"My first weeks at Air Cadets? Absolutely amazing! It is so interesting: there are many opportunities. Flying, discipline, drill, sports, music - many things that we can benefit from, especially the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. I've had a bumpy start but now I've become accustomed to the activities and how things are done here. I look forward to advancing in rank and accomplishing many new things."

RAF Linton-On-Ouse was the first camp that I was to go on. We wearily turned up at Dartford station at 8 AM. The amount of questions that I was asking myself was quite large, “Have I got everything that I need?” After we arrived at the camp we were given an hour to unpack, prepare ourselves and to get changed into working blues for a camp briefing from the camp commandant, Sqn Ldr Bull. After the briefing we were given time to settle in and relax for the evening, getting to know everyone and have some fun.

Following on from my Gliding Scholarship, I was offered a wonderful opportunity to continue my glider pilot training to an advanced level, which only a handful of people in the Air Cadets are lucky enough to be able to say they’ve done. It involved completing two exercises: advanced turning (climbing to a high altitude and turning at 45 degrees of bank – scarier than it sounds!); and advanced landing (landing the aircraft in crosswinds). Having completed these exercises I flew 5 further solo circuits, on top of the first for my GS, and was presented with a set of gold wings.

Being in the ATC has given me many opportunities to do amazing activities I would not usually get the chance to do, one of these being gliding.

On the 4th of April 2013, I was given the opportunity to visit RAF Odiham and glide in the Vigilant. I had to wake up at 0600hrs, as I was expected to be at 173 Orpington Squadron at 0730hrs, which killed me. However I thoroughly enjoyed my day, and realise the painfully early start was all worthwhile. I met lots of new people, and even got to see old friends too.

On 18th November 2012, Cdt Rendell and I arrived at 618 Volunteer Gliding Squadron at RAF Odiham, near Basingstoke, for our first day of our Gliding Scholarship course.

On Saturday 22nd September, nine cadets from 1227 Sidcup squadron went to Maidstone Leisure Centre to represent the squadron in the Kent Wing swimming competition. The races were split by gender and age. The junior under sixteen category had to swim two lengths for their races, and the senior team which consisted of cadets aged over sixteen had to swim four.  Each category included five races which were butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and individual medley.

On Sunday 9th September, a team of twelve cadets and NCO’s, with an NCO in command along with one reserve cadet went to RAF Manston to represent 1227 Sidcup Squadron in the Kent Wing drill competition. After a very early start and a fairly long drive, on arrival at Manston we were given time to change into our uniform, ready for the competition to begin. The time finally came for our squadron to give our all in the competition, which began with a uniform inspection which we had all been working very hard towards!

On Sunday 15th July 2012, nine cadets from our squadron, 1227 Sidcup, went to the Battle of Britain memorial parade in Capel le Ferne in Folkestone. Some of us were working in the V.I.P tent, and others of us were participating in the parade; I was part of the parade.

This was a competition to examine how well different squadrons have been trained in the art of staying hidden and moving stealthily. It was a brand new event, it had never been done before so this one was a sort of trial to see whether it worked. Congratulations to the staff members involved because it turned out to be an excellent weekend.

Apart from a strenuous 14 hour minibus ride to Dompierre les Églises, the 2012 France Camp was one of the best camps I have experienced. It was aimed to be a historically informative trip, providing us with background information about certain events within the French resistance during World War 2, also with many elements of fun and amusement thrown in too. A large part of the camp was to learn about a man called Georges Guingouin who took a leading role in the French resistance by forming group called Franc Tireurs which translates to ‘freedom shooters’.