THOMPSON INTAKE GRADUATION PARADE Thompson Intake, Course 599, 9 and 10 Flights have Graduated from Recruit Training Squadron at RAF Halton after 10 weeks of Basic Recruit Training. They marched on to the Henderson Parade Square on a cool but sunny day in front of family and friends. The Reviewing Officer was Air Commodore Jeremy Attridge, UK Joint Force Air Component Commander,who presented the following trophies and awards: The Halton Aircraft Apprentice Shield – AC Benfield The Rothschild Trophy and The Halton Aircraft Apprentice - Trophy AC Hannah Gray The RAF Benevolent Fund – AC Nicola Howling The Station Commander’s Cup – AC James Bona The Dusty Miller Trophy – AC Peter Morgan The Mayor Of Aylesbury Trophy – SAC Williams The Lord Lieutenant Of Buckinghamshire’s Trophy - AC Stuart Roberts and The Lord Trenchard Trophy, awarded to the Flight, whose performance has been the best overall in General Service Training and General Service Knowledge. It was awarded to No. 10 Flight and collected on their behalf by LAC McDowell The fly past was by a King Air from 45 Squadron, based at The Royal Air Force College Cranwell with musical accompaniment by the Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment under direction from Warrant Officer Craggs. The new airmen and women will now move on to Phase 2 trade training at different training squadrons around the country.

BECKETT INTAKE ASSIST COMMUNITY Beckett Intake, from RAF Halton’s Recruit Training Squadron, has carried out a community project at The Cherry Tree Nursing Home in Wendover. They undertook various manual jobs including fence painting, general maintenance of the property and sanding down the sheds and woodwork in preparation for painting. Later in the day they spent time with the residents. AC Lund said: “On Saturday, 50 volunteers from Beckett Intake, including myself, chose to help out at The Cherry Tree Nursing Home to offer assistance with our 100 spare hands. As well as doing manual work we spent time with the residents, gaining an insight into their past and also offering our own stories about previous escapades prior to joining the Royal Air Force. The occupants of Cherry Tree welcomed us with a sandwich lunch for our work, which only encouraged us to complete our jobs with the upmost diligence. "After lunch we repainted the sheds and made sure all areas were tidied away and left immaculate (better than most of our Halton bed spaces). After saying our farewells, and posing for a team photo with both recruits and residents, I caught up with some of the troops and asked them how they felt about the experience. AC peacock said: 'It was nice to help out the older generation.' AC Scott added: 'We thoroughly enjoyed doing something for the community representing the Royal Air Force.' All in all, it was a great afternoon and a pleasure for us all to give something back to the community.” Cpl Kym Williams who supervised the visit, said: “I think the day was incredibly successful, getting a significant amount of work done and building what will hopefully be a lasting relationship with the home. They have already expressed an interest in Beckett returning again in the future.” Nichola Gill, Manager of the nursing home, said: “The residents and staff felt really uplifted by the visit from Beckett Intake and we hope to see them back again as it has remained a talking point for days and the effort put into the chores was first rate. One resident’s daughter commented that her Mum had worked at Halton for over 20 years and was thrilled to tell us about her visitors from the Royal Air Force. It seemed to put a sparkle back in her eyes and excitement in her voice; it is amazing what a person in uniform can do.”

RAF HALTON EMPLOYER ENGAGEMENT SUCCESS Forty delegates from influential national employers had positive words to say after being put through a package of field and team-based leadership challenges hosted by the Royal Air Force Reserves Employer Engagement team at RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire recently. This was the second such annual event. It showed the military skills that reservists can transfer back into their civilian roles and created interest in joining the RAF Reserves for numbers of delegates. In one intensive day delegates experienced all three course levels run by the Airmen’s Command Squadron (ACS) at the station. Each level challenged and stimulated development of a host of personal qualities and skills including leadership, self-understanding, team dynamics, personality, communication skills, team management, initiative, lateral thinking and problem solving. Tackling all three levels meant delegates stepped up to new challenges every few hours throughout the day, with the RAF's ACS expert trainers providing full context about each course’s aims. It also showed the military skills that reservists can transfer back into their civilian roles and created interest in joining the RAF Reserves for numbers of delegates. Flt Lt Chester Myers, Acting Officer Commanding ACS, said: “ Although at first the candidates were naturally hesitant about what was to come, the enthusiasm of both the candidates and the Instruction Staff has been first class; breaking the ice and making this an incredible experience for all. "From what I have seen throughout the two days, everyone involved positively approached all tasks with humour and resilience; particularly given regular exposure to some classic British weather. I am fully confident that this brief introduction to team management, effective communication and lateral thinking will empower them to make more effective leadership decisions in their individual workplaces.” Delegates’ positive comments included: Sean Downey, Programme Manager with Arqiva Ltd., Daventry, Northants, believed: “This was my first exposure to military training, it gave me a chance to step back from managing and leading my day-job team, to think about what I am doing, a great experience.” Said Kathrine Howarth, Clinical Coding Manager, Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: “This was a different approach to developing leadership styles. It was energetic, mentally challenging and it brought out my team skills as well. I have always wanted to be part of the armed forces and I can now look at the reserves.” Petrina Wright, Head of Data and Information with Arqiva Ltd., Daventry, Northants, said: “It was brilliant, the practical tasks brought everything to life, unlike being in a classroom, it made me realise the need for strategy and planning by example.” There are over 30 roles available in trades and branches for individuals to join the RAF Reserves from the age of 18 to 54 years.

