::  News Archive

This is the Surrey ACF News Archive. If you want to look up an old article, scroll down to find it. The information bar on the right hand side will give you clue as to what articles are available.

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:: Surrey ACF Band Entertains at High Sheriff's Garden Party

Surrey ACF Band, assisted by members of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire ACF Bands provided a musical background for the High Sheriff's Garden party at his residence at "Denbies" near Dorking. 

The High Sheriff of Surrey, Mr Adrian White CBE DL, hosted the garden party and charity fair as the launch for his Initiatives for the Shrieval year 2006/2007.  These include reducing the road accident toll in Surrey, raising the profile of Surrey's charities and trusts, giving a fresh start to ex-prisoners and raising the profile of the High Sheriff's Youth Awards.

:: Surrey Musicians Hit High Note, April 2006

Surrey ACF cadets, L/Cpl Freddy Dutton and L/Cpl Sarah Cake, of the Corps of Drums Detachment scooped the prizes at the recent Cadet Force Music Band Camp held at Altcar, near Liverpool this month. L/Cpl Dutton was awarded the Silver Medal for the Most Improved Drummer during the camp and L/Cpl Cake was awarded the Gold Medal for the Best Flautist.

The Band Camp was attended by more than 300 young cadet musicians and 100 instructors who spent the week honing their music skills in readiness for the coming season. At the conclusion of the camp the whole contingent performed a beating retreat on the parade square at Altcar in the presence of General Leake.

In addition to music the cadets also participated in shooting, swimming and sports.

For more information about the Band and Corps of Drums click here

:: Royal Maundy, Guildford Cathedral, 13 April 2006

The Queen visited Guildford Cathedral on Maundy Thursday, 13th April 2006 for the Traditional Annual Distribution of Maundy Money. The Royal Maundy is an ancient ceremony that has its origins in the fourth century. The service, always held on Maundy Thursday, but at a different venue each year, honours Christ's command to his disciples at the Last Supper to 'love one another'. The Maundy Money recognises the locals' contribution to the Church and the local community. As the number of recipients matches the age of The Queen in any given year, 80 men and 80 women received the Maundy money this year.

The earliest Monarch known to have taken part in a Maundy service is King John at Knaresborough in Yorkshire in 1210. By the Tudor period the Sovereign had become actively associated with the Maundy ceremony, giving rise to the term Royal Maundy.

The service was traditionally held in Westminster Abbey every year until the current Queen's reign, when Her Majesty decided that the service should change location each year to ensure that people across the country could benefit from the Royal Maundy service.

Surrey ACF was invited to send a contingent of cadets to assist at the Cathedral with various tasks during the day. Being such a prestigious event, cadets from Guildford, Merrow, Haslemere and Cranleigh detachment met at Farncombe Weekend Training Centre on Wednesday 12 April to participate in rehearsals, to practice their drill and to prepare their kit for the following day.

On 13 April, reveille was at 0600 hrs and by 0800 hrs all the cadets were on the ground at Guildford Cathedral. The cadets were split into two parties. One party of 12 cadets and 2 officers was tasked to assist inside the cathedral. The other party of eight cadets and three adults was tasked to assist in the car parks, to help members of the public and to form a guard of honour for Her Majesty in front of the Cathedral on her arrival and departure. Two instructors also provided assistance to the general public by running a minibus shuttle service to and from the cathedral and car parks. The Surrey Army Cadets outside the Cathedral worked alongside regular soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment and units of the Sea Cadet Corps, the Air Training Corps and St John's Ambulance Brigade.

The photograph above shows the whole contingent of Surrey ACF cadets who assisted at the Royal Maundy ceremony at Guildford cathedral. The picture on the right shows the contingent that assisted inside the cathedral. The guys in fancy dress are gentlemen of 'The Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeoman of the Guard'. The Bodyguard is the oldest military corps in existence. Originally they were entirely responsible for the Sovereign's safety in the Field and in the Palace - they still search the vaults of the Houses of Parliament before each State Opening. Over the years the uniform of the Bodyguard has changed very little and their title remains unchanged.

For more photographs see Photo Gallery.

:: Lord Lieutenant's Cadet Poppy Appeal Competition

The Commandant congratulates all those detachments and individuals that participated in the Lord Lieutenant’s Cadet Poppy Appeal Competition for the Royal British Legion (RBL).  In the awards ceremony on Tue 14 Mar 06 at RAF Headley Court, the Lord Lieutenant, in the presence of Mr David Hyper, High Sheriff of Surrey, and Maj Gen JS Kerr CBE, GOC 4 Div, congratulated all the Cadet Forces on their outstanding achievement in raising £24,934.  Special mention should be made of Horley Detachment for winning the overall competition for the second year running and being awarded the Duke of Connaught’s Cadet Cup.

Detachment	Company	Amount 2005
Horley	A	£2955.63
Walton	B	£2294.30
Caterham	A	£1514.53
Reigate	A	£1464.64
Yorktown	C	£1004.36
Cranleigh	E	£  697.52
Banstead	B	£  685.52
Deepcut	D	£  543.34
Dorking	B	£  502.49
Farnham	E	£  422.03
Farncombe	E	£  402.66
Redhill	B	£  398.69
Pirbright	D	£  308.07
Haslemere	E	£  283.49
Addlestone	C	£  236. 68
Lingfield	A	£  169.47
Leatherhead	B	£  152.03

Highly Commended are Cadet Hugill of Horley Detachment who collected £631.79 and Cadet Cogley of Horley Detachment who collected £616.67

:: Potential Officers Feel The Heat

:: Merrow Detachment Opens New ACF Centre

Cadets parading at Merrow Detachment, situated in the grounds of St Peter’s School in Merrow, have now moved into their new-look cadet centre. The Mayor of Guildford, Councillor Tamsy Baker, officially opened the newly refurbished building at a special buffet and wine reception. It was the first time the cadets had been inside their new detachment after eight weeks of renovation.

Joining the cadets on the official opening night were many other local dignitaries and senior representatives of Surrey ACF including the Battalion Commander, Major David Newman as well as the Head Teacher of St Peter’s School Mr Robert Guinea. The MP for Guilford Mrs Ann Milton and parents of cadets were also be in attendance.

 “We are thoroughly pleased to be coming home to our own detachment,” said Detachment Commander Under-Officer Adrian Paice. “For the past two months, my cadets have been  parading at Guildford Detachment and I would like to thank the Detachment Commander Under-Officer Graham Croucher for making us all so welcome there during that time."

To celebrate their return, a special tournament was laid on where the cadets competed against each other in two teams to erect 12’ x 12’ tents in the quickest time – lots of practising had been taking place and friendly rivalry was in abundance!

Surrey ACF has 26 Army Cadet detachments across the county and the Merrow detachment was refurbished from money provided by the British Army. The Detachment parades each Tuesday and Thursday evening between 1930hrs and 2130hrs.

:: Orienteering Awards

Following months of intensive training, the Surrey ACF orienteering team entered the Cadet Orienteering Championships with more than a little hope of performing well. Held in Yorkshire on 18 - 20th November 2005, the Surrey team succeeded in sweeping the board in a victory beyond their wildest dreams. The team honours are listed below:

Individual Competition

ACF Team Competition

Surrey ACF won the Junior Boys, Senior Girls and Senior Boys Team Events in the ACF Team Competition, the overall timed places were as follows:

For their part in this stunning exhibition, the Commandant has directed that all the participating cadets would be either awarded County Colours or re-awarded County Colours where they were already  in possession. Congratulations to all involved including the Orienteering trainers and back up team.