agm newsletter 2011

8/3/2019 AGM Newsletter 2011

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NORTH WEST RFCA

AGM 2011CHAIRMANS REPORT

Cadet 150 Parade, Preston 2010


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Chairmans Report

SDSRThe SDSR was predicated onthe recommendations o thegovernments National SecurityStrategy which were to ensureBritish orces in A ghanistan had theequipment they needed, to bringthe de ence programme back intobalance and to enable this countryto retain the best and most versatilearmed orces in the world. The SDSRmade it clear that the exibility o the

Armed Forces and the maintenanceo a broad spectrum o capabilitieswere highly important, as weregeographical reach and ability toengage in high intensity operations.It declared that the Armed Forceswould be balanced, exible andadaptable, rigorously prioritisedon pragmatic decisions based onneeds and expeditionary in character.Regrettably it did not include anyspecifc statement about the broadstrategy to be ollowed. Majordecisions were made about the uturesize and shape o the regular ArmedForces but there was no mention othe Reserve Forces.

Future Reserves 2020Subsequently we learned that therewas to be a review o the ReserveForces, the aim o which is to provideproperly structured reserves toenable the most e fcient use o theirskills, experience and capabilities

in the modern era. The review isreceiving its direction ultimately romthe Prime Minister but it is beingled by the Vice Chie o the De enceSta , General Sir Nick Houghton,and Mr Julian Brazier MP - ormerTA o fcer - and advised by a groupo experts. Many o the workstreamsare being directed by AssistantChie o the De ence Sta Reservesand Cadets. The review is beingconducted in 3 phases, the frstbeing to establish the requirementwhich took place between December2010 and February 2011. The secondphase is to develop orce generationoptions and that work is currentlyongoing. The fnal phase will be towrite the implementation directivewith the report being produced at the

end o June 2011. Throughout theReview team will report periodicallyto the Prime Minister. We hope thatby the Summer we will know therole and uture size and shape o thereserves which will a ect so much owhat we do.

Defence YouthEngagement

Concurrently a De ence YouthEngagement Review is beingcarried out to determine what youthengagement should be undertakenby de ence and how it can be mostcost e ectively delivered. The reviewteam is being led by Brigadier JamesPlastow and is scheduled to produceits report by October 2011. Thereview is tasked with determining thede ence requirement or engagingwith young people, recommendingthe posture de ence should takewithin the wider Government Youth

Agenda and proposing options todeliver the de ence requirement.Currently Brigadier Plastow iscarrying out visits to the regions toseek our views and take sounding.Thus ar he has visited the NorthWest only very brie y and hasnot engaged with the Brigade orourselves. To date much o his

ocus has been on the service cadetorganisations.

VEMTIn my Autumn News report Imentioned that the Volunteer EstateModernisation Team (VEMT) hadvisited the Association earlier thisyear and that we could expecttheir work on modernisation andrationalisation o the estate to beginin earnest ollowing the SDSRannouncement. This turned outnot to be the case and initially webelieved that their work would bedelayed until a ter the FR20 reporthad been made public in June 2011when the uture role, size and shapeo the Reserves would be known. Iunderstand that the bulk o that workwill take place later this year butahead o this we have been askedto identi y assets, such as empty TACentres, or potential early disposal.

Colonel CT Hillock RD* DL

Introduction

This has been a very demandingyear or all with the frst part o itdominated by the General Electionand its a termath and the lastpart by the announcement o theStrategic De ence and Security

Review (SDSR). The detail providedollowing the SDSR announcement

in October was largely strategic butthe review did set in train a plethorao di erent workstreams aimed atfnalising the detail and that workis still in progress. Specifc to usand ollowing on rom the Reviewo Reserves, the Future Reserves2020 (FR20) review was set up.

Another directly relevant pieceo work which emanated romSDSR was the De ence YouthEngagement Study. Against thisbackground this year has also seenthe highly success ul celebrationso the 150th anniversary o theCadet movement.


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DIOThe De ence In rastructureOrganisation (DIO) is a newbody being set up as part o therestructuring o the MOD to achievethe goals set out in the SDSR. TheDIO will provide estates, utilities and

acilities management services to allthe Front Line Commands, hithertoundertaken by De ence Estates, theDe ence Training Estate (DTE) andthe Single Services individually. Thenew organisation will come into beingon 1 April 2011 and it is designed toprovide better services at less cost.On the training estate side, the DTEwill become part o the Training andEvaluation Estate (TEE). The visionis that parts o the Volunteer Estatewill be absorbed into this body, theclear purpose being to ensure thatthe entire MOD training estate is ullyutilised. There are some concernsabout this as many Cadet TrainingCentres (CTC) or example are locatedon the De ence Training Estate andRFCAs would not wish their CTCs tobe controlled by the TEE nationally.We believe strongly that CTCs shouldbe controlled locally by the ACFPermanent Sta and that the currentarrangements when others suchas regulars and reserves use these

acilities when they are available, butcontrolled by the ACF PermanentSta rather than the TEE, remain inplace. Altcar Training Camp (and the

Merseyside ACF CTC) are ownedby this Association and will not bea ected by this, at least not yet!