IT’S CAKE SEASON !! Three coffee and cake mornings in aid of charity have been held in the last week at RAF Halton, two were for MacMillan Cancer Research, held in the Defence Centre of Training Support, DCTS, and Supply Squadron at the Airfield, the third one in Burnett Gym. In total the three have raised over £1200 for local causes. The first one, for MacMillan Cancer Research in DCTS was arranged by Karen Anderson, Kylie Haines and Natalie Brundle. Karen said: “The morning was a massive success raising over £400 so thank you to everyone who contributed.” The next cake sale for the Royal Air Force Association, RAFA, was in the Burnett Gym and very well attended. It was organised by Sgt Tanya Bryan from Recruit Training Squadron assisted by five Servicemen Awaiting Trade Training, SATT’s, who helped set up on the day and serve. Tanya said: “I organised it as I am one of the RAFA Liaison Officer’s here at Halton. We managed to raise £350.54 and I want to give my thanks to everyone who supported the event, baked and donated or came along and ate the cakes and Budgens for donating tea, coffee and sugar for approximately 200 people in all.” The final one for MacMillan Cancer Research was held at the Supply Squadron portacabin where the Supply Hangar was open for visitors to look round. There was also a raffle with prizes of three microlight flights donated by Jon Kumela, Dave Seath and Norman Potts, 12 cupcakes made by Denise Hillson, and her daughter, Sian, made an amazing minion cake, also donations of alcohol by Carl Barrett, and finally Jon Kumela, resident aircraft technician, made a motorised spinning cake display stand. Kayleigh Gill commented: “We were all inspired by last year’s cake sale which was so successful raising over £300, and after a good start selling cakes around the Station, the day looked as if it would be very profitable for MacMillans. Money was still coming in the day after, from people buying left over cakes and after a final count up we have managed to raise £409. Yey!! The list of raffle prize winners reads; Microlight Flights - Sam (I.T) Andy (SMS) and Tanya (RTS). Minion Cake- Craig (Our DPD Delivery Man). Box of Cupcakes - Tesh (RPC) Bottle of Southern Comfort - Theresa (Burnett Gym) Box of Beer - Dave Seath (Airfield) and a Bunch of Flowers - Bindoo (Cif Shop).” Supply Manager, Pete Goodwin, said: “A year ago Old Workshops was suddenly closed due to structural problems and a massive operation ensued to move the whole of Supply Squadron to the hangar at the airfield. It’s been a long hard year with a lot of hard work done so we decided to have an open day and team it with the coffee morning to invite people to come and see how we are doing. I’m proud to say that the team managed to maintain the momentum leading to not a single days training being lost at Recruit Training Squadron and no other Supply problems reported. This was a huge effort and all credit to the team.” Photographs: All three cake sales.

