All the latest News from Whitley Bay Sqn...

 1156 Prove their worth!
September 2008

1156 Whitley Bay Squadron has silenced the critics by becoming out and out winners at Durham & Northumberland Wings Swimming competition.  A well-prepared outfit of Squadron Hardmen turned up on a damp Sunday morning to Tynemouth Swimming pool where the competition was held. The Squadrons cadets started as they meant to go on by catapulting the Squadron onto the medal table with Gold in the Medaly Relay.  It was in fact the Junior Girls who stole the show for 1156 and as a result of their hard work, determination and talent just 6 girls on the junior team collected every single one of the Squadrons 10 Gold and Silver medals! The Squadrons Warrant Officer who attended the event, WO Metcalf, was very proud of the Squadrons females and praised their sportsmanship and their obvious success.  But the Gentlemen on the squadron, inspired by their female counterparts went on, with up most determination, to win a stunning 16 Bronze medals to complete a very good days work for the Squadron.

Both the junior and senior boys collected medals in the relays with note to Cdt K. Thompson, Cdt D. Murphy, Cpl Mcmaster and CWO Conneely for picking up medals in their individual events.

The junior girls unsurprisingly collected the trophy for their age category with the Squadron coming second and third in the junior and senior boys respectively. Flt Sgt Riach had the honour of collecting the overall winner’s trophy from Wing Commander Harris who described 1156 ( Whitley Bay) Squadron as “the unsurprising run-away winners”.  It seems the Squadron is creating somewhat of a reputation for itself.

CWO T. Conneely, the Squadrons Team manager, heralded the Squadrons cadets for having the up most sportsman like behaviour and pinned the Squadrons success on preparation and determination based on a firm foundation of Squadron pride stating in his debrief, “Train hard, Fight easy... And bring on the cross country.”

 Squadron Web Page!
August 2008

The Squadron has finally got things on track with regards to these Web pages!

It may have taken much, much, much longer than originally anticipated but finally it looks like the Squadron web site is going to be up and running again. After a few hours of hard work by the Commanding Officer (Flight Lieutenant Steve Kirtley) to initially get things moving, and under the new control of CI Bobby Proctor it looks like this valuable tool is finally going to be of use again!

Watch this space!

 Stair 2008!
August 2008

The Squadron has once more undertaken it's annual Adventure Training Camp in the Lake District and it looks like this year has been the best yet!

With an ever growing staff team who are enthusiastic, reliable and efficient; and most proffesional NCO team in recent memory the exercise was a resounding success. Everyone enjoyed the week, there were no injuries and no discipline problems and with the continued help of WO Turnbull yet again 1156Sqn experienced the best event the ATC has to offer!

A big thank-you has to go to WO Turnbull for his outstanding JEDI like instruction, Yoda has been booked again for next year. And with the Sqn Pleb award becoming hotly contested it looks like we will enjoy another great week next year.

 1156 Squadron yet again provides New Officer for the RAF
August 2008

1156 Squadron is very proud to announce that one of its CIs Mr (Captain) Jack Savage has graduated from Initial Officer Training at RAF Cranwell and has been commisioned as an Officer in The Royal Air Force.

The Now Flying Officer Jack Savage joined 1156 Sqn a couple of years ago in order to develop himself with a view to joining the RAF. He was a natural fit at 1156Sqn, gave valuable service, learnt a lot and is now the newest Officer in the RAF.

In typical gentleman and officer fashion Flying Officer Savage was very modest in his achievement but has vowed to remain active with 1156Sqn, he enjoys being an 1156 Hardman and is willing to act as a service instructor whenever and wherever permitted by his future movements within the RAF. The Commanding Officer Flight Lieutenant Steve Kirtley said "Jack is a credit to 1156Sqn and the RAF is lucky to have him. His attitude towards remaining to help the Squadron is greatly appreciated and I'm happy to have his assistance on the Squadron whenever his postings and operational duties allow him."

We wish him the best of luck for the future and 1156 Squadron is sure he will continue to reach even higher heights!

