Very much so.
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V10 is out.
I’ve got a series of sessions, mainly on a Friday in February and March. Let me know if you want an invite.
Some are Wing specific but might give ideas for your nights.
I’ve also got some ppts on various subjects too.
That’s rhetorical right?
We all are.
No one enjoys this.
We’ve got a programme and some content, but it’s not ideal
Indeed. And also a scream into the void, which makes me feel better 
We’ve had very limited take up over the winter lockdown/s, and Mrs Angus tells me that schools are reporting the same: 20% of pupils are doing everything, 50% doing nothing, and the rest just dipping in.
Our figures are lower than that.
Wonder how many CFAV will wait until they have had the vaccine before they are willing to come back
I know that the current Mrs Biggles_Lovechild has put that on my pink chit for sign off
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corrected that for you.
i take my hat off to anyone still running VPNs.
our Cadet shown little interest from the start and even with relatively interesting guest speakers organised by our Wing I only saw 2-3 of ours taking the time to “register” on the Cadet Portal event and was typically the same 3-4 faces each time.
after 8 months (November) everything stopped VPN wise for us…There was a quiz juts prior to Christmas as an excuse to catch up, and even the Wing has stopped finding speakers it has dried up…
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We’re fortunate that, with a sqn of ~40/50 cadets, we’re getting ~20 turning up every week for our VPNs. We’ve had good guest speakers (which we’ve arranged ourselves) and some pretty good ‘other’ content that’s kept the cadets engaged. As well as reaching out to them all on a semi-regular basis for those who aren’t keen on VPNs.
We’ll lose cadets when we return to f2f, but maybe only 20-30%, tops.
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You’re doing really well! With a similar sized Sqn (at the start) we’re probably getting 10-15 on a VPN. I don’t think we’ll have more than 50% left by the time we return to F2F.
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We’re fortunate to have a good core of cadets and a nicely diverse (and well sized) staff team. We’ve had zero help from Wing.
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I’m currently planning what I can deliver to my squadron (as supernumerary staff) and what I can deliver to the wider sector and Wing.
Does anyone here think that the corps will return to F2F in March? What will have changed between now and then to allow greater mixing of the general population especially when BoJo has said previously that he can’t see pubs opening anytime before May.
Asking for a friend…
It’d be great to see outdoor F2F resume in March, start getting some weekend activities running.
Not sure about squadrons parading though.
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My view is no chance. I reckon most places will still be in Tier 4.
no
Schools opened in September and the vast majority of units worked at opening but never got around to it as the rate of infection increased, schools return to home-schooling, the tier system was introduce and then a new lockdown came in many suggest because of the opening of the schools. (although accept that is not the only reason - and jointly linked to the other knock on effects)
if i were at HQAC i would suggest waiting a least a month after schools before even suggesting a date.
a lot of CFAVs heard the “nothing before 31st August” and took that to mean we’re “go” for 1st Sept but that was without knowing the impact opening schools will have.
given the school pupils are at the back of the vaccine queue their likely to be catching and spreading is more so than the rest of the population. And for the rest of the population as “immunity” only really takes hold after the second jab I cannot share any expectation we’ll be parading in April on the basis the infection rates remain low…
hopefully following the efforts in Sept/Oct most units are there or thereabout to open with C-19 secure measures in place, but to think our opening will match/soon follow the schools is false hope without considering what the impact of schools returning is on infection rates
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I think it would be a mistake to see schools potentially opening in some way as meaning that other stuff that’s a bit like school can also reopen.
Govt has three priorities:
-
Not have people dying in hospital car parks.
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Vaccine rollout.
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Schools.
Government will happily let everything else burn in order to ringfence those three. To protect those three I think we’re looking at no pre/after-school clubs/care, no youth stuff, no non-essential retail, no pubs, no sit in dining, and just nothing that might push the R rate to the point where schools have to close again.
I’m personally thinking that outdoor cadet activities might be allowed from the beginning of May. The thinking behind that is schools going back fully (perhaps) for the last week of March, two weeks Easter holidays, then two weeks of school to see what the R rate is doing, then a decision on cadet stuff.
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Certainly some keen beans out there, compliance check already done
Fair play if it complies with current guidance.
Kind of pointless surely? Guidance is bound to change before cadets get anywhere near those chairs.
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