Project AVANTIShortly be ore Christmas all memberswere emailed with an update onProject AVANTI. The purpose othis project has been to examineCommand and Control arrangementswithin the Armys Personnel andSupport Command and achievesavings that the Army has beendirected to make. So ar it has beendecided that 2 Division (Edinburgh),4 Division (Aldershot) and 5 Division(Shrewsbury) will be dissolvedby the end o 2012. They will bereplaced by a Single 2 Star SupportCommand Headquarters, based at

103 Regt RA 216 Bty

Aldershot. The new HeadquartersInitial Operating Capability date isJanuary 2012 and its Full OperatingCapability date is August 2012.The number o regional brigadeswill reduce rom 10 to 8. Therecommendation is that 42 and 145Brigades will merge but, contraryto previous in ormation given whichindicated 42 (NW) Brigade wouldmerge, no decision has yet beenmade. A decision is not expected onthe second merger until May 2011 atthe earliest.

FundingTurning to unding, PR10 has beena challenging year but a greaterfnancial one, or PR11 and beyond,is on the horizon. We received two inyear cuts in PR10 to our Grant in Aidand Employer Support unding, themost damaging o which was to theEstablishment Grant which directlya ected the fnancial support wehave been able to give to TA unitsand sub units. Having said thatour Regionally Generated Incomestood up well and we have beenable to provide support to units ora whole ra t o activities. Regrettablythe outlook or PR11 looks worse.Overall RFCAs Grant in Aid undinghas been cut by over 4M and ourGrant unding ( or estates) by asimilar amount and that is be orethe fnancial year commences.Specifcally the AdministrativeGrant will be cut by 13%, the ACFConsolidated and Travel Grant by33% and the Establishment Grantwill disappear. Further the AOspost in support o the RSCD is tobe made redundant on 31 July2011 and the ATC Grant will be cutalthough the precise percentageis not yet known. The positiontherea ter is looking even more bleakand contingency plans are beingdebated at Council o RFCAs levelto determine the best way to meet

these challenges.SuccessesI would like to conclude this parto my report on a positive note bymentioning 3 events:

Cadet 150The celebrations o the 150thanniversary o the start o thecadet movement have been anenormous success both nationallyand regionally. Nationally there wasa large parade in London in July2010 when nearly 2,000 cadetsparaded past His Royal Highnessthe Prince o Wales in the Mall anda terwards they attended, with their

amilies and Adult Instructors, aRoyal Garden Party at BuckinghamPalace. Regionally Cadet 150 wascelebrated as part o the PrestonMilitary Show in June when cadets

rom all service cadet organisationsparticipated in a highly entertainingarena display.

Greater Manchester ACFHeadquarters and County CadetTraining CentreThe new build County Headquartersand Cadet Training Centre atHolcombe Moor is nearingcompletion. As the only capitalproject being built on the VolunteerEstate nationally, it has been visitedby a large number o VIPs and hasreceived considerable attention rominterested parties such as De enceEstates and DIn ra. There has beenmuch avourable comment aboutthe quality o the work and the waythe project had been managed bythe Association. These superb new

acilities are due to be opened by theCommander in Chie Land ForcesGeneral Sir Nick Parker on Sunday25 September 2011.

New Years Honours List 2011We were absolutely delightedwhen our President, Colonel SirJames Cropper, and our Presidentdesignate, Colonel The Rt Hon TheLord Charles Shuttleworth, wereappointed Knight Commanderso the Victorian Order (KCVO) inthe Her Majesty the Queens NewYears Honours List. Both o themthoroughly deserve their awards

or outstanding service in andcommitment to their respectivecounties over many years. On behalo all Association members, I wouldwish to send them my warmestcongratulations.

4 LANCS Fusiliers honour Gallipoli Day Freedom o Copeland awarded

to Whitehavens Sea Cadets


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General Trendsin the RegionEach year in this report, the worko the Associations members onthe County Employer SupportGroups is properly and grate ullyacknowledged. Our memberscontinue to take great pride inwhat they achieve on behal o ourReservists within the business andwider community. In the midst o arecession we are all looking at waysto do more business, more e fcientlyand, i possible, to deliver oursupport and services at a lower cost.Within our region many organisations

have been orced to retrench andeven shed sta in the battle tosurvive. It is against this backdropthat Employer Support mustcontinue to be delivered to meetthe demands o the Reserve Forcesand Employers alike. It is pleasingto announce sustained numbers oSupportive Employers, but we mustnot take their continued support

or granted. In the last year 183members o the TA, 18 ranks romthe RNR and a urther 16 rom theRMR have deployed rom the North

