We are family

At Christmas, it is easy to forget those less fortunate than us and this was brought home on our most recent Company Weekend.

Our December weekend is traditionally our Christmas weekend. In addition to Syllabus Training, we have Christmas festivities.

One of our cadets, unfortunately, found out that his Fathers house had a significant fire, and amongst other parts of the house devastated his bedroom. This was made worse when the local fire brigade published a picture of his room on Social Media before he was able to get home.

He showed overwhelming courage and determination by not letting it affect his weekend experience. Pushing through to the end which must not have been easy, with such a life-changing event happening at home, so close to Christmas.

Fortunately, no one was hurt but an awful event for him and the rest of his family.

Wiltshire ACF always says ‘we are family’ and when best to show that when a Cadet is having some hardship.

There were 2 things that really struck us.

Firstly, our Company Mess Dinner which celebrates the end of the year and is an opportunity for cadets to get dressed up in their finest and enjoy another aspect of military tradition, A Mess Function. Despite this only being the second we have done, last year this cadet was one of the youngest and volunteered to be Mr. Vice, which he did impeccably.

Our cadets plan this in advance and really invest in their outfits. Unfortunately, his was lost in the fire.

Secondly, he was most upset about a pocket watch that was lost in the fire and belonged to his Grandad.

One of the Sword Company Adults, took it upon themselves to make his Christmas just that little bit better.

Contact was made with stores at the Swindon Designer Outlet Village, where we saw amazing generosity. With numerous stores offering their support.

A couple of Adults met up with the family last night to pick up the gifts. Moss Bros generously provided a full Dress Jacket and Trousers, Skopes provided the shirt & tie, and Clarks gifted the shoes.

Even though kitted out for the mess dinner, it didn’t stop there. M&S took it further offering him to take anything he needs and extending the offer to his mum.

This left one thing that we could not replace, his Grandad's pocket watch. Although it could never compensate for this loss, he was presented with a pocket watch on behalf of Sword Company.