More Awards for the Brentwood Sea Cadets
2016 has been another highly successful year for our affiliated Sea Cadet Unit, TS St Vincent based at Brentwood in Essex.
In November they were awarded the Stevenson's Trophy for the best Unit in London together with the Pepys Hubbart Trophy for the most involvement with the Department of Further Education, a fantastic achievement. Their CO, Natalie Walsh, was awarded the Casement Sword for the best Commanding Officer together with winning promotion to Warrant Officer Class II. Not least, Leading Cadet Dekker won the Mercer award for the highest score on the Leading Cadet promotion board.
December saw the winning of two national trophies, the Captain's Cup for the Unit that has made a significant impression in the UK, and on an individual basis Leading Cadet Dekker taking the Leadership Trophy for gaining the highest score among all UK cadets.
The award ceremonies for these achievements will be held soon but on Thursday 26 January the Unit held its own annual prize giving at its headquarters in Brentwood. The Bowyers' Master, Tony Kench, together with Court Assistant Richard Martin and Past Master Michael Wren were there, as were representatives from the Royal British Legion, the Royal Navy Association and many parents of the cadets.
The Master was invited to inspect the assembled cadets, all lined up in immaculate military fashion; this was much appreciated as he managed to speak to each one individually. This was followed by an address from the Master who warmly congratulated all present and explained a little about our Company and its relevance in helping others through our Charitable Fund. The Master then joined the CO in presenting the trophies and awards for 2016.
Our contribution to Brentwood this year was to facilitate sending six cadets to sea for a week each on the Tall Ship TS Royalist, and in 2017 we hope to be able to assist another six young people from the Unit in this way. The benefit of being able to help by our funding in this way was ably described by one of the cadets in a slide presentation later in the evening and it was heart warming to see how he had gained in confidence and knowledge with this help from the Bowyers.
2017 is a year in which the Brentwood Sea Cadets have again a full and varied programme of educational and life skills events to take part in and I am sure with the leadership and dedication of the Cadets to their aims it will again be a very special year ahead for them. We will have the opportunity to meet with some of them at our St. George's Banquet at Cutlers' Hall on 26 April when they will be forming a Carpet Guard. We look forward to seeing them very much.
Michael Wren
February 2017
Archived event reports
- A full list of archived event reports is available in the Members' area