West. Additionally, the RNR have 10ranks on FTRS and the RMR have1 O fcer on FTRS. And we shouldnot orget the superb contributionmade by 207 (Manchester) FieldHospital (Volunteers), who had avery demanding but success ultour in direct support o ISAF inCamp Bastion, A ghanistan. Someunits have had nearly all theirtrained strength mobilised sinceOP TELIC in 2002 and the longerthe campaign runs in A ghanistanthe more the continued operationalrequirement or Reserve Forces intheatre is sel evident. Employer andcommunity support are o crucialimportance and we clearly owe adebt o gratitude to those employerswithin the region who willingly givemoral and practical support to ourReservists. This simple truth shouldnot be lost in these di fcult fnancialtimes. As mentioned earlier theSaBRE activity budget was cut inyear which had an immediate e ecton our regional campaign activities.Nonetheless, by any measure theCounty Employer Support Groupsare lean and e ective and havedemonstrated their value throughtheir local knowledge o employersand business, and in CommunityEngagement.

SaBRE Report Activity and EffectsDespite a reduction in SaBRE

unding there have been a number oemployer support events worthy onote, which have included:

A success ul employer day hosted by4th Battalion The Duke O LancastersRegiment at Altcar. The theme wason employer participation in a numbero military events including live fringand military feldcra t. Employerscommented that they appreciatedseeing their reservists in their trainingenvironment and had a betterunderstanding o reservists as a result.

An evening visit by Employers to the Army Careers Exhibition at Altcarwas ollowed by a curry supper inthe O fcers Mess; where over 140attended and the Commander 42(North West) Brigade, BrigadierBill Aldridge CBE, presented 18Supportive Employers Certifcates.

An employers visit to Germanywas hosted by 208 (Liverpool) FieldHospital, to witness pre-deploymenttraining with a US Field Surgical Unitwith whom they will be working ontheir orthcoming tour in A ghanistanin late 2011.

A reception in November hosted bythe Mayor o Se ton or employerso deployed Reservists and localsupportive employers was a greatsuccess. Supportive EmployersCertifcates were presented by theMayor to 4 Se ton employers.

Notwithstanding the loss o EXEXECUTIVE STRETCH and theplanned Employers Abroad visit toEX HAIRSPRING in Norway due to inyear fnancial constraints, it has beena success ul year o engagement withEmployers in the North West.

SaBRE CampaignDevelopmentsIn view o the continued operationalrequirement or our two FieldHospitals in the North West tomobilise in support o OP HERRICK,the SaBRE campaign targeted localPrimary Care Trusts; we achievedalmost all as supportive (94%).

Across all employment sectorsthe region exceeded the target orsecuring online support, wherebythe employing organisation isrecorded on the SaBRE website.The Advocate target was achievedbut the Supportive Employer target

has proved very di fcult due tothe Government directed ban onmarketing and the in year cut to theSaBRE activity budget. The recentchanges to the public image oSaBRE and its rebranding are stepsto attain an increased public profle.However the imposed marketingban has worked against enhancingthe brand profle. The cuts withinthe Public Sector have required the

Association to provide guidanceand support to our reservists whowork within this sector. Trackingand maintaining the employmentdetails and status o our reservistsand their current employers onour database are crucial to ourcontinued success.

An employer enjoys shooting practice with A Coy, 4th BattalionThe Duke O Lancasters Regiment at Altcar

Mr Michael Carr, Chairman o Wirral University Teaching NHSFoundation Trust received his supportive Employers Certifcate

rom Brigadier Bill Aldridge CBE

Mrs Adele Wills, Principal, and Mrs Jan Regan, Head o Personnel KingGeorge V College receive a Supportive Employers Certifcate rom theMayor o Se ton at a Reception held at Bootle Town Hall


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Despite the in year savings measureswe remain on target to deliver all ouroutputs and in many cases more than

has been asked o us. As ever this hasbeen possible because o our abilityto inject regionally generated incomeinto almost all o our output areas suchas Employer Support, CommunityEngagement, Wel are (o Reserves andCadets), Recruiting Support and Estates.

A summary o our Regional GeneratedIncome expenditure is shown elsewherein this document. Our outputs aredetermined by Service Level Agreements(SLAs) between our customers andthe Council o RFCAs which in turnare cascaded down to Associations.

Five SLAs are in place (Estates withDE, TA and ACF with HQ LF, RecruitingSupport with HQ LF, Employer Support/ SaBRE with RF&C and RAuxAF and

ATC with HQ Air Command). Two remainoutstanding and have done so or over 2

years, namely the Financial Frameworkwith HQ LF, which is held up or legalreasons, and the RNR and RMR with

FOSNNI. It alls to us at the regionallevel to work around the stove-pipingo this unding in order to deliver thesynergies between our outputs that areso necessary or Reserves and Cadetsand to achieve both e ect and value ormoney.