JIU JITSU GOLD SUCCESS FOR HALTON MAN Initial Force Protection Support, SAC Alex Smith, recently returned from Japan where he competed in the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation Asian Championship earlier this month. The RAF Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Team took eight members to compete in the International Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Federation (IBJJF) Asian Jiu Jitsu Championships, a competition which is open to anyone around the world and is one of the top competitions within the Jiu Jitsu community. This visit was heavily subsidised by the RAF Sports Federation and ISS facility service, reducing the cost massively for each team member. The competition was held at the Tokyo Budokan which is going to be one of the 2020 Olympic venues. Out of eight competitors that were spread over various weights, age and belt division the team were successful winning the following medals; SAC Alex Smith from RAF Halton - Gold – Adult Blue Belt Heavyweight Champion Fg Off John Maflin from St Mawgan - Gold – Adult Brown Belt Middleweight Champion – An elite athlete Chief Tech Mark Haysom from RAF Waddington - Silver - Masters 3 Blue Belt Heavyweight Cpl Gordon Reid from RAF Lossiemouth- Silver - White Belt - Light Feather Masters 1 and SAC Gavin Davies from RAF Benson - Gold - Blue Belt - Light Feather Masters Champion The team spent a total of ten days in Tokyo training once or twice on a daily basis and then competing over a three day period. As well as training the team had plenty of down time to explore what Tokyo has to offer. Alex said: “We had the pleasure of watching some of the top competitors in the world. I had never competed at a venue so big before but that just added to the build-up of competing. I usually feel nervous before stepping on the mat but because the amount of training I had done and the support I had from the RAF BJJ Team and also the Roger Gracie Academy, a Jiu Jitsu school in Buckinghamshire, I'd never felt so good for a competition. “I was supposed to have three matches but my first opponent didn't show up. In total I only spent two minutes and four seconds on the mat, over two matches, winning both by submission (by kimura in 58 seconds and the second via triangle in one minute and six seconds) This won me the Heavyweight Blue Belt Adult Championship. As an added bonus I am now ranked 55th in the world under the IBJJF at my belt level. This will hopefully be improved with the last remaining competitions of the year including the London and Paris Open.” More on this story on the RAF Sports Federation page. RAF Halton should soon have a Jiu Jitsu club, details of which will be notified.

PEARSON GRADUATE Recruit Training Squadron graduated the latest airmen and women to complete Basic Recruit Training this week as No. 598 Course – Pearson Intake, marched on to the Henderson Parade Square in front of family and friends. Reviewing Officer for the day was Air Vice-Marshal The Honourable Richard Broadbridge of the RAF's Medical Services Branch. AVM Broadbridge, who was appointed Honorary Surgeon to the Queen in September 2009 and awarded the Order of St John in October 2014, presented trophies and awards to the recipients who were: AC Lewis Tanner, awarded The Halton Aircraft Apprentice Shield, for the recruit who has displayed the highest overall standard of effort, determination and achievement in physical education. AC Christopher Ellis – The Halton Aircraft Apprentice Trophy, awarded to the recruit who achieved the highest overall standard in drill and deportment. AC Hannah Pickersgill - Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund Trophy, awarded for displaying the greatest effort and determination on No. 11 Flight. AC George French – The Station Commander’s Cup, awarded for displaying the greatest effort and determination on No. 12 Flight. AC Martin Murphy - Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire’s Trophy, awarded for the best overall performance on No. 12 Flight. AC Ryan Crowley – The Rothschild Trophy, awarded to the recruit who achieved the highest overall standard in Initial Force Protection Training. AC Aaron Williams was awarded two trophies, The Mayor of Aylesbury Trophy, for the best overall performance on No. 11 Flight and the Dusty Miller Trophy, for the recruit who has shown the greatest willingness to help others as voted by their fellow recruits on his Intake. Finally, The Lord Trenchard Trophy, awarded to the Flight whose performance has been the best overall in General Service Taining and General Service Knowledge. It was collected on behalf of No. 11 Flight by AC Taylor. AVM Broadbridge praised the gathered recruits on the standard of their drill and welcomed them to the Royal Air Force family. He also thanked the families for their continued support. Musical accompaniment was from The Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment under Band Master Warrant Officer Craggs, and a lovely warm day saw a fly past by a Hawk T2 from 4 Squadron, Royal Air Force Valley. Also Graduating on the day were reservists who had completed their Reservist Training and joined Pearson Intake to Graduate. Pearson Flight is named after Corporal Joan Daphne Pearson who was awarded The Medal of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for Gallantry (Later Commuted for the George Cross) She was born May 1911, Awarded when aged 29 and died July 2000.

