I think the College of Arms could technically send people round to destroy all items with the unauthorised heraldry on. But it’s not going to happen
I’ve now got the image of them turning up as the heavy mob in their ceremonial cloaks proclaiming their reasons & them smashing everything up with ceremonial crudgels.
“What’s this guv’nor? You’ve put metal on metal? That’s going to be a couple of knuckles me old sunshine…”
1 Like
Considering His Majesty’s High Court of Chivalry which is the relevant court for the College Of Arms hasn’t sat since 1954 and the time before that was in the 1730s (?) I think the chances are quite slim of anyone trying anything. (Although it would be interesting to see how modern justice system would work with a hereditary judge……) In Scotland however I think the Court Of the Lord Lyon actually does sit relatively regularly and enforce these things for Heraldic items under his control but that wouldn’t be relevant to RAFAC as from a recent comment on teams even Scottish Sqn don’t fall under Lord Lyon’s jurisdiction on heraldic matters despite him being the kings representative on these matters in Scotland.
Definitely going to speak to my Sqn oc see if we can get a official one made although I suspect it will be a full change from what we currently have.
2 Likes
The Lord Lyon is absolutely fantastic. His work to promote heraldry etc and move it with the times is worthy of recognition.
And he’s got principles. I really respect that.
2 Likes
Sorry, I’ve just realised what you mean.
Yes, I can absolutely add wings and regions for each. Might take me a while!
1 Like
Agreed, and would cause its own issues anyway. What anyone going hyperbolic on this is missing is that this isn’t anything new - the guidelines and regulations for badges have existed, the route to officialdom has existed. Just that it hasn’t had the visibility, marketing, or support. We did ours after spotting I think an article/advert in Air Cadet Magazine - the only time I can recall seeing any such signposting or encouragement proactively pushed out.
Second point is that if what you have looks dreadful or unprofessional, why would want it? There are plenty out there that could be tweaked to something closer to within guidelines at the very least.
As long as you aren’t going into this with a mission to get everybody or the belief that you will, there’s no drama.
Targets are:
- those that already want it want it
- those that don’t know about it, but would
- those that can be EASILY convinced
- those that would be swayed through seeing momentum around them
Realistically, it doesn’t matter if they aren’t attempting to wear as 3A.
This is why I made the point about Sqns controlling the timeline. Your first line is just an overreaction that no one here is proposing, and the last line isn’t necessarily required to have something that at least looks right even if hasn’t been through the College of Arms.
From what I can tell, there’s a pretty small proportion of units with car crash badges that shouldn’t exist, and a handful that could tweak to make it presentable without paying, while plenty are already pretty much there visually even if not official and wouldn’t be passed if submitted due to pedantic issues with the motif.
If you don’t see £650 of value, or whatever funded rate might be achievable, then that’s fine and you don’t have to care. But we should all care about looking professional, thematically appropriate, and paying the due respect and attention to heritage (which isn’t what someone crafted on Photoshop CS2).
2 Likes
Just because what exists is “the badge someone served under”, that’s a poor reason to not change. Rebranding is not a new concept, and is an opportunity for PR, marketing, and renewed morale and esprit de corps. Organisations rebrand all the time, because they understand that sometimes you need to look forward and not stubbornly cling to the past.
1 Like
MS Paint surely?
1 Like
Some, perhaps.
Which is something not discussed about not updating - some out there appear to be running pretty low res imagery.
2 Likes
You are the Twitter Queen and I claim my £5.
Hhmmmm, I was under the impression that my squadron had an authorised badge, yet we’re not in your list. . .
I’ll have to ask the question 
I’m sorry for the bad news, but this is stage 1 — improve understanding!
Edit: If you find an official college painting, do send it through though! I’ll accept hard evidence of my list being wrong!
1 Like
And it’s worth mentioning that I already have a rapidly-growing list of units who like what I’m selling, have badges and concepts that are basically there (but currently unauthorised) and are happy to work with me to help get them through.
My promise is to tweak the raw vision and existing identity as little as I can to get them through and immortalised — I’ve no interest in forcing a unit to accept a new vision if it doesn’t want one, even if it’s not a particularly inspiring design they’re currently working with. I’ll suggest changes once and move on.
The goal is uptake, not loads of units refusing because I won’t help them to achieve what they want.
3 Likes
This is now well-underway.
I’m using a document I found online (FOI) to help me align units with their wings and regions, but I’m conscious there could be an error if boundaries have changed recently (as they have up in CEYorks).
Grateful if people could flag errors.
2 Likes
Surely a document already exists with up to date boundaries that align each unit to a Wing/Region.
The IT guys might be able help as each oc.XXX account will be part of a CoC showing their Wing/Region?
Pretty sure, ive seen the official painting on your wall…
1 Like
One thing that’s bothering me on the SharePoint page is that no matter how I seem to position the scrolling gallery, I’m forced to have loads of dead space on the sides.
Does anyone know how I can bring the sides of that element in so it’s no wider than it has to be?
It’s entirely possible something wasn’t captured from the official college records, so please do take a picture if you have one and I can enquire specifically in order to get the original scan for the register.
1 Like
Yeah, my thoughts too . . . I’m on site today helping at a Bronze Wings course, going to poke my head in later to check.
4 Likes
Just had a look through the album. There’s some great badges out there I hadn’t seen before!
2 Likes