Cash Injection for Wideopen Air Cadets
Cash Injection for Wideopen Air Cadets
Wideopen Air Cadets have received a cash injection from the Gosforth Roundtable to assist with the purchase of new equipment for the Squadron. Gosforth Roundtable serves Gosforth and the surrounding area including Wideopen and Seaton Burn and kindly agreed to donate £1000 to the Air Cadet Squadron to enable the unit to upgrade its ICT equipment.
New equipment will be purchased including headsets for the Squadron flight simulator and ICT suite, new speakers to deliver interactive lesson content, a new network printer, camping stoves to support the Squadrons Duke of Edinburgh Award programme, a teaching feedback system to ensure fully interactive lessons are delivered and a high definition digital camera to record the Squadrons exploits!
Squadron Commanding Officer, Flight Lieutenant James Elliott commented that “The Air Cadet Organisation is currently going through a period of rapid change and expansion in the field of ICT. All of the cadets assessments and their Duke of Edinburgh Award are all based online now and we must keep pace with technology to ensure that they don’t miss out. In the back-office, all of the cadets records are now online on a secure web-based system and all of the staff have access to Squadron e-mail and a digital notice board. All of this is helping to reduce the administrative burden on the adult staff and ensure that cadets can participate in as many activities as possible”.
Wideopen Squadron is currently ahead of most other Squadrons in Durham/Northumberland Wing in that the unit has a computer network and server, monitored internet access, a new ICT suite and a flight simulator. However, in order to keep pace with the ever changing organisation and trends in education, the Squadron was looking to purchase even more new ICT equipment to ensure that cadets training is interesting and interactive – which is where the Roundtable came in!
A funding bid was submitted to the Roundtable for consideration and it was agreed that the aims and objectives of the Air Cadets fitted well with the Roundtables objectives to improve the lives of young people in the local area. Roundtable Branch Chairman Mr Peter Samways said “The Roundtable is all about helping local people and in particular our young people; Wideopen Air Cadets are doing a fantastic job and have helped countless young adults to succeed in life. The cadets gives a young person the opportunity to get involved in a huge range of activities and achieve qualifications that will help them with entering the world of work and further education. We were absolutely delighted to make a donation to 861 (Wideopen) Squadron and all of the equipment will be put to good use to help the cadets!”.
The Roundtable is all about making friends, developing new skills and putting something back into the local community. The Gosforth Roundtable holds regular meetings to organise its annual events such as the fireworks display in November and numerous other events that support the local community of Gosforth, Wideopen and the surrounding areas. Members are under no obligation commit a certain amount of time but all Tables wish to develop so a certain amount of commitment is required. More information is available on the Roundtable website at www.roundtable.co.uk.
Wideopen Civilian Committee Chairman, Mrs Julie Ramsay, received the cheque from the Roundtable and thanked them for their kind donation. Flight Lieutenant Elliott went on to say “Without the support of organisations like the Roundtable, we would struggle to fulfil our ambitious goals and objectives for our cadets. This grant will help us modernise the way we deliver training and support our cadets in the long term. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the interactive feedback system implemented in our training syllabus – this is cutting edge work for the Air Cadets!”.
861 (Wideopen) Squadron Air Cadets is open to all young people aged 13-17 years and there is lots of information on the Squadrons website at www.861sqn.org. 861 Squadron is recruiting now! Why not come down and see what the premier youth organisation in the United Kingdom has to offer you? The Squadron meets every Monday and Thursday, 7-9.30pm in our Headquarters behind Woodlands Hall, Wideopen.
