W Company

Cadets from Berwick Detachment are coming to the end of a mammoth six months of fundraising in support of forces charity Help For Heroes.

Back in April three of our cadets - Cpl Greg Hogarth, Cdt Nathan Jerdan and Cdt Connor Armstrong - hit on the idea of raising a few hundred quid towards this very noble cause. With the help of Debra Jerdan of Berwick Youth Project, Lt Keith Marchant their ACF Detachment Commander and Tony Brown of the Royal British Legion they set about gathering public support for their fundraising efforts.

The lads' fundraising frenzy culminated in a coffee morning in the town's Guildhall, which saw their total shoot to well over £6,000. This event was well supported by many local businesses but a special mention has to go to Haggerston Castle Holiday Park, who donated the four main raffle prizes, hosted a car boot sale and whose enthusiastic staff participated in a number of different fundraising events.

Army cadets from Berwick and Duns took part in a sponsored overnight 25 mile walk around Berwick's historic town walls and organised collections in several shops and pubs around the area.

With sponsor money still trickling in the grand total could top £7,000 - a tremendous effort by all those involved.

Further coverage appears in the Berwick Advertiser.

Around 80 cadets from north-Northumberland spent last weekend (23-25 Oct 09) on expedition and adventurous training up at Otterburn and Kielder.

The expedition group, boasting some 40 cadets, trekked from Ottercops and Alwinton to Grassleas on the very southern edge of Otterburn Training Area.

Despite the very arduous weather conditions en-route all the expedition cadets managed to reach their objective relatively unscathed. They settled down for a damp and blustery night under canvas, which was slightly offset by the comfort food in their ration packs.

The remaining junior cadets in camp spent Saturday at the Hawkhirst Activity Centre where they took part in bell boating. As well as getting to grips with their unfamiliar vessels the cadets had plenty of time for races and splashing about... as if they weren't wet enough anyway! A little bit of rain and fatigue wasn't enough to dampen anyone's spirits and the cadets left beaming after the day's adventure.

Our big thanks go to Major Kev Stout and SSI Angie Wilson for supervising the bell boats and Captain Michael Grey for organising the expedition.

The weekend was also an important milestone in the cadet careers of Cdt Sgt Michael Sargent of Alnwick Detachment and Cdt LCpl Greg Hogarth of Berwick Detachment. Michael was promoted to Cdt S/Sgt and Greg to Cdt Cpl. Our good wishes to them both.

Next W Company weekend is 5-6 December 09, probably at Alnwick. Standby for further updates.

-TJJ