The finalists for the Thames Valley Wing Thrive Awards have now been announced. The Awards fall into the following categories and all nominations came from their peers.

Outstanding Individual – The person who has made the most outstanding contribution over the past year.
Ambassador – The individual or team who through the virtue of hard work, character and representation have raised the profile of the ATC.
Valiant Volunteer – For consistent and extraordinary efforts in helping others, above and beyond the call of duty.
Unsung Hero – The individual whose contribution often goes unnoticed but without it their Squadron would fail to deliver the effect it achieves.
Top Team Award – awarded to the group (informal or formal) that has achieved the greatest positive impact. Continue reading →

A party of 30 Air Cadets and Staff from Thames Valley Wing were amongst the hundreds who gathered in Reading town centre for a county-wide service to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War.  The multi-faith service held at Reading Minster Church heard words of peace and remembrance from religious leaders across several faiths. Continue reading →

23 Cadets and 11 Staff from Thames Valley Wing organised and attended the 2014 Wing AT Camp at NACATC Llanbedr at the end of May.

After some careful planning and paperwork the week started with a journey to North Wales on a coach, after settling into the camp and receiving various briefs the Cadets and Staff were split into 3 groups. We archived our aim of delivering a jammed packed and varied programme giving the Cadets a taster in each of the core AT activities. Continue reading →

Air Cadets from 2499 (Wokingham) & 1116 (Woodley) Squadron have successfully completed the Foundation Amateur Radio course at the HQ of 2499 Squadron. Joined by a candidate from Reading Sea Cadets the Cadets were tutored in a range of radio theory from antennas and transceivers to Electro-Magnetic Compatibility.

Practical training and assessments were also completed in preparing radio equipment for use, tuning antennas and operating on the air on both the VHF and HF bands. Additionally each candidate completed an appreciation of Morse code sending and receiving. Continue reading →

Every year in February cadets and staff celebrate the formation of the Air Training Corps with church services and parades known as ATC Sunday. This allows squadrons to parade through their local towns and villages and show the ATC presence in their local communities. This year 1116 (Woodley) and 2499 (Wokingham) Squadrons celebrated in a different means by taking part in a day full of the core sports within the ATC. Cadets took part in football, netball and hockey to celebrate the 73^rd anniversary of the ATC.

Did your squadron celebrate ATC Sunday? Send your stories to media.thamesvalley@aircadets.org to be featured.

Each January staff and staff cadets from across the wing gather at RAF Halton to attend the annual Wing Training Day. This provides the opportunity to find out the latest changes on subjects such as the ‘Duke of Edinburgh’s Award’ and syllabus training. Staff also reflect back on the previous year and look ahead to ensure that the cadet experience is been delivered to the best of the ability of squadrons and wing staff within Thames Valley. This year’s training day saw a visit by Gp Capt Cole from RAF Brize Norton who provided an insight into the RAF as it currently stands and updates on RAF Brize Norton with the introduction of the Voyager fleet and upcoming arrival of the Atlas fleet. Continue reading →

2402 Burghfield Squadron organised a session climbing with local Squadrons at Craggy Island in Guilford. 12 Cadets and 7 Staff members from Burghfield, Woodley, Newbury, Wokingham, Wallingford and Windsor Squadrons attended the session.

The morning started at 1116 Woodley Sqn with a kit issue, brief on how to put on a climbing harness, helmet how to tie into the rope and belaying techniques. Continue reading →

In early November 9 Cadets and 11 Staff of TVW made their way to the National Air Cadet Adventure Training Centre (NACATC) at Windermere for a week of Adventure Training in and around the Lake District.

Activities ranged from mountain walking, Canadian Canoeing, indoor and outdoor rock climbing and mountain biking taking full advantage of the facilities and opportunities available from the centre.  Continue reading →

During the October half term 28 cadets and 8 staff from Thames Valley Wing headed to RAF Linton-on-Ouse for their autumn camp on an operational, RAF station. It was a busy week for the cadets as they got to experience activities both on and off base, experience what life is like on an RAF station and meet new people with 17 of the wings squadrons been represented at the camp. For many of the cadets this was their first week long camp and were kept very busy with lots of activities and chance to discover what happens on an RAF base. Continue reading →

Each year cadets and staff from across Thames Valley wing gather at Wing HQ to take part in the various competitions that make up the wing activities day. With an early start for many squadrons cadets arrive ready to compete in a range of events show casing the skills they have learnt whilst being in the Air Training Corps. The event shows a high level of standards across all disciplines and this year was no exception across all the entries and levels of participation by the cadets.

With over 200 cadets at WAD 2013 squadrons took part in a range of events including the following: Aircraft Recognition, Aviation Art, Drill, Media Skills, Aero modelling, Photography, Public speaking and website entries. Continue reading →