The summary o our achievementsagainst the targets set in ourManagement Plan will be published atthe end o the fnancial year but as hasbeen said above we are very confdento meeting them. That said, there area ew areas o concern that deservehighlighting. The lack o unding andthe ban on marketing campaigns havemeant that TA o fcer recruiting remainscritical, despite the best e orts o thechain o command. As well there is anincreased shortage o ACF o fcers which

both 42 (NW) Brigade and ourselves aredoing our best to recti y by running anawareness campaign in February/March

2011 which we hope will increase thenumber o ACF o fcers. Lastly the inyear cut o employer support unding hasreduced the number o activities we havebeen able to run or employers and madethe achievement o reaching our year endtarget o supportive employers unlikely.

Finally the corporate business so twarepackage SYMPHONY has been withus now or about 3 years and, to someextent, it remains a challenging systemwith which to work. Designed as aFinancial In ormation System, it is beingused increasingly as a ManagementIn ormation System with the inherentaccompanying problems. Continuedtraining, in year improvements and thereplacement o the RLI by HALDANE2have helped and will continue to improve

unctionality.

Performance Targets

Employers rom two Liverpool NHS Trusts visit Germany to see the training o 208 (Liverpool )Field Hospital (Volunteers) with US medical teams


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The year began with global reserveso 241K. Just under hal o thesewere our Grant in Aid reserves whichwere within our permitted limit. Total

unding or the year was just over14.5m which included receiptsin advance o 1.5m brought

orward rom last year mainly or theHolcombe Moor Capital Project.

The pie chart below illustrates howthis unding was allocated to ouroutputs with nearly 52% directedto Estates. By Year End our Grantin Aid reserves should only contain

approximately 130,000 (which isour permitted retention o 2% oall Grant in Aid monies received inyear). All other reserves that existedat the start o the year will have beenutilised.

During the year we were subjectto several cuts in our undingspecifcally to the EstablishmentGrant, ACF Travel and ConsolidatedGrants, Heating, Lighting andCleaning (HLC) Grant and smallcuts to the Salaries, Administrative

and Employer Support Grants. Inaddition we returned 53K o our ATC Funding as our projections atYear End showed an underspendand similarly 124K o HLC wasreturned.

During the year we generatedincome o 290K all which will bespent by the end o the FinancialYear. Only 3K was bank interest, theremainder being generated throughtelephone mast hire, TA Centre and

Altcar hirings.

Financial Year, Managementand Year End Position

Rents/Leases/Lettings/NDR1,774,551

12.07%

Electricity1,041,286

7.08%

Gas694,191

4.72%Other Costs

496,5403.38%

ACF Travel & Consolidated330,603

2.25%

TA Establishment & Band39,4880.29%

Purchase o Vehicles - Capital140,900

0.96%Recruiting Support

33,1440.22%

Estate Maintenance3,406,818

23.16%

Sta Costs2,547,732

17.32%

Land & Buildings - Capital4,201,438

28.57%

The Symphony system continuesto be updated and our fxedasset register, which covers allour vehicles and trailers, will beincorporated in our annual accountsat Year End or the frst time. In the

uture all purchases and sales osuch vehicles will be recorded in ourbooks with provision or depreciationbeing made and the relevant assetsshown in the Associations balancesheet.

Turning to Non Public Funds, thoseheld by the County ACFs are nowaudited regularly by the AssociationFinance Sta with Cheshire ACFabout to be audited on the changeover o Commandants. Turning toour Trusts, once again they havebeen limited in the amount they candistribute as there has been virtuallyno bank interest. However, asdividends improve there should bemore unds available in the uture.

Regional Generated Income was distributed as ollows:Re unds to units or use o

acilities or hiring to 3rd parties 40,000Donations to units or Adventure Training, Expeditions,Community Engagement etc 30,000Recruiting Support and Publicity 36,000Employer Support 4,000TA Centre Re urbishments 55,000

ACF Hut Improvements 100,000Photocopies/IT or ACFs 25,000

The Trusts have made grants this year as ollows:

Stret ord Road Trust 4,944Macclesfeld Drill Hall Trust 2,126NW Army Cadet Force Trust Fund 12,796Congleton Drill Hall Trust 170

Yorkshire Street Trust 2,822Total 22,858


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Estates andFacilities Management

Joint ACF/ATC new build at Wilmslow

One signifcant new developmentor our Estates Department this

year has been the task o designinghousing adaptations or disabledsoldiers. So ar D In ra, who undthe work, have re erred 6 casesthroughout the North West to the

Association. This is new, relevantand rewarding work or our sta .

