by Elliot Taylor
FIRST established in 1941, Warrington’s Squadron of Royal Air Force Cadets has been serving the local community for over 80 years.
Today, it stands as one of the largest squadrons in the entire UK, having just over 100 young people signed up whilst showing no signs of growth slowing anytime soon.
This week, I had the absolute privilege of visiting the Squadron firsthand on one of their training nights, getting to talk to all the fantastic volunteers and local young people making it a giant success.
One of these was Commanding Officer, Flight Lieutenant Alan Radcliffe, a long-standing leader of the Squadron. Alan was extremely welcoming and immediately keen to highlight his drive for the Squadron to get more media attention in order to attract yet more volunteers and new recruits.
Over an in-depth conversation, Alan passionately explained the recipe he believes is working ‘an absolute treat’ with the young people a part of the Squadron. He highlighted a simple mixture containing two key things: well-structured training and exciting hands-on activities and opportunities. Community action comes at the very heart of this, and is something which Alan believes is instilling important values of discipline and respect in young people involved. Adding to this, Alan placed heavy emphasis on young people not only developing a respect for others, but also a deep respect and confidence in themselves, something which he believes is extremely important given today’s social climate.
The word “opportunity” really did come to the forefront once again and during my guided tour of the Barracks, led by Flight Sergeant, Paul Warburton, I got a sense of this in absolute abundance.
For current cadets, this was demonstrated as recently as last weekend, when the squadron paid a visit to London. This has become a regular trip for the cadets and, as Paul explained pointing to a set of photo displays, has created memories to last a lifetime, made complete with the chance to stay overnight on HMS Belfast. He also walked me through some other 2026 highlights including a gill scrambling and paragliding activity day over the Summer. To top this off, Paul even talked me through an overseas trip to Germany at the start of the year. Whilst here, the squadron visited Krakow and Berlin and even took a day trip to Auschwitz concentration camp. Paul explained this to be a truly life-changing experience and how he expects next year’s trip to Belgium to be just as phenomenal.
To finish off the tour, I was introduced to the Peninsula Barracks’ latest high-tech addition: a state-of-self-the-art flight simulator. This really is an outstanding resource, and for cadets like recently promoted Sergeant Dale, it will be huge. Dale has just been awarded the Air Cadet Pilot Scholarship, entitling him to a month of RAF basic pilot training taught to a solo-flying standard. This really is a credit to the Squadron’s dedicated team of volunteer instructors, as the elite award was achieved by only 1 in 40 cadets across the country.
Upon my exit, Paul ran through a busy upcoming calendar for the Squadron. This Sunday, they will be taking part in the Battle of Britain memorial service, followed by a competition the weekend after where they will go for gold as they take on other Northwest squadrons at drill, first aid, and leadership.
They will also initiate yet more new recruits on the 8th of October with an enrolment parade. This will be followed by all Cadets playing a key role in a Concert of Remembrance at St Elphin’s Church on the 7th of November.
These upcoming events act as the perfect celebration of something truly special happening right here in Warrington. Every young person I spoke to really was inspiring and full of positive comments about the skills and enjoyment they have gained from the Squadron.
Despite fantastic growth however, from just 30 to around 100 cadets in Commanding Officer Alan’s nine years, every instructor made it clear that they would love to welcome even more young people and volunteers into the fold.
If this is something you would be interested in, you can register your interest by filling out a form on the 1330 Warrington Squadron website or by calling 01925 555 130.
