Building closure due to VIVO/RFCA contract change in 2024 now at 9 months

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Now 9 months since joint cadet centre building (shared with army cadets) was closed due to failure to perform legal building safety checks by RFCA West Midlands (after an MOD value for money review led to change to MOD's main estate VIVO Defence contractor in Aug 2024 involving the Defence Infrastructure Organisation). It has been parading at alternative venues since Oct 2025. Direct costs to parents/cadets, of the failure of MOD contract change to maintenance of volunteer estate buildings, now stands at £3185.75. Indirect costs on volunteer's time is significantly higher. Sqn has 76 enrolled cadets (2nd largest in Wing). It is current holder of the Wing Per Ardua trophy for best Sqn after overall win in Sept 2025 (a competition involving a wide range of activities, incl. Ensemble, STEM, Drill, Banner, Radio, First Aid etc). 1368 cadets/NCOs won the Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing Athletics Championships in May 2026. It is also current holder of all 3 Wing Sports trophies (Sqn was last winner of the Swimming Wing Championships and Cross Country Wing Championships). Sqn came 2nd in Wing for DofE last year, 42pts vs 44pts for winner, and had 4 cadets go to Buckingham Palace for their Gold Award presentations in May 2026. It has achieved more DofE Awards in the last 5 years than any other Sqn in the Wing. It continues to pay for alternative commercial venues for parade nights. It still awaits an update from RFCA on when building safety checks will be completed (the MP was told that it would be 8th May 2026 but that didn't happen). We continue to try and have a band. The cadets still achieved their annual Panto at Christmas and we have a small cadet that can play Bryan May guitar solos. 



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