Wombwell Opens The Doors

During the evening of Thursday 3rd November, Wombwell detachment opened their doors to the cadet's parents. The aim of the evening was to give an opportunity for the parents to see what the Army Cadet Force is all about and to give them a taste of the cadet experience. There may have also been some careful and cunning thinking and planning that took place to get the parents a little more involved than they had hoped and give the cadets an opportunity to embarrass their parent. Although, rumour has it the parents are planning on getting their own back by bringing in photos of their cadets for Wombwell's photo wall! In addition to the parents visiting, the event was attended by Second Lieutenant Henry Benzikie (Yorkshire Regiment) and the county's Padre - Padre Albert Jackson.

The night began with a presentation led by the cadets. Cadet Corporal Amber Batty opened this up by informing the parents of the detachment's achievements and events so far. Following on from this, the cadets presented a short talk on one of the core values and what these mean to each individual cadet. The cadets thought that this was hugely important and these are the crooks of everything that Wombwell detachment, the ACF and the Army are trying to embed for each individual. The presentation was concluded by a talk from Corporal Liam Finlay who spoke to the parents about what the detachment would like to go on and achieve in the near future.

Parents then broke for the infamous 'NAAFI break' where they spoke to the cadets and began to get to know some of the other parents.

In the final session, Cadet Sergeant Joshua Teleyko delivered a lesson on camouflage and concealment. I think it is safe to say that his Mum was definitely not expecting to become his demonstrator and say she got a lot more of the cadets experience than she expected when her son asked her to come to the front and started to apply cam cream to her face! As part of the lesson, the remainder of the cadets then applied cam cream to their parent's faces. It is safe to say that the detachement had a range of different 'looks' as can be seen in the photograph of the final line up!

As the night drew to a close, Second Lieutenant Henry Benzikie handed out a number of awards to the Wombwell cadets:
- Cadet Cody Barker - Basic Training Pass
- Cadet Nicolas Piwowarski - Basic Training Pass
- Cadet Rebecca Turfrey - One Star Training Pass
- Corporal Amber Batty - Two Star Training Pass
- Corporal Liam Finlay - Two Star Training Pass
- Sergeant Joshua Teleyko - Three Star Training Pass

Cadet Elizabeth Sampson was awarded with the Cadet of the Month certificate and trophy for her outstanding contributions and dedication to achieving in her cadet career.

Joshua Teleyko was presented with his promotion to Cadet Sergeant and became the detachment's senior cadet.

The night was a huge success and we hope it is the first of many for the detachment!