The simplest way would be to duplicate Battle of Britain parade hence why it’s done for ATC Sunday. Pity we can’t for “RAF Sunday” of the Sunday that isnt Easter, closest to 1st April.
I think public parades organised by single units are starting to become a bit passé now especially due to all the additional paperwork.
…that is if it should be a parade. as I keep saying, why make it a formal parade? The Cadets in my experience enjoy a day out much more.
I agree & think it’s becoming a thing of the past - our wing tried to organise a big parade but cancelled due to lack of interest by staff.
I don’t think it’s as easy & people don’t enjoy them as much.
Imagine a national cadet open day across a few of the big aviation museums each year, with organisational support to release cadets upon them over a whole weekend, meeting new people etc
A bit like a stn families’ day
the trouble is, in my opinion, there is no national interest or precedent set - when i recall “ATC Sunday” first being suggested all we had to do was “recognise” the day by doing something.
I think the story of ATC is much like that of Armed Forces Day - while there is a “National event” it is all concentrated at one location each year.
local councils have no interest, resource or push to create an AFD event in the town Market Square and with so few “military establishments” it is harder to justify making the effort to recognise “our boys and girls of the armed forces” when the nearest Barracks or Station is over an hour’s drive away.
there is an argument that this is where the Cadet Forces comes in, but then requires double the interest - now not only from the Council but from the Detachment or Squadron (or both) to make it worthwhile and have “military” representation.
In our Wing i know of only two Battle of Britain Parades, but they have been taking place for the 25 years I have been in the organisation, and likely 25 years prior.
Our local one often sees 4-5 Squadrons attending due to a lack of opportunity elsewhere.
a parade for ATC Sunday has no precedent, it is best done with community support to make it worthwhile, but as the public don’t care about the formation date any more they do about AFD (generally, while I recognise some “military towns” do push the boat out, nationally it hasn’t grabbed the public’s attention as well as it might) then it is an uphill struggle and for what/whose benefit?
far better i think to do something that hits an aim of the organisation and the Cadets will benefit from.
many years ago at a previous Squadron we had a “Squadron Activities weekend” and was a mix of fieldcraft and AT events taking place. while the first year was a success and built upon for the second, given the time of year it was cancelled due to the cold temperatures and ended up snowing on what would have been Day 2. it was never considered again, and so i offered the museum idea being something more “weather proof”
to me it seems to tick so many positive boxes
Sadly yes, there are too many out there who think that a parade wearing pullovers in February is a good idea. A coulple of years ago, it was deemed as a good idea to parade the Wing as one on ‘ATC Sunday’; it was about 3 degrees and half of us came off parade shivering. So much for cold injury awareness training…
I remember when it wasn’t a thing as an event, back in the days when morale and enthusiasm were the norm across the organisation.
How long a go do you mean for first suggested?
I have a CI who says we should still be doing ATC Sunday parade like when he did as a cadet which was the 1960s.
I did ATC Sunday as a cadet in the early 70s at a whole Wing parade at Liverpool Cathedral. The police would even block off three roads for us to form up and march to the cathedral. It was deemed a whole Squadron attendence as well.
I did Liverpool Cathedral in the 90’s; It’s the only church visit during my cadet years. Then 20 odd years later, as a CI. I try to stay clear of churches as much as I can 
I do the same with Liverpool tbh
back when i was a Cadet i don’t ever recall doing anything, it was simply a date but have a recollection as an early CFAV that the Wing had a push for “ATC Sunday” to be recognised.
this was just before social media so there was limited scope to see what others were doing, i would say in early-mid 00s
where that push come from is anyone’s guess given it was 20-25 years ago. a direction from Region, a new year’s resolution from the Wg Cdr, or simply realisation that neighbouring Wings were doing something and we were lagging behind which the Wg Cdr wanted to put right, i don’t know.
but the first effort i recall making was the Squadron Activity weekend (I recall it vividly as it was kept being referred to as SAW) in the early 00s and although a success couldn’t be repeated due to the weather and so chosen a “weather proof” option instead which has always been well recieved, so much so i was asked to organise it on a Sector level for a period when the then Sector Commander jumped on the idea and confirmed that he’d get approval for a 55 seater coach if i organised the rest
edit to add: i am not disagreeing that “ATC Sunday” was not a “thing” prior to 2000, but based on my experience and the reaction from the Squadron staff it was a new concept to them to make an effort in early February in recognition of the ATC formation, and the Staff i was working with had 20-25+ years experience on me back then, at least one as “man and boy” within the Wing
We had a chat about it at the Sqn last night.
Not sure if anything has been fixed in stone for our local wgs, etc, for next yr, but last time we did a “mega” event was for the 75th - Ely Cathedral, just under 800 cadets I think.
So, for us, we would need a big “venue” to accommodate those sort of numbers. Big churches / cathedrals match the need for under cover facilities. Also, marching through a city centre is cool as far as parents are concerned, they can see little Jimmy & Josephine doing their stuff. Good for big PR too. Needs lots of local work for road closures, etc.
We also did one at Duxford quite some yrs ago. Good for an indoor venue, but not so good for public appreciation / PR. Don’t remember the parents being able to stay to look round IWM either.
our Wing have done big parades for Anniversary years too, but these have been held in the the Spring or summer - likely for many reasons, not simply weather related (availability of the required space/resources, avoiding clashes with other events, adequate timing to make it possible once decision made etc)
We had a ATC 50 parade at Ely Catherdral too; I think that pretty much the whole wing attended.
My Wing has done a church service for the past few years with most Sqns in the wing. While I’m not a big fan of the church and it was more religious in the speechs this year it did have a good showing of cadets and staff and I didn’t see anyone dealing with cold injuries. So in my Wing at least it is still very much a thing.
LaSER do an annual parade at St Clement Danes used to love it as a Cadet
It’s wasn’t a thing during my cadet days - late 80’s, early 90’s in Bristol & Gloucestershire wing.
Neither Sqn nor wing…
I think therein lies the issue. In an ever-more diverse organisation which seeks to appeal to all (rightly), a decision is being made to host a religious event in a Christian church, with a basic assumption that that should be good enough for everyone.
And the whole point of the event has nothing to do with religion.
Just like we will apparently have a big wing event in York Cathedral in 2026, the dilemma forced upon me is whether I give a day of my volunteering time to support what is essentially a Christian religious event, while undoubtedly getting frowns should I decide not to.
And possibly no sleep lost should I not attend and my unit still goes because we have enough staff, even though I, as a member of this organisation who gives hours of my life per week, should be able to engage with something like this fully.
I would favour a fully secular event but a large venue (Royal Albert Hall? The NEC?) is likely to be out of reach.
Maybe it should be held at Cranwell!
The advantage of the NEC is that it is central with road rail and air links close by, whereas Central London is difficult from that point of view.