Endcliffe Hall Detachment on tour

Cadets at Endcliffe Detachment, D company worked hard to raise funds at last year’s Afternoon Tea at Endcliffe Hall to pay for detachment days out during the recent May half term break.

One of these trips was a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

The idea was that if cadets could see how much things cost, and they would know how much they would need to raise. On these occasions, our biggest cost was the transport which was provided by an external company, however as a bonus, entry into the Arboretum was free.

The weather was pleasant enough, not too hot and there was too much to see in one day. I made sure that every detachment attending visited their own regimental memorial and took photos to remember the day. For some cadets this is likely to be their last outing as a cadet before they age out of the organisation.

Endcliffe cadets saw the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) memorial was unveiled by His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO, Colonel in Chief RAMC on the 13 May 2015. The RAMC Grove has an avenue of purple leaved maple trees planted in tribute to the 29 members awarded the Victoria Cross and one who received the George Cross. One of the trees in the grove was planted to celebrate the 100^th birthday of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, when she was the Colonel in Chief.

Manor Top cadets saw ‘Jimmy’. A statue of Hermes (messenger of the gods) with the motto of Certa Cito, meaning swift and sure represents the Royal Signals although the providence of the name ‘Jimmy’ is uncertain – there are two theories: either after an Italian sculptor named Giambologna or a British Army boxing champion from 1926. Either way, there is a story there. This memorial was unveiled by the Colonel in Chief, The Princess Royal in 1926.

Rotherham cadets saw the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME) Memorial which is dedicated to all members of the corps and displays both their former and current cap badges. The call sign for REME is ‘bluebell’ so the future planting around the area will include oak trees and bluebells.

The Cadet Forces is represented by a round bench honouring former members of the Cadet Force who have joined the Armed Forces, and have then lost their lives.

The first tree planting took place in 1997, three years after the appeal project was launched by Commander David Childs CBE who wished to establish a national focus for remembrance, with the support of the then Prime Minister John Major. The site is set in 150 acres of park land and holds a large variety of shrubs, trees and plants which the 330 memorials are set in which the Millennium Commission provided 40% of the funding for – the remainder was made up from donations big and small from all sorts of organisations.

There is something for everyone – you can just walk around the park, and learn a lot just by looking at the memorials, or there are guided talks which will take groups around the site.

SSI Rebecca Montgomery, Detachment Commander, Endcliffe said “The staff who helped supervise the cadets on these trips put in annual leave with their day jobs to come along. Without this kind of support, these trips would not have happened, so a big shout needs to go out to them. As a thank you, especially for the Alton Towers trip, there were a few cadet spaces available, so I offered these to the detachments of the staff who volunteered. The detachment commanders chose who deserved to go. In some cases, this may be the only trip some of these cadets will go on this year. I found it really humbling and it did put things into perspective. We will be hosting Afternoon Teas in the next few months in order to fund raise for next May Half Term – who knows where we get to?”