Has anyone got experience of setting up a DF from scratch? If so what were the main issues/stumbling blocks and how were they over come?
I’ve just started looking into it, I have the backing of the local Squadron Commander and possible premises. I am going to approach OC wing next before anything else.
Thanks
No experience of such here, but presumably you are referencing ACTO153?
Yeah, been through it. Its useful in terms of policy and viability (hence I have halted everything until I get the okay to precede from HQ) but I don’t think anything can beat real world experience.
Thanks for the reply.
my only experience is being adjacent to a DF set up in a place where its population meant it could never be a Sqn, and the staff had to do a 20m+ round trip to do a sqn night…
its been going - to some degree or other - 20-odd years, and has been the ‘possession’ of at least 3 different Sqn in that time. it would be best described as a penal colony… (in every sense…)
the lesson is don’t set up a DF in a place no none wants to go to, and don’t set up a DF where you’ll always be someones problem.
My experience of a DF being set up and associated with my old Sqn was that we had to staff it from the ‘parent’ unit with no additional help offered - it became a royal PITA. It seems to have taken off now, but it was very much touch and go for a long time!
The biggest problems that we encountered were accomodation in that we couldn’t access the community centre except for during our allocated slots and were only able to keep a single filing cabinet for materials in the building. They could not do drill in the car park as they were not the only users and overlooking neighbours could be rather ‘vocal’ when complaining. I believe that the DF now meets in a local school. WRT staffing, eventually enough staff was found from the wider area who were in a position to attend regularly, some of which lived in the community where the DF was set up.
On the positive side, a very local DF (set up about 3 yrs ago?) is now doing so well with numbers, that they are investigating the option of forming up as a separate sqn.
We had a DF briefly and they did so well they very quickly gained full squadron status and are still going strong (ish).
Thanks for all the responses its much appreciated. It seems the common issues are surrounding cadet/staff numbers and accommodation. I’m feeling fairly confident as the DF would be near two quiet large schools which are pretty much untapped by any cadet groups. I hoping to get an agreement with the one school for accommodation and we have two uniformed staff who live opposite the school and a couple of CIs down the road.
Mike that is the DF that I was referring to, I’m glad it’s going from strength to strength (I’ve lost sight of it from where I now sit); it was set up approaching 6 years ago now.