Indeed - the nearest squadron to the south of mine is over 20 miles away.
Look at google maps in relation to this particular DF and see what the Squadron members are afraid of, no-one will travel in particular in winter
Iâm not sure what you think Iâm arguing?
But itâs the audacity of the statement about being offered places at 3 other squadrons, none of which look to be an easy drive, judging on the roads (as per mapping) and probably crap public transport. When someone says itâs say 7 miles, doesnât sound far, but try the journey without a car at parade night times, to see how practical it is? Is there public transport and how far do you need to go to access it and is one bus or do you need to change?
The question is how many youngsters travel the sort of distances you suggest? We had 3 cadets when I was a cadet, who travelled about 6 miles by train, they turned up late some nights and had to leave early as the next train would be another ½ hour or so. But you never saw their mum or dad and when one of them left the others werenât far behind as it meant travelling on their own if the other couldnât make it.
Much comes down to how far parents are willing to drive. My wife took two of our kids to a club (the 3rd had to go) and stayed and ended up helping, as it was too far to drive there and back twice. Would anyone want a parent hanging around all night, if they had to drive a distance where by the time youâve driven home, it would be sit down for 20 minutes and drive back?
Yes.
In fact looking at the parent who has written this letter and has a Facebook group going, I would love to sign her up as a CI as she is clearly passionate about this organisation offering something for her son.
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Except because of all the hoops we make people go through to join itâll take her 6 months to be able toâŚ
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OK thatâs one, but what if there are 5 or 6?
Do they offer anything tangible though?
By which time it could be proving too difficult to manage, what with school, work, siblings etc and the lads left.
This is a very valid point. I used to be staff at a Sqn in Mid Wales, and the OC at the time had worked out that the catchment area was something stupid like 600 square miles. In practice, most cadets came from within a 5 mile radius. The longest distance I was aware of was about 11 miles, and that particular cadet went to school close to the sqn, and hung around in town after school on parade nights.
There needs to be some sort of equilibrium between hassle getting to the sqn, Vs the benefits of attending. On my squadron, Flying, Gliding, and annual camps used to keep the cadets motivated to keep up good attendance, as that was one of the criteria I used to decide who got what. Given that GM canât fly or glide at the moment, and camp places are in short supply, I would imagine that traveling to the other squadrons might tip the scales in the wrong direction.
So what has happened to the review or has HQAC suddenly had second thoughts with the new paperwork staff are having to sign up to and how many have they lost?
It is ongoing, as far as I can tell. I didnât consider it a one-off, but a new way of thinking.
Wasnât it supposed to be published by November?
We were told early 2019âish.
1 think I would like to see happen in this footprint review is for HQAC to appoint independent surveyors to inspect all the buildings prior to any decisions being made.
There is several objectives with this
- review the buildings and the expected life span
- get an accurate assessment of their value
- standards of upkeep in regards to maintenance
My reasoning is simple I believe that rfca is the most incompetent organisation in this planet and are unable to make decisions correctly for the corps especially in our area where RFCA = ACF and all monies go there first even if it is ACF or not.
In the event of 2/3 sqns amalgamating then it gives HQAC an accurate picture of the buildings. There is no point putting the sqns into condemned rat infested building (which they have done previously) when a perfectly better one is available. This sounds simple but when you look at the repairs signed off by RFCA as complete then you wonder. By having an independent review it would then give an accurate report and basis to work from in their decisions.
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We cant actually fit all our cadets in our building its too small
Our ceilings have black mould growing and the corber of the building has been hit by a car at somepoint and become damaged causing the walls to crackâŚa âfixâ was made but its back. The mould needs to be treated with a whole new roof but given nearing the end of the financial year its not happening
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Do away with RFCA and give X amount to HQAC to rebuild Y number of units per year. The rest of the money direct to units to pay for our own repairs as required. Let us employ local companies to do our repairs, we would get so much more for our money,
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One of our CIs is a qualified electrician currently on the MODs booksâŚbut can install a plug in our classroom
They are so worried about corruption that they wonât allow local works. I could be corrupt get my mates building company to do works, take a kick back and still get a better deal than they do!
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The worst money mismanagement things I have seen with rfca is them being given ÂŁ150k for susbtantial improvement works at a reserve unit on the Tuesday from the parent service, the unit called on the Wednesday to confirm they received the money and for guidance to when the works shall commence. The rfca agreed they received the money but then said it couldnât give a timescale as the money was now allocated on other works more pressing and they would need to BID for the works to be carried out in the next financial year!
Needless to say all hell broke loose!
Itâs taken a while but looks like Covid may have finally made this happen.
Units merge in Swindon to become a single unit.
1244 (Swindon & District) + 633 (West Swindon) = 1244 (Swindon
Has anyone else heard anything else on this sensitive subject?