My son is wanting to join the cadets when he reaches his 12th birthday in a few months time. Does anyone know what it is like and whether you have to put your name on a waiting list to get in?

I don't know but their phone number is 279 6223 and the national website is here:

http://www.sea-cadets.org

My Mother and father in law live accross the road from the where the sea cadets used to be based (at the manor house of Ben lane) and the kids that used to go there were all pretty well mannered.

Seems like they used to drill quite a bit and also for the few hours they were there each night all you could hear was the drums and bugles.

Bit of a shame they moved from there as there was a huge anti aircraft gun just outside teh building that as a kid we all used to play on.

Am I the only one who doesn't understand the concept of sea cadets in landlocked Sheffield? :)

Always confused me that one.

I believe the HQ is just off the Wicker on Stanley St, next block to Bennetts fishing tackle shop.

Originally posted by Norton
Am I the only one who doesn't understand the concept of sea cadets in landlocked Sheffield? :)

Always confused me that one.


I am with you on that... don't get it.... how do they practise sea type things?


:confused:

Thanks for the replies.,I will have to phone them. I think alot of the activities training are land based whether you live by the coast or not but they do have their own boats and I believe evryone gets to visit warships etc. It looks really good .

My daughter is in the air cadets and although she has flown from yorks she has had to travel alot further on occasion which isn't a problem at all.

Wow like the sound of the plane one !!

Anyway Squeakyclean dispite my utter ignorance on how you can be a sea cadet in Sheffield - at least it gives them an interest and they aren't out drinking concorde wine behind the allotments.

And how is the declutter going on at your place?

My mother made me join the sea scouts. we went camping once and i nearly drowned! Nightmare!:hihi:

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
My Mother and father in law live accross the road from the where the sea cadets used to be based (at the manor house of Ben lane) and the kids that used to go there were all pretty well mannered. Was that the one just up from Hillsborough?

If so I used to go there.

I wasn't a Sea Cadet, but was a Marine Cadet. The Royal Marines are attached to the Navy so you tend to get Marine Cadets based with Sea Cadets.

If anyone is thinking of joining the cadets they really should think about the Marines.

We used to consider the Sea Cadets a bit girly (their uniforms etc.) but that was probably just childish attitudes back then.

I know we had a lot more fun than they did, did more combat like training instead of tying nots etc. had better uniforms (especially the number ones) and in general you could see that most of the sea cadets wanted to transfer to us marine cadets.

Marine cadets also seem to get better equipment than Army cadets, sea cadets and ATC (air force cadets). Or we did back then anyway.

It's a great past time for younger kids, teaches them a lot, keeps them fit, you meet a lot of new friends, get to go away on weekends and excercises and if they want to be in the armed forces later on in life it's a good starting point. There were a couple of lads that went on from the Marine Cadets to be full Royal Marines. It wasn't my thing though, so I gave it a miss (although later on in life I did join the Army as RMP).

I would rate it over Scouts etc. any day.

Originally posted by samc
Wow like the sound of the plane one !!

Anyway Squeakyclean dispite my utter ignorance on how you can be a sea cadet in Sheffield - at least it gives them an interest and they aren't out drinking concorde wine behind the allotments.



My sentiments exactly, it gives the kids something worthwhile to do and in some cases makes them better people.

Mmmm The de- clutter is sort of happening but I keep stopping for breaks LOL . Thanks for asking.

I was a sea cadet just after WW2 for a couple of years before joining the RN. It may have changed a lot over the years but it was a good training organisation. I specialized in Wireless telegraphy, and could read morse at about 15 words per minute from training I got. Every year we would have a week on a navy base, usually a naval air station. These were the first times I ever flew. As was quoted we were a long way from the sea, but we kept a ship's whaler on the canal, where we would go and get some team rowing practise. Some of us became friendly with some of the bargemen, and would get rides as far as Rotherham.

I was in the Sea Cadets round about 1964/5 and my sister was in the Girls Nautical Training Corps (GNTC) at Ben Lane.

The only water we ever came into contact with was at Dam Flask. We had a 'whaler' boat which we used to man handle on a trailer from the base to the dam. I remember falling over once as we took it down the hill and got run over by one of the wheels. Boy did it hurt! Got played hell with for not taking care :(

Used to travel half way across Sheffield on the bus looking a complete prat and getting the mickey taken out of me by other kids on the bus.

Never did me any harm:suspect: :suspect: :suspect: :suspect:

Originally posted by lalaland
Was that the one just up from Hillsborough?

If so I used to go there.

I wasn't a Sea Cadet, but was a Marine Cadet. The Royal Marines are attached to the Navy so you tend to get Marine Cadets based with Sea Cadets.

If anyone is thinking of joining the cadets they really should think about the Marines.

We used to consider the Sea Cadets a bit girly (their uniforms etc.) but that was probably just childish attitudes back then.

I know we had a lot more fun than they did, did more combat like training instead of tying nots etc. had better uniforms (especially the number ones) and in general you could see that most of the sea cadets wanted to transfer to us marine cadets.