STATION VOLUNTEER PRESENTED WITH AWARD A number of volunteers, mostly ex-RAF, work at RAF Halton in the Trenchard Museum and the James McCudden Flight Heritage Centre (JMFHC). They look after the exhibits and deliver museum tours for both Station personnel and visitors alike. One of the volunteers is retired Sqn Ldr Phil Humphrey who is building his own light aircraft, a Pietenpol Air Camper, in the JMFHC. The Air Camper is a 2-seat 1929 American design. Phil recently took his aircraft to the Light Aircraft Association (LAA) national rally at Sywell, Northants, where he was awarded the Albert Codling trophy for the best part-built aeroplane. The trophy will be formally presented at the LAA AGM in October. To be able to build his own aircraft Phil had to register the project with the LAA – they hold authority to oversee the construction of amateur-built aircraft in UK. An LAA inspector will assess the work at various stages, checking for build quality, correct materials and conformity with the design drawings. Phil has purchased almost all his materials and fittings from a specialist company in America. When the project is finished a Permit to Test will be issued allowing test flying. Then, if all is well, a full Permit to Fly will be granted and Phil will be allowed to fly far and wide with a passenger. Phil said “While this is not an obsession, I do try to spend as much time as possible on it. It has taken three years so far and will hopefully be completed within the next two years. Over 30 of these aircraft have been home-built in this country since the 1970s and most are still being flown. I was delighted to accept the trophy and look forward to being presented with it formally at the LAA AGM.” Phil spent 38 years in the RAF, commissioning at the age of 26 as an Engineer Officer. His career was spent mostly in the Buckinghamshire area and London and he now lives in Aylesbury. He flies with the Halton Aeroplane Club to keep his licence valid while he is building and is happy for anyone who would like to see the aircraft to contact the station, details below. The aircraft is now registered as G_EEAA. RAF Halton is always looking for volunteers to work a few hours a week at the Station’s museums. Anyone who is interested should contact the Trenchard Museum in the first instance on 01296 656481 to speak to the Curator, Francis Hanford or by e-mail: trenchard.jmfhc@gmail.com To visit the JMFHC and see the project for yourself you can google or Facebook the James McCudden Flight Heritage Centre for contact details or phone 01296 656923 No military or flight experience is necessary.

HALTON HOUSE OPENS DOORS TO THE PUBLIC An estimated 1500 visitors attended the annual Halton House and Gardens Open day recently with lots to see and do and free entrance. Transport was provided to the Trenchard Museum, The James McCudden Flight Heritage Centre (JMFHC) and the recently renovated Great War practice trenches, Lister Lines, which have recently been opened again to the public after more hard work has been undertaken on them by volunteers. Visitors were given a fascinating insight into the history of the House, which is still a working Officer’s Mess, by volunteer tour guides showing and selling both Halton House and RAF Halton memorabilia. The local Royal Air Force Association members, dressed in period costume of the 1940s, selling souvenirs alongside National Trust representatives from the House’s ‘sister’ estate, Waddesdon Manor. Chiltern areas Jaguar Driver’s Club also had several classic Jaguars on display and refreshments and light lunches or hot food were served by the House catering staff. Two coaches provided a shuttle service to the Trenchard Museum and JMFHC via Lister Lines where the visitors were taken back 100 years to be met by re-enactors of the Great War Society, complete with bayonets, brass and bully beef! Here they did an amazing job of educating the public by demonstrating their equipment and describing life as a 'Tommy' during 1914-1918. The Trenchard Museum and JMFHC experienced similar interest by the public under guidance of the Trenchard Museum Curator, Mr Francis Hanford, and Mr Bill McGrath of the JMFHC, and numerous other volunteers on hand. Project Officer for the event, Flt Lt Rich Egan, said: “All in all a very successful day with record numbers visiting. Towards the end of the day, as the good weather started to deteriorate, numbers swelled at the House as cream tea sales went off the chart! I would like to thank all the volunteers from the Station and the Great War Society re-enactors who worked so hard to set the scene and gave an extremely realistic portrayal of that era.”

ANNUAL RECEPTION 2017 RAF Halton hosted their Annual Reception last week. The reception took place at Halton House Officers Mess where neighbours, councillors and local businesses were hosted by RAF Halton personnel. After drinks and canapes, accompanied by the Halton Band Saxophone Quartet, guests were invited outside for a sunset ceremony with a Puma flypast from 28 Squadron at RAF Benson and music by the RAF Halton Pipes and Drums band. It was an enjoyable evening for all and a fantastic opportunity to thank key people from the wider community for their continued support. Station Commander, Group Captain James Brayshaw addressed the room, saying: “Today is about recognising the unique and very special relationship that exists between Royal Air Force Halton, its people and our local community. On a variety of fronts we receive remarkable support from you. “As you may know Royal Air Force Halton is due to close in 2022; however, our Defence Training Task will be sustained to the end. We are also working across community stakeholders to better understand what the future holds for the Halton estate and the legacy we leave behind. Of note, the recent replacement of our Royal Standard by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, resulted in our retiring Queens Royal Colour being rightly laid to rest in Halton Parish Church. “For now, we are hugely grateful for your support and hope that we remain fully integrated in the community, this will be particularly important over the coming years. So, thank you for coming and for all that you have done for us and continue to do for us. Per ardua ad astra”