Work continues on the newGreater Manchester ACF CountyHeadquarters and Cadet TrainingCentre at Holcombe Moor. Duringthe year the site has been visited byLieutenant General Mark Mans, the

Adjutant General, Colonel MalcolmLlewellyn, AD D In ra, Air ViceMarshal Paul Luker, CE Council oRFCAs, and on requent occasionsby De ence Estates sta . All thevisitors have been impressed by thearchitecture and the quality o theworkmanship. Project Completion

is at the end o April 2011 with theacilities likely to be occupied inJune.

A Joint Army Cadet Force and AirTraining Corps acility has beencompleted at Wilmslow. Two urther

joint builds have commenced at Alsager, Cheshire and Prescot,Merseyside. The maintenance o theCadet Estate is given high priorityby the Association and we devotesignifcant amounts o RegionallyGenerated Income to it.

All Associations, in consultation withHQ Air Cadets and ACF CountyCommandants, have been taskedby the Council o RFCAs to producea 15 year replacement programme

or the renewal o the Cadet Estate.This piece o work was completedby the end o February. However,the majority o the existing CadetEstate dates rom 1960s and 1970sand to make a signifcant impact,the programme would need o theorder o 6/7m per annum spent onit to modernise it appropriately.

Ownership o the ormer SCTCInskip has recently been trans erredto HQ Air Cadets. This acilitywill provide accommodation orHQ Cumbria & North LancashireWing ATC together with training

acilities or the cadets and adults oLancashire ACF.

Funding to manage our estate wasreduced by 1.6m in FY 10/11which in some ways re ected thereasonable condition o our estate.However, this reduction in undingwas put under pressure by theexceptionally low temperatures inDecember which caused widespreaddamage to several o our properties.Nevertheless all Statutory and

Mandatory inspections and workshave been carried out togetherwith Responsive and PlannedMaintenance. This has ensuredthat we have been able to deliver acompliant estate.

We have received cash injectionsin year rom our customers, namely

rom HQ Air Cadets who haveunded many minor new works or

their squadron buildings and romRecruiting Group who have undedworks services or their AFCO and

ACIO accommodation. The Royal Air Force has unded the upgradeo Aintree Barracks which will bethe new location o the RAF ownedLiverpool AFCO currently located inthe City Centre.

Building work at GMACF County HQ and Cadet Training Centre at Holcombe Moor

Aintree TA Centre site o relocated Armed Forces Careers O fce


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Cadets and YouthThe North West and the Isle o Manis the 3rd largest region or the CadetForces with a total o 2922 CadetForce Adult Volunteers (CFAVs) and12,698 cadets. A detailed breakdowno strengths is given in the tablebelow.

As in previous years ACF summercamps were very well supportedand took place as ar as South asCrowborough in East Sussex andin the North at Barry Buddon inScotland. The usual vast range oactivities were enjoyed rom rangework and patrolling to rock climbingand rapid descents on a zip line.Warcop Training Camp was again the

venue or the CCF annual summercamp at which over 400 cadetsturned out over a 2 week period.

Activities at the camp includeddemonstrations and training inwatermanship, frst aid, adventuroustraining and racing over obstaclecourses to name but a ew.Cadets rom East Cheshire & SouthManchester Wing visited the NorthernRegion Activity Centre at AltcarTraining Camp to take part in a multi-activity camp. For over hal the cadetsit was their frst time away romhome with the Air Training Corps.The Activity Centre is one o two highclass acilities in the region and allowssta to teach aerospace activitieson the one hand and shooting andfeldcra t activities on the other.St. Marys College Combined CadetForce attended a 5 day AutumnCamp with 68 cadets covering avery comprehensive programmeo events at Altcar Training Camp.Supporting them were TA Volunteers

rom 4 PARA, 33 Sig Sqn (with hi tech

space age equipment) and a 16 TonDROPS vehicle rom 156 (NW) TptRegt which was used to demonstratethe Regiments roles in both Iraqand A ghanistan. Although theywere subject to plenty o hard work,including exercises with 4 PARA,an assault course and a march andshoot competition, the cadets had a

thoroughly worthwhile and rewardingcamp.The Lancashire ACF girls hockey

team represented the North WestRegion at the National ACF Hockeyfnals in York. A ter a hard oughtcompetition, the team regained thenational title winning the competitionin style to become National HockeyChampions or the second time. Inplace o the cancelled national girls

ootball competition, the ACFA ran anindoor 5 a side competition at whichthe North West won the senior match.The junior girls pulling team

rom the Huyton with RobySea Cadets represented theNorth West Area at the Nationalfnals recently. The team is astbecoming one o the areas mostsuccess ul teams in history, a terbecoming silver medallists at the SeaCadet National Regatta.PO Cadet Megan Duxbury rom the

