An evening of cadet celebration and staff farewells
Ashbourne Detachment, Monday 29 April 2024
The evening began with multiple Army Cadet Syllabus (ACS) badge awards for shooting, for the cadets who had recently passed their 1 Star & 2 Star shoot on the Cadet Small Bore Target Rifle and L98A2 Cadet GP Rifle. Cadet Mckee and Cadet Ratcliffe were awarded their Basic Star badge for completing their basic training. There were Cadet promotions for Lance Corporal (Cpl) Saleni and LCpl Southorn, and a hard-earned promotion for Cpl Matheson.
The Detachment were joined by Brell Ewart, Deputy Lord Lieutenant for Derbyshire; Captain Sam Vause, Chairman of Ashbourne RBL; Anthony Bates, Mayor of Ashbourne; and Mr Toni Saleni.
Mr Ewart presented the Philips Trophy, for outstanding qualities and
high standards, to Cpl Breheny. The Truby Shield, for most outstanding
Junior NCO, was awarded to Cpl Brown.
Cadet Allsop was awarded the Jason Morris Cup for constantly striving
to improve, and has consistently achieved excellent results during ACS
assessments. Three further awards were presented by local businessman
Tony Saleni to Cpl Mlot for inspirational leadership and mentoring; to
Cadet Williams for Best Endeavour in cadet training; the Cadet's Cadet
award to Cadet Hyde. Mayor Bates then presented Captain Illsley with
the Mayor´s Recognition award for services to Ashbourne Detachment and
the community.
Captain Vause addressed the cadets and thanked them for their dedication and support for the RBL and hoped their affiliation with Ashbourne RBL may endure. After some foot drill training, which all the cadets enjoyed, the evening was brought to a close. Presentations were given to Captain Illsley and PI Illsley, from their cadets, as their service to Ashbourne Detachment ended. Captain Illsley's final act was to hand over the Detachment keys to the new commander, Sergeant Instructor Simon Mlot.
