teams where made up of both flight, (i.e. mixed).  Cdt Jones came up with an excellent idea of giving away a box of chocolates to the cadet that had the best goal celebration.  A big thank you to Cdt Jones for organising this fun activity, THANK YOU!!!!!!!

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For the past fortnight the NCOs of the squadron have been attending an NCO Course run by CWO Callan and CI Sim. The aim of this course is to improve the efficiency of the squadron and to further develop the skills of the NCOs themselves. The course covers aspects such as Drill and PT instruction, to welcoming new recruits, conducting leadership exercises and giving lectures.