St. George’s Sea Cadets Celebrate 40 Years

TS Admiral Somers, the St. George’s unit of the Bermuda Sea Cadet Corps, celebrated its 40th anniversary this weekend, with a Colours ceremony and Inspection, and prizegiving to recognise the achievements of the current cadets.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety Michael Dunkley attended as the Guest of Honour, accompanied by St George’s MP Nandi Davis. Senator Alexis Swan was also in attendance, along with a large group of friends, family and supporters of the Unit and its cadets, past and present.

After attending the formal colours ceremony, Minister Dunkley and Ms Davis inspected the Ship’s Company, taking the time to speak to each of the Cadets and Junior Cadets, to learn more about their individual experiences as cadets and praise them for their turnout on parade.

Addressing the Cadets and assembled guests at the prizegiving presentation that followed, Minister Dunkley praised the Cadets for their efforts, and described his pleasure at seeing such a proud group of young people, each of whom had stepped forward to take part in something genuinely positive. Encouraging them to continue in their work, Minister Dunkley went on to describe the value of the lessons they were learning as part of the Sea Cadet Corps, and of the lifelong friendships that they would make.

He also praised the leadership of the Unit, and the adult volunteers that work so hard to provide positive role models to the Cadets. Remarking on the commitment and time that such leadership demands, he encouraged them to continue with their valuable service to the community and to the development of the Cadets as young leaders.

Commanding Officer of TS Admiral Somers, Lt. [SCC] Michael Frith, RNR expressed his gratitude for the foresight and commitment of the men and women that founded the unit 40 years ago, saying that “the quality of the programme, the unit and the cadets we have today is a reflection of the work done by those individuals, because the unit as it exists today was built on the foundation of success of all 40 years preceding this one. When you look at these cadets, and see what their work has achieved, you also see the work of 40 years.”

Lt. Frith went on to describe all of the current Cadets’ achievements over the past year, including their involvement in the various parades and ceremonial events throughout the year, international exchange programmes and training camps, drill competitions, fundraisers and community events.

Noting in particular their participation in the historic Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant in London last year, and events marking the 400th anniversary of St. Peter’s Church. Lt. Frith expressed his pride in the effort and commitment that all of the Cadets demonstrate by taking part in such a busy calendar of events.

Noting each individual cadet’s achievements, Lt. Frith also commented that his greatest pride is in the fact that all of those individual successes are made possible through the support of the Unit as a whole, telling the cadets that “it is by pulling together that we have achieved such great things”.

Individual awards were then presented to the Cadets, recognising each of those who showed exceptional effort throughout the preceding year. Lt. Frith noted that each of the cadets is assessed at the end of each parade night, and is awarded merit points based on their individual attendance, uniform, participation and discipline.

Awards recognising the cadets with the highest merit point totals were presented to Cadet Mackenzie Ricketts (Attendance), Ordinary Cadet Anthony Buckley (Uniform, Participation) and Leading Cadet Ani Douglas (Discipline). The Commanding Officer’s Award for Outstanding Commitment was presented to Leading Cadet Morgan Outerbridge. The TS Admiral Somers Leadership Award, presented to the cadet who demonstrates excellence in each of the four merit categories, and who demonstrates outstanding leadership qualities was this year awarded to Leading Cadet Samuel Bennett.

Special presentations were also made to Mrs. Susan Outerbridge, for her extraordinary commitment to the unit, as Unit Chairman and as an Instructor, with Lt. Frith describing her as “the backbone and heart of this unit”. Mrs. Outebridge and the unit’s First Lieutentant, PO (SCC) Ian Frith, were also given a presentation to thank them for their exceptional efforts in organising the cadets’ participation in the Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant.

Lt. Frith, commenting at the end of the proceedings, said “I am extremely proud of all of our cadets. Those who were presented with awards for their achievements are very deserving of that recognition, and their fellow cadets should also be very proud, because without all of them working together, none of those achievements would be possible.”

#SeaCadets #StGeorges

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