Accrington & District Sea Cadetswon the Cornwell Medal, which isawarded annually to the cadet whoobtains the highest exam markon completion o the Petty O fcerCadets advancement course at the

SCTC based at HMS RALEIGH. Themedal was named a ter Boy SeamanJohn Cornwell VC who died as a resulto wounds sustained in action at theBattle o Jutland in World War 1. Thisaward was instigated the year a ter hisdeath and has been awarded everyyear since 1917.Huyton Sea Cadet Keith Lord becamethe frst cadet rom the unit to achievea BTEC in Music. The BTEC Level2 in Music is o ered by the CVQOand has been designed to developa basic understanding o music asa pro ession and combines bothtechnical skills with practical elementsand research. Keith adds thisqualifcation to his previously awardedBTEC in Public Services, meaningthat he has achieved the equivalento 8 GCSEs through the Huyton SeaCadets and CVQO.

Two high ying Stockport AirCadets have recently been awardedtheir BTEC Level 2 Diplomasin Public Services, each worth

our GCSEs. These have beenawarded as a result o their hardwork and achievement in a variety

o areas during their time with162 (Stockport) Squadron. CadetFlight Sergeant Dale McLaughlin(17) who is a student at AquinasCollege and Cadet Flight SergeantThomas Stoddard (17) who is astudent at Manchester Collegehave both completed the Diplomato Distinction * Level which isequivalent to 4 GCSEs at A* Level.The Tameside Sea Cadets weregiven the prestigious privilegeo per orming a Window LadderDisplay to the accompaniment o aRoyal Marines Band at the launcho the Royal Navys sixth Type45 Destroyer, HMS DUNCAN, onthe River Clyde in Glasgow. Theteam per ormed at the invitationo BAE Systems and were given

NW RFCA Overall Cadet Figures

CadetOrganisations O fcers WO/NCO CI/CGIs Total Cadets Total Overall

ACF 191 694 885 4630 5515 ATC 270 191 575 1036 3686 4722SCC 130 431 266 827 2281 3108CCF 143 31 174 2101 2275 Total 734 1347 841 2922 12698 15620

Lancashire ACF girls hockey team

Greater Manchester ACF on Mount Whitney in the United States o America

Cadets rom East Cheshire & South Manchester Wing ATC at theNorthern Region Activity Centre at Altcar Training Camp


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pride o place in ront o over 15,000spectators.Recently returned rom adventuroustraining in the United States o

America were a group o intrepidmountaineers rom GreaterManchester Army Cadet Force.

The group, led by the CountyCommandant Colonel Les Webband a band o experienced adultinstructors, ew out to the UnitedStates at the end o August to spenda ortnight hiking and climbing inthe Grand Canyon, Death Valleyand ultimately scaling the peaks oMount Whitney, one o the highestmountains in North America.

Amongst their many adventures, theyencountered real-li e cowboys andmule-trains, crossed the ColoradoRiver and learned how to protecttheir ood supplies rom bears!

The role o the Associationin Community Engagementis to in uence thecommunity, seekrecognition or the ArmedForces and to do all wecan to enhance andpromote their reputation.We do this by providing asustained presence acrossthe region through ourmembership. We also aimto develop and enhance theRFCAs relationship withthe community in order toimprove their understandingo and support or the

Armed Forces and Cadets.This is done throughplanning, managing and

use o representational,recruiting, cadet andEmployer Support activities.Many o you will be awarethat the Associationcontinues to enhance andrein orce the mix and statuso the membership o theCounty Employer SupportGroups with a view tousing this combined wealtho experience or widerengagement with businessand the local community.The value o our memberslocal knowledge o thebusiness and public sectorwas demonstrated last yearwith the mobilisation o localreservists or ood relie

duties in Cumbria, contactswere quickly and e ectivelyprovided to support theReservist response. All ourEmployer Support eventsnormally o er a widerCommunity Engagementopportunity and we seekto exploit these at all times.Service Presentation Teamevents, ship visits and alllocal Civic/ Military eventscan be, and requently are,supported by the CountyEmployer Support Groups.This must continue, there isno room or complacency,we must maintain, nurture,and develop our communitybased support.

Community Engagement

Cadet Flight Sergeant Dale McLaughlin and Cadet Flight Sergeant Thomas Stoddardreceive their BTEC Level 2 Diplomas in Public Services

Lancashire ACF Annual Camp

Tameside Sea Cadets per orming their Window Ladder Display at the launch o HMS DUNCAN


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Altcar Training Camp continuesto support regular units onpre deployment training or

A ghanistan and recruit trainingby ITC Catterick. As ever it alsoremains heavily used by ourown Reserves and Cadets aswell as the Brigade RegionalTraining Centre. Overall and notsurprisingly we experienced anincrease in tri service units requestinguse o Altcars acilities at the biddingcon erence held in November 2010.The majority o bids were acceptedbut un ortunately some wererejected. The shortage o training

acilities, particularly in the NorthWest, places an ever increasingburden on the ranges, training andaccommodation acilities at Altcar.

