Monday saw cadets from 1368 Squadron compete in a cake sale to raise money for the Warwickshire Search & Rescue ( https://warksar.org.uk/ ) to thank their volunteers for coming to our rescue on 22 Oct as we couldn't use cadet building. Here's some of the photos. Massively appreciate all the effort, ingredients, and kitchen time put in by cadets, staff & families on this. £133.96 raised for Warksar on the night. The competition was judged by Sgt M from 1289 Sqn taking into account both taste and visual creativity based on what their learnt on their visit. We certainly enjoyed eating them. Love the rivers, throw lines and the chocolate flake trees. The Star Baker will be announced at our annual Prize Giving.

Here's a few things we've been up to as part of Operation "1368 Goes Forth" (into Chase Meadow Community Center and Aylesford School classrooms). Cadets beaver away at Prize Giving evening prep. Silver team present their video for DofE expedition section. CWO C has an earlier B'day (FS R is on a cake-baking roll). NCOs start NCO Panto prep (1368 take on Aladdin). Cdts K, B-R and K2 get their Blue Space badges. Ensemble rock band rehearse to kick-off Prize Giving. FS R finishes off his Master exam. Sqn measures the width of CMCC Hall. Cdts M J, K-S, K3, W and U get their Blue Pre-DofE badges.

A catch-up post this one, to commend all the cadets who paraded in uniform in front of their peers at School-organised Armistice Day ceremonies. Myton School seemed to put out the best photos but I was also passed some from North Leamington and Aylesford School. Hats off to you, and special mention also to newbies for stepping up and representing the Squadron for the first time.

Well done to Cdt B for achieving the COTM award for October for step-up in engagement in activities over the last 2 months, starting with First Aid screaming casualty performances but also smiling a lot and giving his best in the Space competition team prep.

Well done to FS H, Sgt F and Cdt P who achieved their Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award approvals on Monday. They were all part of the 6 person team who did Snowdonia expedition in July.  The Award is much more than just an expedition though. The big difference at Gold is a Residential section with people they don't know although (Air Cadets does have opportunities for National and Regional camps which can be used). Timescales are: Volunteering: 12 months/52 weeks Physical and Skills: One section for 12 months/52 weeks and the other section for 6 months/26 weeks Expedition: 4 days/3 nights Residential: Do a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights. More to come. Congratulations to ex-cadet FS M though who attended her Gold presentation in May at Buckingham Palace.

The men and women of Blue watch turned up in force as the 2nd half of 1368 Sqn did their trip to the Leamington Fire Station, while the other half used the classrooms at Aylesford School. Turned out to be more exciting than planned after the station got a call-out. People appeared from nowhere jumped in the engines and were out the building within 90s. Reassuring to see professionalism at work within public service and also the sense of teamwork, training, alertness and personal responsibility needed to make it work. As well as some intelligent question and answer at the end, there was some nice time where older cadets chatted to members of the watch about careers and things, as our juniors took photos. Special thanks to Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service for facilitating the visits to help us as part of our newly named Operation "1368 Goes Forth" (into the community).

Many thanks to the volunteer staff and all the cadets and their families who supported the 1368 Quiz night on Tuesday which raised around £700 for the Sqn. Special thanks also to our neighbours Playbox, for providing their space to a good cause. Advertised as general fundraising event, the underlying intent is to use the money raised to seed and launch a 2 year campaign for a 1368 Squadron 'Minibus/People carrier'. We want to reduce the current and fragile reliance on others' transport. 1368 is a large and vibrant squadron with engaged staff and cadets. By getting a Squadron Operated Vehicle (SOV) and in partnership with other Sqns our vision is that we could be provider rather than taker of transport; able to take more cadets from across the Wing to things like air experience flying at RAF Cosford, and enhance the opportunities for cadets to do expeditions, visit air displays, and attend camps and community duties. Special thanks to team of CI M (love the jacket), Acting P...

Massive thanks to Red Watch for hosting close to half of 1368 Sqn at Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Headquarters on Monday; part of Operation "The Great Escape" where we look to keep the programme exciting, ease pressure on Aylesford School classrooms, and build ties with the local community. They got an insight into how control room operates, and how emergency service call-outs are managed, as well as playing with Fire Engines. An interesting night by all accounts.

60 cadets from 1368 Sqn Air Cadets paraded across two parades on Sunday. Warwick was fixed at 20 cadets and Leamington with 40 cadets; a visual indication of the strength and momentum of the Air Cadets in Warwick and Royal Leamington Spa. Here's some photos from the super-smart 20 cadets that paraded and laid a Wreath at Warwick. This was 1368 Sqn's largest turn-out for Remembrance day in its history with 60 cadets and 6 staff across two parallel events (up from 46 in 2024 and 2023) paying their respects for those that have given their lives in past conflicts. Well done to all the cadets and the hard work they put in getting their uniforms up to expected standards; representing the youth of today with pride. Let's hope that the necessary maintenance is carried out, so we get our joint cadet centre with the army cadets back soon.

60 cadets from 1368 Sqn Air Cadets paraded across two parades on Sunday. Warwick was fixed at 20 cadets and Leamington with 40 cadets; a visual indication of the strength and momentum of the Air Cadets in Warwick and Royal Leamington Spa. Our newbies did the Sqn proud with amazing work despite limited time due to building still being closed. We also had a cadet play in the Sea Cadet band for the first time. Our ex-1368 OC and Civ Comm chairman was able to join us on the return march past in Leamington as 1368 Sqn Air Cadets paid respects in memory to those who've lost their lives in past conflicts in World War I && II and more recent conflicts. These are some of the pictures from various sources. 

3 weeks now with no work done on building by RFCA and VIVO. However, amazing work by NCOs and Cadets trying to get uniforms and drill level ready for Remembrance Parades. We also saw plenty peer revision this week. We have an unusually high number of mids doing GCSE's this year. Many thanks to Aylesford School allowing use of classrooms and Chat GPT for all its assistance (more lessons on why AI language models may not always tell the truth and why individual thoughts and creativity are important to come). Nice to see cadets from different schools helping each other though. Fantastic effort by new intake on uniform given problems with building access. Some amazing individual effort noticed. 1368 is not the smallest of Squadrons. Photos are first with 0925 intake in uniform with main cohort. 

Nice to see Cdt P' time came on Sunday, having traveled to RAF Cosford twice on AEF's, and not flown due to weather. Time-since last flight (and time-left) consideration meant that Sgt R also got time in the hot seat. Red carpet thrown out by Sgt G from VGS 612 (ahem, 1368 really) who took em up and showed them the reins. Both cadets taking control and learning for real but also lots of stuff to do during the day helping others to fly. The gliding Gods created a bit of a super Sunday for 1368 Sqn.

20 cadets and 5 volunteers from 1368 Sqn supported the Lion's Annual Fundraising event at Warwick Racecourse on Sat helping them raise money for local causes. Great to the bonfire roaring this year, and fireworks went off with a bang. The East Gaters started how many "high-5's from small children" competition, with top two pairings getting a whopping 218 and 221, respectively. 5 year olds seeking high-5's reported in mid-stand area, so high-5's all around for community engagement. Food stall holder seeing cadets carrying barriers post event gave cadets free candy floss and toffee apples. Cadets demolished remaining food and drink in the VIP area before heading home.