Squadron Commander Earns Promotion! 
July 2008

 Having been at 1156Sqn for well over a year now Flying Officer Steve Kirtley has finally attended his Officers Senior Course (OSC) at the Adult Training Facility at Headquarters Air Cadets (ATF). All Sqn Commanders must attend ATF for their OSC and because of this massive demand for courses, and despite booking the course as soon as possible, Flying Officer Kirtley has had over a years wait for a course.

Having now passed the course Flying Officer Kirtley is eligable for prommotion to Flight Lieutenant and once again the Sqn will recieve the bennefits of having it's CO wear Flt Lt rank.

He said "I'm pleased to have passed the course, it was very enjoyable and I learnt lots, however now I can get back to the job in hand - Commanding 1156 Squadron. The extra knowledge that attending an OSC has given me will surely help me do my job to a higher standard and 1156 Squadron will benefit from this."

 1156 Run to Glory!

June 2008

1156 Squadron have literally thrown down the gauntlet to the other Squadrons in the Wing by annihilating them at the Athletics competition! A team of only 15 cadets turned up at Monkton athletics stadium to face the much larger numbers of the other 34 Squadrons in the Wing. After winning an impressive 23 medals we watched the rest of the wing walk away with their tails between their legs after being soundly defeated!

Having won every catagory the Squadron entered the opposition must surely have been dreading lining up next to the 1156 Hardmen!

Lets hope we can continue this form and win the Swimming gala in September!

 1156 Enjoys a "Royal" representation!
May 2008

1156 ( Whitley Bay) Squadron ATC has just enjoyed a celebrity presence at this year’s presentation evening in the form of the Lord Lieutenant for Tyne and Wear, Nigel Sherlock OBE. The annual awards ceremony is held to recognise the hard and outstanding efforts of all the cadets on the squadron over the last year. Awards like the Hard Rock award for Adventure Training, the Best NCO and Probationer plates are awarded to the most outstanding cadets, with awards like best Sports cadet and others also being presented.

The local RAFA branch attended to present two special, limited edition, prints to the cadets with the highest amount of money raised over the last year. The RAFA members thanking the squadrons outstanding and continuing support of the charity with special mention to ICdt Corporal Boyack raising £1300 personally.

In front of parents and cadets the Lord lieutenant shook hands with the award winners and posed for a photograph with the Squadron. The Lord Lieutenant also took the opportunity to talk to the parents congratulating the excellent efforts of everyone on the squadron from the youngest of cadets to the Officers and made a special point to highlight the importance of the work of the squadrons growing civilian committee and the on going support of the parents and local community, modestly stating “This is probably one of the strongest squadrons I’ve visited in my time as Lord Lieutenant and let the high standards continue!” 

The presentation evening this year saw the creation of a new award, for the best overall cadet on the squadron. The award was named ‘ The Allaby Award’ in recognition of the outstanding loyalty and continuing commitment to the Squadron of Mr Mike Allaby, a CI who is an ex-RAF Meteor pilot and has served on 1156 (Whitley Bay) Squadron for over 20 years. The evening was a great success and the Squadron gratefully appreciates the full support of the parents who attended.

 1156 Squadron wins National Award!
May 2008

1156 (Whitley Bay) Squadron Air Cadets have just been awarded the prestigious Sir Gus Walker Trophy, awarded annually to the squadron that raises the second most money nationally for the Royal Air Forces Association “Wings Appeal”

Cadets of Whitley Bay Squadron raised over £4,700 toward the 2007 Wings Appeal with special note to Corporal Sean Boyack who raised an astounding amount that was over £1300 of the final figure himself.

The trophy was presented to the Commanding Officer, Flight Lieutenant Steve Kirtley and Cpl Sean Boyack by the president of the Royal Air Forces Association, Air Marshall Sir Phillip Sturley at the annual RAFA conference held in Blackpool.

Yet again the thanks for this amazing achievement fall at the feet of CI Mike Allaby for coordinating the Sqn effort and Mr M Blackman the Chairman of the Civilian Committee for liazing with the local RAFA branch.

 1156 Squadron Welcomes Promotion of Two Flight Sergeants to CWO! 
April 2008

 For the first time in recent memory, 1156 Squadron now has two Cadet Warrant Officers. After a gruelling interview with the Wing Commander at Wing HQ, and really having to work hard to justify both being promoted, both Flight Sergeant Tom Conneely and Flight Sergeant Ronnie Edwards have been promoted to Cadet Warrant Officer.