EventsThere have been many events that

have taken place at Altcar duringthe last year and the ollowing arehighlighted:

The Brigade Skill at ArmsMeeting. This competitionwas held in May and is nowan annual eature on Altcarscalendar.

The Cadet Band concentrationwas held in April with over 300musicians taking part.

The UKRFA InternationalMilitary Skills Competition. Thecompetition was held in May butwith a reduced number o teams

rom the volunteer reserve orcesbecause o unding constraints.That said, some oreign teamsattended.

The National Ri e Association,the County o Lancashire Ri e

Association and the Canadianopen competitions were wellattended and were greatsuccesses.

Several TA and Cadets campsthrough June, July and August.

The Army Careers Exhibition inOctober which was visited byabout 15,000 young people.

Conservation

To commemorate Cadet 150, cadetsrom all 4 Service Cadet organisations

planted 2000 trees in February 2011(postponed rom December 2010).The Altcar Conservation Group inconsultation with English Nature,Mersey Forest and The University oLiverpool continues to record andmap numerous amounts o wildli e,

ora and auna on the estate. One othe many projects being carried outis the one million pond project, being

unded by De ence Estate (DE). Altcaralso remains one o the ew sites inthe country which has a large redsquirrel population, so much so thatthe Altcar Conservation Group willsubmit this as a conservation projectto DE, with the intention o competing

or a Sanctuary award in 2011.

Altcar EstateDevelopment

A 6 month trial period to relocatethe Red Rose Club to theSergeants Mess in the main campwas a great success and there orethe Altcar Committee approveda permanent relocation. The sitewithin the main camp is ar moreaccessible to our customers andthere ore much more heavily used.

At long last I am pleased to reportthat the Junior Ranks Dining roomis to be replaced by the end o

April 2011. The old one was heavilyused as over 100,000 personneluse these acilities each year and itwas in danger o alling down.

As ar as the ranges are concernedtwo ranges, A and B, have beenmodernised with A range beingelectrifed and B range havinga new target system installed.Plans to build an A ghanistan styleForward Operation Base are beingredrawn to reduce its size, butnevertheless this will be a majorasset or troops on pre deploymenttraining. We should see workcommence in 2011 i the plans and

unding are approved.

AltcarTrainingCamp

Ca de t m us icians a t A lt ca r

UKRFA InternationalMilitary Skills

Competition


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Recruiting o ACF Adult Instructors

208 Fd Hosp training - NW RFCA has provisionto support injured servicemen

The SDSR has brought manyconcerns or the uture o theReserves with the inevitableimplications o cutbacks, changesand amalgamation. Although thefnal outcomes may not be knowuntil June, there will inevitably bechange throughout the North West.This uncertainty has made it a verydi fcult year or units to maintaintheir normal levels o recruiting but,where requested, the Associationhas been able to support someactivities with unding raised throughRegionally Generated Income.

In conjunction with HQ 42 (NW )

Bde and others, the Associationcontributes to the TA o fcer recruitingdebate through the Higher EducationSub-Committee. This group seeks toimprove the number and quality oTA young o fcers by streamlining theprocess and making the o er morerelevant and appealing.

Recruiting and retention o the TAin the North West is still our mainpriority despite the reduction inmarketing unding. The Associationcontinues to o er assistance and

support to Commander RegionalRecruiting NW under the umbrella othe Service Level Agreement (SLA)as ollows:

Provision o advice to HQ 42(NW) Bde and units

PR and marketing in supporto unit and sub-unit initiativesincluding publication o the

Volunteer Recruiting o adults and cadets

into the ACF Encouraging ACF cadets to join

the Army Encouraging potential o fcers

and soldiers into the Regular Army and TA

Maintaining links with veteranorganisations

In conjunction with HQ 42 (NW)Bde, the Association has hostedthe biannual PSAOs meeting at

Alexandra Court. These are alwayswell attended and an occasion wherePSAOs can discuss their concernsand ask or advice and assistancein maintaining standards in their TACentres with a view to improvingrecruiting and retention in their units.This orum is not only in ormative butis also an opportunity or stronglyheld views to be aired!

The submissions orthe 2011 AssociationPR Awards have

been judged and areavailable or viewing atthe AGM. Each entrydemonstrates theunits year through itspublicity in the press,community events,support to charities andli e within the unit.

The Volunteer magazinecontinues to be ourmain recruiting tool inthe North West. CRR

NW has maintainedfnancial support thisyear as have the ATC,SaBRE and ACF. We are receivingmany more articles rom units and

rom cadet orces which demonstratethe variety o events happeningin our region. Despite reducing to3 publications a year, 2010 hasproved to be very success ul or the

Volunteer and, despite changes inthe production team, it continues tospread the word about the Reservesand the Cadets. Select Travel

Media in Horwich are now the solepublishers o the magazine and themailing list is expanding all the time.

