We were honoured to have Colonel Marc Godfrey, Colonel Cadets (East Anglia) 7 Infantry Brigade and Colonel Clint Riley, ACF Colonel Cadets Cadets Branch, Regional Command join us on our final parade.
The Commandant opened the parade by saying what a success Virtual Annual Camp has been. Over the course of 9 days, 420 took part in our 50 sessions on Zoom.
The first award to be presented was The Ryder Cup, which is awarded to the Detachment whose cadets gained the most points in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The cup went to Braintree detachment of D Coy. In 2nd place was Brentwood detachment, A Coy and in 3rd, Clacton detachment, D Coy.
Next, was The Lucas Tooth shield, which is awarded to the detachment whose cadets gain the highest number of points per the course of the year. In 1st place, reciting the shield was again Braintree detachment of D Coy. In 2nd place was Clacton detachment, D Coy and in 3rd, Wickford detachment, C Coy.
The Militia Shield, which awarded to the Company whose detachments gained the highest average position in the Lucas Tooth competition, was won by D Coy. In 2nd place was C Coy and in 3rd, A Coy.
The last of the annual trophies to be awarded was The Lloyd Newell Achievement Shield which goes to the individual cadet, who gains the highest number of points in the Lucas Tooth Competition. This years winner was former Cdt RSM Mesina of Braintree detachment. In 2nd place was Cdt SM Adrus of Braintree detachment, and in 3rd place was Cdt SSgt Chambers of Southend on Sea Detachment.
After awarding the Annual trophies, the Commandant went on to give the results of the virtual Annual Camp Competitions. All of the cadets were awarded points for attending lessons and entering competitions. Theses points were totalled up for each Company, with the winners being D Coy. C Coy came in 2nd place and B Coy in 3rd.
The most talked about competition of camp was the t-shirt designing challenge. The winning entry will have their t-shirt made, and one will be given to every person that participated in this year’s virtual camp. The winner was Cdt Sgt Thrower from
Leigh on Sea detachment, C Coy with a design that included a tent and a computer screen with a depiction of a zoom lesson. However, an element of the 2nd place design from Cdt Loughran of Witham detachment, D Coy. She had LEADERS written vertically on her design, as Essex ACF are the leaders in providing a full annual camp package virtually. This will go on the back of the finished t-shirt that will be produced. In 3rd place was Cdt Relf-Burgess of Witham detachment, D Coy, with a design that had a cadet wearing a mask with the zoom logo on one side and the ACF crest on the other. And in 4th place was the design by Cdt Hudson of Grays detachment, A Coy which included a green and brown star motif.
The current situation, with no face to face training means that promotions are a little different. Instead of going on a Master Cadet course at Frimley Park, the cadets had to pass a board instead. The Commandant congratulated Cdt SSgt Chambers, Cdt SSgt M MacLoughlin, Cdt SSgt N MacLoughlin, Cdt Sgt Quartermain and Cdt Sgt Shellum all for passing. Having passed Master Cadet, cadets Chambers, M MacLoughlin and N MacLoughlin were all promoted to Cadet Sergeant Major. Cdt SSgt Cline and Cdt SSgt Shorey were also promoted.
The Commandant finished by giving her thanks to all of the instructors who’s hard work and effort made Virtual Annual Camp possible.
Check back here tomorrow, to see the Commandant’s own account of the Virtual Annual Camp experience.