Camps and courses

Congratulations to Rob Skinner, first cadet in 2009m to apply for a course.


Cadet 10598895 Cdt. SKINNER, Robert has had their applicaton registered on Course - CCF RN Military Training MT 1(2533) starting 29-Mar-2009 Ref: C213755

Bids for Easter courses close this week, but there are many wonderful opportunties this summer. Go here for the full list.

The New RN Jetty

Thanks to funding from HQ CCF RN, a new jetty is being built to provide an accessible mooring for the section's Cheverton Champ launch, and also a place to train crews in the art of coming alongside without breaking things.

The jetty has been designed and is being built by Richard Evans, Senior Groundsman, and Austen Dorey, Boatman, and their colleagues, using fine hardwood.

2009

we ended 2008 very busily, moving all our kit out of the old shed into two new ISO shipping containers (to be named Fearless and Intrepid).

This term sees the start of serious navigation training, workup for the Bienniel Inspection on 17th March, and planning for waterborne training once the weather warms up.

Meanwhile we wish CPO Gary Aldridge plenty of snow for the RN Ski Championships.

Back online

The RN section is getting back on line, after a busy term so far which has seen numbers rise to 30, a terrific Field Day thanks to our friends at Bearwood College, and the delivery of two ISO shipping containers to be the new secure store for our training kit. The old RN hut is being handed over to the Boat Club as a fitness centre with ergometers and weights.

The section Ensign has reappeared after several years of being stored in a safe place (the Boat Club sculling shed).

CPO Gary Aldridge will be visiting us again in the last week of term, and we plan a session looking at camps and courses for Easter - details are now available at the RNCOM website (link on the sidebar), and a game of indoor deck hockey.

Vital support to 20 Mile Sponsored walk

The Section provided vital support to the school's 20-mile sponsored walk along the Thames Path today. Fortunately there were no injuries, but a number of tired people enjoyed a few miles rest and were then able to carry on and finish the route. RN cadets gained experience in boat handling in unfamiliar waters, including man overboard drills and working the new automatic lock gates upstream between Shiplake and Whitchurch.

More photos at
http://pics.sinodun.org.uk/main.php?g2_itemId=6737

The key players were the three Senior NCOs, Jack Harvard-Taylor, Will Bates and Freddie Hunting.

Action Stations

We also enjoyed visiting HMS Victory, and the nearby RN Museum with the impressive Trafalgar Experience. After lunch we moved on to Action Stations with its simultors, engineering demonstrations (such as propeller cavitation and the hydrogen rocket), firepower games (Cox'n Joe Holmes is fighting off critical comments about his shirt hanging out) and the climbing walls(Harry Coaker is racing Ed Pinker on the moving climb).

RFA Fort Victoria

We enjoyed our tour of the eleven-story, 208 metre long, floating supermarket, fuel station and heliport. Here is the rig which can replenish warships at sea with everything they need.

The ammunition and missile magazines, deep inside the ship, are protected by blast panels which would allow the force of any explosion to vent outwards above the waterline.