sadly in my part of the country we have had several all shut down and have been the last one in this part of the country running alone for last 5 years. After working hard over the last year we have just reopened a closed squadron now thats been shut down for the last 5 years. So it’s great to see this open again and hopefully more will in the future .
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This squadron is closing because the staff that ran it were hounded out for attending a local fete during the pause.
They went to a local event, ran by the Lions, in civvies, no cadets, no ATC branding.
They were disciplined for deliberately circumventing direct orders.
Who loses? The Cadets from Somerset.
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I hadn’t put two and two together. That’s awful. Heads should be rolling, but I’m guessing they’re not.
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The only thing that will happen is that HQ will congratulate itself for successful disciplinary action.
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Only the heads that used to run the Sqn
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Yet, given the current state of play in the organisation, the ones who’s heads should roll are the PS who fail to meet the requirements of holding a HEO post in the CS.
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As as organisation, no one can give a “lawful order” and no one can de “disciplined” for not obeying. If what @Baldrick says is true and I have no reason not to believe him. There may be more to this, but on the face of it does no reflect very well on the wing and RAFAC.
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This is quite sad for what ever the reasons. It does seem to leave a big hole in the area in terms of local sqns.
Not to mention that Wells is also under threat of closing due to the same issues.
They labelled it as promoting unacceptable behaviours, and an integrity issue.
When what it really was, was the staff continuing to support a local activity that relied upon now withdrawn ATC support, and feeling that they couldn’t let the activity fail.
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Which you could argue is a strong demonstration of integrity…
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‘Little’ people within the organisation who believe that a uniform gives them power over people doing things outside of organisations activities. It says more about them than the Squadron members and the only people who suffer are the cadets.
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I’d argue, it is not just the cadets but our (and by extension) the RAF’s relationship with the wider community.
We recently had to tell a local event we were unable to support due to not being able to get the approvals in time.
It’s not the same as being subject to a ‘pause’ and the notice given to us was short, but it doesn’t give the impression in either case that we are a ‘can do’ organisation.
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The question has to be a) did the organisers go to other cadet forces or youth organisations for support, and b) will you be asked next time?
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I think the Scouts and probably not
That said it was sent to someone who is no longer on the Sqn, the downside of using pers accounts not roles!
Such things just degrade visibility with the local population and develops a reputation for not being reliable in the future. Both sides lose out.
ETA, No visibility of cadets at events means that other organisations can capitalise on the opportunity to recruit from a small pool of people, both cadets and staff.
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So not a closure but March Sqns old HQ being demolished (they’ve moved into the army cadets building)
I hear that many squadron building in the same site as ACF are going into JCC. From what I have seen to the benefit of both units 
Well that’ll provide a nice physical break in the unit history between them and their naughty former OC.
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