NW RFCA welcomes all articlesand photographs or considerationand also welcomes advertising.In ormation can be obtained

rom NW RFCA by emailing [email protected] ca.mod.uk ortelephone 0151 728 2046.

The NW RFCA website www.nwr ca.org.uk still continues toprovide up to date in ormation onNorth West reserve units and cadet

orces. The job vacancy sectionhas proved to be a use ul tool andwe are open to all suggestions toimprove or add to the website.

Finally, the Council o RFCAshas signed a new Service Level

Agreement with HQ LF over theprovision o wel are support toreservists. This includes:

Guidance to employerswho might be a ected by

operational stress injuries Specifcally to provide

the alteration o injuredservicemens accommodation

Provision o support to allinjured service personnel

Publicity and Recruiting Support

TA Young O fcers

NW RFCA website, www.nwr ca.org.uk


12/12

For urther in ormation:Call 0151 727 4552 email [email protected] ca.mod.uk or visit www.nwr ca.org.uk

Produced by Select Travel Media Limited,Publishing House, 3 Bridgebank Industrial Estate, Taylor Street, Horwich, Bolton BL6 7PD NWRFCA

Personnel

ColonelSir James Cropper KCVO

ColonelJoe Harkon MBE TD DL

This will be the last Association AGMor Colonel Sir James Cropper in his

capacity as our President. We areall most grate ul or his leadership o

the Association over the last 4 yearsand or his unstinting support tothe Reserve Forces and Cadets. Hewill be succeeded as President byColonel the Rt Hon The Lord CharlesShuttleworth.

We will also be bidding arewellto Colonel Joe Harkon as a ViceChairman o the Association inwhich capacity he has served or thelast 10 years. He has made a hugecontribution to Reserves and Cadetsover the years and we are enormously

grate ul or all he has done. He willbe replaced as a Vice Chairman byLieutenant Colonel Leanda Pitt.

Turning to the Permanent Sta ,e fciency measures being takennationally and the Civil Servicerecruiting ban have begun to a ectall Associations. Due to signifcantcuts in SaBRE unding, we havebeen required to make the posto the Administrative O fcer whosupports the RSCD redundant.

Further complicating matters whenposts in Associations become vacantis the need or a business case torecruit a replacement to be orwarded

to the Council Pay and PersonnelCommittee which is not always agiven.

It has been another incredibly busyyear or all the sta and my reportwould not be complete withoutmention o the splendid work carriedout by the Association sta at

Alexandra Court, the sta s at AltcarTraining Camp and in the ACFsacross the 5 counties and the Isle oMan. All o them have continued towork exceptionally hard at a time o

great uncertainty. We trade heavily ontheir goodwill with very ew measuresat my disposal available to improvetheir lot. We are very ortunate as wehave a splendid retention record witha great proportion o the sta havingserved over 10 years and a ew or aslong as 30 years. For many o them itis not so much a job as a way o li eand they continually demonstrate thisthrough their loyalty, hard work andcommitment.

ConclusionLooking back over the last12 months, a great deal hasbeen achieved under testingcircumstances. All o the activitieswhich we have conducted andthe work o the Association HQ,

Altcar Training Camp and ACFPermanent Sta s convince methat we continue to be a valued

RFCA, completely united in ourdesire to support and promotethe Reserves and Cadets in ourvarious communities and in somany di erent ways. I believe thestanding and reputation o the

Volunteer Reserves and Cadets inthe North West o England and Isleo Man remain extremely high. Itseems that increasingly the public

recognises our commitment andvalue to the nation although we mustcontinue to work hard to ensure thatthis empathy continues in the currenttesting environment.

As ever I would wish to record ourappreciation or our President and

Vice Presidents or their active andinvaluable support to all aspects othe Associations work but particularlywith Employer Support, CommunityEngagement and the Cadets. MayI also thank all the members o the

Associations Board or giving soreely o their time or the beneft o

North West RFCA and or their advice,commitment and support in assistingwith the delivery o our outputs.The splendid work undertaken by

our President, Vice Presidents, ourBoard and our members is withoutdoubt one o the main reasons whythe Association has maintained itsfne reputation and continues to besuccess ul.

Finally our thoughts go out to themany Reservists rom our region whohave been, are and will be deployedon operations both this year and next.They continue to acquit themselvessuperbly and rightly we remain justlyproud o their achievements. On yourbehal I would want to pass on ourthanks to them and wish them everysuccess in the months ahead. Let usrecognise, too, the splendid supportthey receive rom their amilies andtheir employers.

agm newsletter 2011

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