This evening twenty-eight Air Cadets and their Civilian Instructors from 1471 (Horwich) Squadron, Air Cadets, visited our Ladybridge Hall base/HQ for an insight into our work and operations, our equipment and vehicles.

On hand to greet them was our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, Ken Oakes our Chairman (and an ex Air Cadet himself, ahh memories of Chipmunks and a flight in a Shackleton as he recalled) Chris Tennant, founder team member Alan James, and Support Group members Alan Yates and Gillian Gregory.

One Air Cadet informed our Team Leader that his mum and dad had many a tale to tell about times past in the team (and about our Team Leader!), it turned out that the Air Cadet was the son of ex team call out list members Ian and Gillian Leigh. (team members in the 1980s through to the early 1990s)

Garry was then able to show the young Air Cadet the many pictures on the walls of our base / HQ featuring his mum and dad on team activities and call outs from their time in the team.

When his dad Ian Leigh at the end of their visit turned up to collect him, old friendships were rekindled between Ian (or ’Micro’ as he was known in the team) Garry and Alan James (aka ’the General ’).

Ian (an ex-Deputy Team Leader of the team) was amazed at all our new kit and the size and facilities available at our Ladybridge Hall base/HQ, which he had never visited before, compared to what we used to have at our old and very small former base at the now demolished New Overdale Youth Training Centre.