The Squadron is located is located in a “Cadet Training Centre”. The ACF use the building at weekends, bringing in ACF contingents across from various counties 52 weeks of the year. Apart from our offices all other parts of the building are “shared use” eg classrooms. All of this means the Squadron has great difficulty in carrying out any weekend training - the building being over run by the ACF.
Are we unique in being located in this sort of building, does anyone know of any units that are in the same position and how if at all they address the issue.
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Your not unique if it’s a joint centre then what’s needed is liaison between units, either ATC CO to ACF set Cdr or county training officer and just state well in advance when the weekend training will be.
If both sides coordinate then it can mean that both sides can use the building even if you use just a single classroom.
Sorry just seen that it’s a CTC & not a JCC.
CTCs are a little more complicated but again liaison & planning should let you do what you need.
you will probably need Wing to get involved with their equivalents in the ACF to get a MoU
I didn’t know that there were types of cadet centre. What’s the difference between CTC & JCC?
Id say this a RC convo rather than Wing.
It’s always best to just ask them to see how you can work together first locally before escalating to wing or rhq.
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JCC - Joint Cadet Centre. Purpose built building to house cadet units from the three services - in short to collocate a Sqn, Detachment & TS in one building. Building often administered by RFCA but it for use primarily by the units based there. Dual service is becoming common, tri service less so.
CTC - Cadet Training Centre - normally a complex or large building used primarily by ACF at county or region level. Sometimes have a training area attached. Often have caretaker staff on site with dedicated office & occasionally accommodation. ATC equivalent would be a cross between a WHQ & The AT centres at Windermere.
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This is the best route as the first question will be “have you asked them”?
If the centres booked for a weekend but the classrooms aren’t being used then that could work for you.
Have you tried to book any of the classrooms for weekend training?
The centre is booked 12 months in advance by the ACF, there are only 2 possible weekends in the year when it is free - when the ACF attend their annual camp. However, on occasions RFCA has hired these weekends out to 3rd parties. Booking individual classrooms is a non starter, the ACF bring in enough numbers to use all the classrooms- including the 3 additional classrooms that were attached at a later date, bringing the total to 5.
The intention for the post is to try and find out whether there is any other ATC unit in this predicament and what (if any) solutions they may have found.
Well there you go…
Book out 2023 onwards now.
Then it’s all yours.
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Id recommend doing that also
That doesn’t work either,
I have found from experience that the acf/RFCA just bun your booking a few weeks out to suit their requirements.
It’s a hard one but ultimately I think you are on a hiding to nothing unfortunately
This may be one to get the WExO and ARC involved and perhaps the RC, given some of the childish rank snobbery about who will talk to who.
This must have been provided as a joint centre as I doubt the Army/ACF funded it in toto and as such a fair usage element would be somewhere in the T&C.
If not then the Air Cadet bods in the room were dozing and the ACF lot having a giggle.
Definitely get the chain of command involved.
Something that your RC would probably love to get their teeth into.
If you can’t use this facility (which is 0.00000 miles from your sqn…!) where is the next nearest training facility/Defence Training Estate/RAF base?
If you have to travel away from your unit, to allow your sqns training to be carried, then that is detrimental to learning and a potentially large travel cost.
Sadly, the problem being described of ACF basically block booking the facility and not letting ATC in at weekends has been ongoing since it was completed about 20 years ago.
I would say try and book it through your RFCAs alternative venues people anyway and see what happens.
If you can’t book it they might be aware of something else suitable nearby.
That is my CTC. The portacabin classrooms are not always used at weekends. The CTC itself is not used every weekend so I can’t see why you can’t book it when it is free - I can see some dates on the calendar right now. Even when the county is there, if they are doing fieldcraft or expedition there will should be space free. When did you last make enquiries?
It is only really used by my county, not the whole ACF (though not impossible that another could book it).
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Where is this? Looks like an old airfield?