Formby Maritime Cadets close their doors for good
A statement was made by Kyrenia Smith Former Commanding Officer on the closing of the Formby Maritime Cadets. Kyrenia sais "Thank you to the Formby community for your support over the years. We are heartbroken to be closing our doors, especially as we were doing so well but sometimes life has other plans! Also thank you to the Formby bubble for sharing posts and helping get the word out there about who we are. It’s been such an amazing few years"
Kyrenia went on to say "Unfortunately we have closed our doors for good. This is only due to part of the command team moving away from the area, and understandably nobody was able to take on the amount of work it takes to run a youth charity. We were a very successful, happy unit which has created endless memories. Incase you’ve forgotten just how much we’ve done over the years, here’s a reminder -
First camp, water safety 2017
First promotions 23/06/17
Basic acquaint course 2017
Atlantic Star tour 2017
MFRS training centre fun day 2017
Southport police station visit 2017
Halloween camp 2017
Annual awards evening 2017
Multi subject camp 2018
Official unit plaque reveal 2018
Assault course creation 2018
Summer camp 2018
Sea Truck tour 2018
Annual Awards evening 2018
Multi subject camp 2019
Zeebrugge parade 2019
Sponsored Walk 2019
Queen Victoria Cruise Ship tour 2019
Veterans night and filming 2019
Christmas Fun Day 2019
Annual Awards Evening 2019
Somewhere in between all that we also did -
Annual Poppy Appeals
Annual Remembrance Parades
Annual Armed Forces Day Parades
Annual Merchant Navy Day Parades
Annual Bag Packs
Annual Christmas light turn on
Annual Formby Festival
Boating Days
Boating Camps
Promotions
Band Practices
Traditional Holiday Parties
Cadets achieved qualifications in the following subjects -
Paddle sports
Sailing
Powerboating
Seamanship
Engineering
Catering
Communications
Piping
Meteorology
First Aid
Expedition Training
Piping
Water Safety
Affiliation to the Royal British Legion
Junior Coloured Section Badges
Ranks Achieved from Junior - Leading Mariner.
Red Ensign Award
I am not fully sure how we managed to fit all of the above in, but we did.
I could go on for days and days but I’ll try and keep it short.
Cadets - THANK YOU. We couldn’t have done any of this without you. You have raised thousands of pounds for the RBL. You have stood up tall and proud on parades. You have believed in yourselves. You have pushed yourselves to overcome challenges you didn’t think you could complete. You have smiled. You have cried. You have laughed. You have created so many memories. Use what you have learnt with us to achieve your dreams, you can do anything you put your mind to. It doesn’t matter if you were with us for 3 years or 3 months, I love you all equally and you have all had such a positive impact on my life.
Parents - THANK YOU. You trusted us to provide opportunities and education for your children. You have helped with events. You have ferried your children to and from events.
Some of you have even been by our side to clean the unit and cut the grass. I truly appreciate all you have done to help the unit.
Staff - THANK YOU. From Mike as the first Commanding Officer to Vicky as the first tea lady and everyone in between. You’ve pushed the cadets to be the best. You’ve turned up when you’re tired to educate the cadets. You’ve created those smiles and memories. You’ve pushed me to be a better commanding officer. You’ve come up with brilliant ideas to better the organisation. Most importantly, you’ve all done it because you want to, because like me, you love those cadets and simply wanted to give them the best start possible.
Supporters - THANK YOU. You’ve liked and shared our posts. You’ve clapped the cadets on parades and other special events. You’ve provided us with grants. You’ve helped keep us going for as long as we could. You’ve made the cadets realise how amazing they are.
The photos are of some of my favourite memories over the years. I’m sure there are some there you new people have never seen!
There are some collages of some cadets to show how they’ve grown over the years. Olivia for example, started on our very first night and survived until the very last. The Bennett’s started as soon as they turned 8 and ended with achieving the highest possible junior award. Maddi came to us when she was older, but came with a huge amount of knowledge so quickly climbed the ranks to Leading Mariner and was set to achieve Bosun Mariner. Every single other cadet has also achieved amazing things.
I’ve only been able to do collages of cadets who I have tones of photos of so please don’t be offended if you don’t have one. I’m sure you’ll spot yourself in the other photos.
Keep hold of those memories, look back at the photos and use your knowledge to better yourselves.
Thank you again everyone, I will miss you all"
More infomration and photos can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/1004150906300185/posts/3047028588679063/?d=n
