Defence cuts may have nothing to do with it—but young Army cadets in east London have proved they’re on target with a bow and arrow.
Members of Mile End’s crack 24 Detachment Cadet Force have won the Archery contest in the Elworthy Trophy, the country’s only triple-service cadet military contest.
“It really meant a lot to win the archery,” said Cadet Osun Bramble, 14, a pupil at Hackney’s Petchey Academy school. “We worked well as a team representing the Sector.”
Victoria Cross hero Sgt Johnson Beharry, of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, presented the award to the cadets, who meet and train at their base in the Mile End Road.
Sgt Beharry was the first living serviceman to be awarded the VC in 30 years for twice saving members of his unit from ambushes in 2004 while under fire in Iraq, despite serious head injuries in the second attack.
He presented the individual awards to category winners from the four Cadet services—Sea Cadet Corps, Army Cadet Force, Air Training Corps and Combined Cadet Force—who battled it out at the annual Elworthy Trophy awards held this year at Frimley, in Surrey.
More than 70 cadets aged 12 to 18 were put through their paces during the two-day challenge of skill and muscle in archery, drill-turnout, command tasks, indoor range and air rifle shooting, rowing, first aid, navigation, water run—and even pulling a two-tonne vehicle.
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