Anyway, we have a Mayor’s cadet. It is a trophy at our annual awards evening and goes to someone who contributes to the local community. We try and select someone we know will be able to attend some of the civic events, someone mature enough to be able to make small talk with dignitaries and someone smart enough to be a good representation of our organisation and not show me up.
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Our Mayors Cadet is nominated by the OC. (Me)
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Same. Mayor’s office contacts the Sqn, Sqn selects someone suitable - usually a community focused cadet, regular volunteer, achieved well, looks well turned out in uniform, and reliable (able to commit to events and actually turn up).
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my local town is soon to be run by a new mayor, the previous two didnt have mayors cadets so im assuming were unaware of such thing or not looking for one, does this change anything? Also linking to my other question, what skills would be best to highlight?
It will be the mayor’s choice to have them so if the previous 2 didnt have them it’s unlikely that the new one will as they will follow tradition…never say never though
Skills wise- need to have a high standard of uniform, professionalism, ability to carry out small talk with VIPs, maturity and probably most importantly commitment to attend dates…there will be an expectation that you drop what you have planned to to attend the function at the mayor’s request.
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seconded!!
Our WExO claims they don’t have enough time as it is so adding 20+ Mayor’s Cadet applications to deal with to the work load will probably end up seeing FS Jones from 123 (Anytown) Sqn appointed to Townville’s Mayor the other side of the Wing!
sounds like a case of “we’ve always done it that way” - which can be dangerous
approaching the new Mayor and indicating the positives and increased engagement is only a way to make the Mayor look better which they will be keen on (obviously)
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Would suggest it should be the OC (or at least Adj deputising) writing to the mayor to make the case the case.
“it is common practice throughout the UK, blah blah, benefit to you, benefit to cadets, benefit to community, etc.”
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Our Chair does that sort of thing, since it’s a civic thing and fits into the sort of people who make up most of our Committee.
Or that. Fair point.
Depends who can write a better letter! 
My Chair has many fingers in many pies and sees lots of people about lots of different dogs. 
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I’m not suggesting that applications need to go through Wing HQ, I said that the cadet should approach their OC and not go straight to the Mayor. I then said that the OC will need to liaise with Wing HQ, which they will. If this cadet gets appointed as a Mayor’s cadet then Wing HQ will need to at least be aware that the mayor is holding events at which a lone cadet will be attending, presumably in uniform.
I think only it’s Lord Mayors (who chair the local county, principal area, U.A, district, metropolitan borough or London borough) how have a Lord Mayor’s Cadet. Town mayors are a more informal position who chair a parish council which has been awarded the status of a town and I believe they do not have a cadet. A mayor’s territorial designation may be a town (e.g. Bolton, Dudley, Harrogate, Plymouth plus hundreds more) but that doesn’t neccessarily mean that they are a town mayor. Those four places are boroughs are metropolitan boroughs, districts or UA’s and so will have their own Lord Mayor. Other towns (e.g. Blyth, Bridgnorth, Weston-Super Mare and hundreds more) are not UA’s, boroughs or districts and so will have a parish council with a town mayor instead.
Here is are lists of all of the principal areas, districts, metropolitan boroughs and London boroughs. See if your local town is listed. If so, it will have a Lord Mayor who may have a Lord Mayor’s cadet. If not your local town is probably governed by a parish council who will have a mayor as opposed to a Lord Mayor and will probably not have a Lord Mayor’s cadet.
England: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_districts
Wales: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_Wales#Principal_areas_of_Wales
Northern ireland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_districts_in_Northern_Ireland_by_population
Elected mayors such as the Mayor of London do not have a Lord Mayor’s cadets. Hope this helps
Sorry dude, wrong.
(Well only a Lord Mayor would have a Lord Mayor’s Cadet, so half wrong I suppose)
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Nope. I am currently the Mayor’s Cadet for a (admittedly small) town council, and the arrangement with the squadron has gone back decades. The OC selects the cadet (usually an NCO) and the Mayor attends the squadrons AGM/presentation evening event to announce the mayor’s cadet. They then attend the town councils civic services, such as the Mayor Making, Christmas celebration, Civic Service and we were supposed to attend a VE 75 event before that was called off…
However, being a town councils mayor’s cadet does NOT entitle a cadet to No1s. I attend all events in Wedgewood’s and tie unless told otherwise.
Not every Town Council will have a cadet, but a lot of them do. We also don’t have the second brassard as Lord Mayor’s/Stn Cdr’s and LL’s Cadets get.
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Mildly off topic, but why do some staff despise the idea of allowing cadets to wear No1s? I’m not desperate for them as they seem reasonably high maintenance and harder to clean if you spilt anything on them, but I don’t quite understand why some staff are so heavily against them?
Is it some sort of superiority complex wherein staff see No1s as an indication to the outside world that they are ‘above’ cadets? After all, essentially with uniform, within the cadet forces we’re all playing a rather meticulous game of dress up, so does it even really matter?
And the same for former LLC’s etc, why do they have to surrender their No1s immediately after they cease being a LLC’s cadet. It’s ultimately perfectly good kit that could well be used, being left to rot in a storage cupboard for years until another LLC’s cadet comes around that happens to be that size.
It just seems like a great waste of kit that could be used in some circumstances, such as presentation evenings and Dining In’s, especially for cadet SNCOs. I am for the liberalisation of our regulations regarding No1s, not that they’re obeyed very well anyway. We all know of CCFs who purchase No1s to issue to all cadets, and they look smart as anything compared to us strolling around in No2A’s. Obviously, even we look better than the ACF strolling around in MTPs, but that’s beside the point…
I take issue with some staff wearing them! They look great when worn correctly and fit well.
But they look terrible far more easily when not worn correctly - which is what historically happened when someone dug a random set (sometimes not even the correct pattern) out of stores and said “here, chuck these on”.
I personally hate no 1s and try to get out ofwearing them as much as poss
However.
Being a bit of a uniform stazi it irritates me when normally OCs just disregard 1358C and put cadets in No1s
No1s Jacket and Trousers have to be made from the same bit of cloth. obtaining a full set that matches and fits correctly is actually quite a challenging task…especially for little jimmy who is still growing…ultimately it ends up with the cadet having to spend a small fortune on tailoring them to fit which normally are of a questionable quality and well past their usable service
So ultimately a larger % of cadets (and there are some staff) end up looking silly in them.
Then theres the cost of supplying too several hundred cadets…its a bit of kit that cant be reliant of private purchase and would result in a mixture of 2a and No1s and would really defeat the object of uniformity
This (Well the famous viral picture) triggered the policy that uniformed CFAV can be banned from wearing uniform if its Ill fitting and brand damaging
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