The First OTC Camp at Worthing in 1907

By Diana & John Caley.  A history of Maidstone Grammar School Combined Cadet Force, Centenary Edition £5 (incl P+P) Orders to Denise Friend at the School

Celebrating the centenary year of the Combined Cadet Force, former Contingent Commander (1965-1992) W.J.C. Caley presents a new, extended edition of Mrs D.P. Caley's 1981 history of the CCF.

The new edition contains the original text, covering the development of the OTC, the JTC, the ATC and the various sections of the CCF from 1906 to 1981; and a new section continuing the coverage to the present day.  The book also includes the 2006 Centenary Drumhead Service and Centenary Celebration.

Published by the CCF and the Old Maidstonian Society, the book is available through Denise Friend at the School.

An extract from the expanded edition:

"Adventurous Training takes place during the school’s Easter holidays (except in 2001 when foot and mouth restrictions were in force). The Army Section goes to camp in the summer and the RAF has camps in both periods. And lest anyone should think that they have spotted an omission, the Navy has always gone in for specialised courses rather than larger camps. A weekend training camp for recruits in the autumn was started in 1982. Adventurous Training and the Army camp, however, have changed significantly since 1981. No longer is the bulk of the training organised and run by contingent personnel; rather it is a series of “packages” carried out under the control of Cadet Training Teams or other members of the regular services. It is a far cry indeed from the days when one “took over” part of a camp, planned and carried out one’s own training on areas and facilities which had been allocated, and “handed back” after a week or ten days before going home. No doubt, to be fair, this has resulted in a better and more varied programme; but it would be wrong for anyone to feel that the “package” arrangement creates an easy life for the contingent’s own officers. If any reader finds that suspicion creeping into his mind, let him read the following passage, which appeared in The Maidstonian in 2004.

“Another contingent activity at Easter this year was Adventure Training held in Snowdonia. Whilst the activities are reported elsewhere, the report makes little mention of the weather that varied from one extreme to another on a daily basis. One afternoon, a very considerate Contingent Commander and a cadet, unable to take part in the day’s expedition with the other cadets, decided to do the noble thing and put up the tents of those out in the mountains. Given six or seven tents of different design and no instructions it was never going to be an easy job. The overnight campsite was located in a field that forms part of a farm in a valley that does justice to a creditable wind tunnel. As the freshening wind turned to a moderate gale the struggle with the tents became more unequal; the small tents were OK but one large four-star hotel type refused to be anchored to the ground and with one Contingent Commander and one cadet having to wrestle the thing to the ground and keep it pinned down this left no hands free to do anything else in the way of securing or erecting said tent that also had a habit of engulfing anything that tried to move in damp orange fabric. As you may have guessed, the rain had started at this point.  Eventually one of the expedition groups turned up to help sort out the situation. With all tents up, it was time for a test to destruction level [...]"