To enjoy the benefits of having a cadet experienced and senior enough to be promoted to CWO is a treat for the Squadron but to be in the position of having two proves beyond doubt that 1156Sqn is at the very fore-front of Durham Northumberland Wing and is undoubtedly set for great achievements.

The Squadron Commander Flying Officer Steve Kirtley said " Both Conneelly and Edwards have been very capable Flight Sergeants and I'm thrilled to have both of them as CWOs. They form a really quite unique working partnership and I'm sure this is going to help 1156Sqn move from strength to strength!"

 1156 Squadron says goodbye to one Warrant Officer and hello to another! 
August 2007

 Sadly Warrant Officer Trudy Fairhurst is leaving 1156 Squadron, Trudie has been instrumental in maintaining standards on 1156 Squadron over recent years. Whilst her husband Flt Lt Dave Fairhurst was Commanding Officer the pair proved to be an awesome partnership. Sadly for 1156 Squadron both Dave and Trudie are leaving the Wing and with their family are emigrating to Australia. We wish both of them the very best of luck for the future and hope everything goes well for them. It is a sad day for both 1156 Sqn and Durham Northumberland Wing as  Squadron is loosing a very good Warrant Officer and drill instructor and the Wing is loosing a valuable member of wing staff.

All is not totally lost however because by sheer coincidence another Warrant Officer, WO Julie Metcalf is looking for a new Squadron and has decided that 1156 is the best choice. Julie is a totally different kind of Warrant Officer to Trudie and the change will be interesting for the Squadron, however if Julie settles into the Sqn anywhere near as well as Trudie did then the Squadron will surely prosper.

Flt Sgt Conneely achieves GOLD! 
April 2007

Cadet Flight Sergeant Tom Conneely recently received confirmation of his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, this is an excellent achievement and represents several years of work for the 18 year old, the award consists of 4 sections: Service, Skill, Physical and Expedition as well as a Residential Project. Tom has now been invited to St. James Palace to collect the award from HRH Price Phillip Duke of Edinburgh.

Squadron Commander Flying Officer Steve Kirtley said "Tom has worked very hard to achieve this award, you don't see many Gold awards out there so I am very pleased that one of my Cadets has reached this level, Tom is a very good example to the other cadets and with his encouragement I'm sure we'll see many more Gold awards on the Squadron!"

 1156 Squadron gets New Squadron Commander!
March 2007

1156 (Whitley Bay) Squadron has recieved a new Commanding Officer, unfortunatly due to work commitments Flt Lt Mark Robson has had to step down as Commanding Officer of 1156 Sqn. His replacement is Flying Officer Steve Kirtley. As Pilot Officer James Elliott is also moving away to enjoy new challanges on another Squadron it means a complete change of commisioned staff for 1156Sqn.

Flying Officer Kirtley was commisioned in August 2004, before that he was a civillian instructor serving first on 346 (Tynemouth) Sqn then 2344 (Longbenton) Sqn and finally 1114 (Gosforth) Sqn. His cadet career started in 1990 when he joined as a new cadet at 2344 (Longbenton) Sqn, he rose through the ranks to Cadet Warrant Officer before being sent on secondment to 861 (Wideopen) Sqn with the specific task of raising the struggling Squadrons' cadet numbers. Upon hitting upper age he became a Civilian Instructor and opted for a move to another Sqn to assist in his development. He is a Range Conducting Officer and a course qualified Weapons Instructor, holds a BELA award and is now very experienced within the Corps having participated in almost every activity available to cadets and staff and having acted as temporary CO for three to six months on two previous occasions on other Squadrons.

Flying Officer Kirtley said "I am thrilled to be taking over as CO of 1156Sqn, I've known the Squadron for a long time now and have always enjoyed my visits here having had many friends here in the past. I hope that I enjoy a very long and successfull time here and that 1156Sqn moves forward and once more becomes a Squadron as successful as it has been in the past. In essence I'm not only just taking over from Mark but James also, and I'm enjoying the challenge of filling the boots of not just one but two officers!"