Our Wing, like most I suspect, is desperately short of staff. Stopping unnecessary activities, especially ones that take lots of time to organise, would be one way of reducing the burden on everyone.
I’d suggest that the first event to stop would be Wing Activities Day/Wing Field Day. Most cadets (and staff) don’t enjoy it, only a few from the most successful Sqns. It takes a lot of time and organising, both for the project team and every Sqn to prepare for it.
Would anyone miss WAD/WFD? Any other Wing events to stop or keep?
Senior officer ‘look at me days’ are they needed, nope and most important they cost money, time and resources when people could either do with some ‘me or family time’ not stroking somebody’s ego.
I did say most, which is based on comments from cadets over many years.
In contrast, Wing athletics is usually popular, because it’s a chance to sit around in the sun and catch up with friends. Not so easy or comfortable to do on WAD, in my Wing anyway.
I was the opposite. Hated athletics. I wasn’t a sporty kid so being forced to go to an athletics competition annually wasn’t too great.
Don’t get me started on Wing Swimming where I was signed up to do competitions when I can barely swim and told “just do it for the points”… Had to be pulled out by life guards.
Adapting them to something else could save money, time, and staff yes
Getting rid of them completely no
It’s good to see the Wing together, it’s good to have healthy competition, it’s good to allow the cadets that want to show off show off
I have a core group of Air Reccie cadets whose only opportunity to have a proper competition is at the wing field day - because let’s be fair the majority don’t particularly enjoy it
But it’s the same for music, drill, banner drill - my cadets get fired up over that one, models, photos, Public Speaking was a fan favourite until Corps stopped doing it so most wings dropped it, art - another one a lot of places have dropp but the cadets enjoyed it.
Perhaps it’s more the pressure that goes alongside it needs to change. The forcing everyone to participate because you have to have a full team. Let the team of 9 dedicated drill cadets do their drill and show off what they’ve learnt, enter a slightly scruffy model that the cadet spent hours on even if it’s not perfect.
Competitions aren’t a bad thing - if done right can be really healthy. Up and down the country there are wings doing 1 day wing field day for the “blue” things, then doing some great other competition days/weekends for others. Allows them to breath rather try and cram everything into an all in one event.
They are useful in that they feed into the Region/Corps equivalents, but then a case can be made for binning them off too.
They are probably most popular as a networking event, Cadets greying to see friends from other units rather than for the activities themselves.
If you are going to do a Parade a) make it part of the WFD not a stand alone event and b) have a point to it. (Dishing out the big wing trophies etc).
Not in my recent experience, despite my best efforts I’ve struggled to get teams to any of the Wing Sporting events. (Except Swimming where my County Swimmers used it as a practice event and even then we didn’t have a full team, just 2 great swimmers who swept the field).
Completely agree that parades, other than these 3, are often random ego projects for senior officers.
Whether those parades are Wing events will vary though. Remembrance is almost always a local event, I’d suggest. Battle of Britain and ATC Sunday are sometimes Wing events, but often just in the local town.
There are a few exceptions when a Wing parade might be appropriate. I was a cadet during the 50th Anniversary of the ATC. That was a good parade at the county cathedral. There were Jubilee parades this year too of course.
To throw it out there, why does ATC Sunday need to be a formal walk on a public highway? Lots of sqns celebrate our anniversary in other ways like annual dinners, or you know, doing some of the fun activities that make us who we are. On a couple of occasions, I organised a sqn camp during the February half term to cover a mix of the above.
As a wing we are looking at potential to combine a couple of the wing level events to cut down on number of weekends required, but also to encourage people to come along to the less exciting activities by pairing them with stuff like social events/awards.
Both ATC Sunday & Battle of Britain are dying as local parades. BoB went with the RAFA & ATC Sunday is dependent on local Sqns - again something that is diminishing.
I do thing wing field day should stay but be renamed a Wing Ground Training Competition which is what it is.
As we’re struggling at Sqn level probably the best thing to do would be to reduce the number of wing events & focus back at Sqn level. We can then build back up to the wing events over the next few years.
I wonder how much the cost of logistics are going to throw a spanner into the smoothly running engine of wing events…?
The three schools than my family attend/work in have stopped doing day trips simply because of the cost of coach hire. Instead of going to X museum etc… they now pay for whatever to come to them. The one at primary school is doing a Viking day: to go to whatever attraction it was was going to cost £30+ each, but if the attraction comes to the school it’s £7.50 each.
All three schools are doing similar.
I wonder when £500+ for each coach just gets it all binned?
Have been staff this time round for 6 years, have never heard of an ATC Sunday being available, and only once been offered a BoB Parade.
Always been slightly amused by the variety of names going for the Annual All-Wing Day, either Wing Field Day, Wing Training Day, Wing Activity Day… The fact there’s no single accepted suggests that, as per, there’s no set template from on high so everyone just makes it up, hence why it’s very haphazard and falling apart…
Really? The squadron I was a cadet at would go on a different parade every weekend through the summer months. We were in Lincolnshire so surrounded by endless amounts of ex RAF bases, and each old flying squadron seemed to have a reunion to which we brought blue uniforms to. Almost all the cadets enjoyed the days out and all the ceremonial was a massive part of my cadet ‘career’
I’ve no idea why a parade of all things is seen as a suitable celebration of the anniversary of the Corps formation.
Oh yeah…i remember its easy.
At least with Remembrance and BoB there is town support from the RBL and RAFA. One Sqn i used to be neighbours to marched down their road, not the Town high street, not through the market square the 300yds of their road, wheeled into the compound for a service from the Padre then inside for squash and biscuits!
But I’m widely off topic now
Bringing it back.
I loved WFD as a Cadet but back then we did it all in one day and the whole Sqn wanted to be there.
Nowadays our Wing have reduced the number of events pushing others to individual dates (like air recce or first aid) diluting the experience of the day.
As staff i often enjoy the event I’m on but will only speak to those handful of staff