I would rate it over Scouts etc. any day.

lol

Bootnecks - strength of a rhino, brains of a rocking horse. :P ;)

I was a member of TS Sheffield SCC for maybe four years in the mid/late 80's. I saw and did a lot of stuff that I would never have done in my 'normal' life. We'd go to 'Navy Days' every year down in Portsmouth at HMS Nelson. We'd hang out on ships, fly in Wessex and Sea King helicopters, run assault courses, go shooting, camping...and more. We had a really good band that would often be the main feature of the remembrance day parade to the cenotaph in Barker's Pool. I was a member of the colour party that lowered the flag to half-mast. We entered drill and band competitions (and won most)....in short, it expanded my vision as a young 'un. I would recommend it to anyone.

The old HQ up at Loxley House was great - a big old house (which we all thought was haunted) that had a great main deck (a converted barn, I think) and we had a WWII AA gun outside.

I've never seen the new place.

As someone else said, most water-borne acticities took place on the Flask. I ended up in that cold water more than a few times. Often in spectacular fashion.

When I was there, there were the Sea Cadets, the GNTC (Girls Nautical Training Contingent) and the Marine Cadets (bootnecks as we'd call 'em). The GNTC became a part of the Sea Cadets and the Marines continued to have fun in the woods, chasing rabbits with giant survival knives and trying to see out from under their cap peaks on parade day. The bootnecks did have nice No. 1s, but we looked great when we had webbing on (belt and gaiters) and were on guard duty with old Lee-Enfield 303's. I once saw a guy faint on parade and his bayonet passed right through his jaw. Which was nice.

Sea Cadets/Marine cadets were (hopefully still are) the best cadet force a kid could join.

There's Sea hre??????:loopy:

Originally posted by headup
lol

Bootnecks - strength of a rhino, brains of a rocking horse. :P ;)Hey! We had to do a lot of thinking on some of our stuff too :D

Originally posted by headup
[B]I was a member of TS Sheffield SCC for maybe four years in the mid/late 80's. That's where I was, but I was there around 12 / 13 years ago.

Originally posted by headup
[B]We had a really good band that would often be the main feature of the remembrance day parade to the cenotaph in Barker's Pool. I only did one parade as I missed the others, I think it was in Worksop, but it was definately something worth doing. Nice to look back on and quite a proud moment marching through town in memory of others etc.

Originally posted by headup
[B]The old HQ up at Loxley House was great - a big old house (which we all thought was haunted) that had a great main deck (a converted barn, I think) and we had a WWII AA gun outside. Excellent place. Our huts weren't as impressive, although I put my own personal touch in to them when we repainted them at one point. Camaflauge painting a hut is boring! But we did spend time in the main building every night during the winter for parade and in the main ground in the summer.

Originally posted by headup
[B]As someone else said, most water-borne acticities took place on the Flask. I ended up in that cold water more than a few times. Often in spectacular fashion.We only did this once when I was there (the marines got little time in the water like that) and that was because we had a couple of genuine Marines turn up so we took them out in the boats for some reason.

Originally posted by headup
[B]and the Marines continued to have fun in the woods, chasing rabbits with giant survival knivesSee, we did have more fun :D

And everytime the sea cadets needed night exercises and similar sorting who did they come too?

Originally posted by headup
[B] and trying to see out from under their cap peaks on parade day. The bootnecks did have nice No. 1s The best numberones, without a doubt. Wish I'd kept mine, although I doubt for one minute it would still fit. The white gloves where a pain in the arse to keep clean the those shoes took some work to get that shine (when someone spilt soup on mine!!!)

Originally posted by headup
[B]Sea Cadets/Marine cadets were (hopefully still are) the best cadet force a kid could join. Definately! I know many people that used to be in the ATC and the Army cadets when we were Marine cadets and they all wished they'd joined us. The problem is that the Army cadets and ATC are the most known about so they get more people going to them.

If your kids want to have a lot of fun, learn new skills, meet new people and do a lot of stuff you don't get a chance to do in every day life (and keep fit) then send them to the Marine cadets, or the *cough* Sea Cadets *cough* (it's nearly as good).

More information here (http://www.sea-cadets.org/marine-cadets.aspx)

im a member of the sea cadets its great and you can meet some great friends
We dont just do 'sea stuff' we do cook steward marine enginerring and fun

I am with you on that... don't get it.... how do they practise sea type things?


:confused:

They go on trips, my nephew as been to Portsmouth, London and Grimsby with them

Both my son and daughter were in the Sea Cadets way back in the 70s. I went to the Remembrance Parade in Barkers Pool where they were both marching and I still fill up now when I think about it. I was so proud of them. To be honest, my son was in there only until he was old enough to join the Air Cadets, cos he wanted to join the RAF eventually. He failed the medical in the end and that was a very upsetting time but I think it gave them both a good grounding and they learned a bit about discipline.
Their dad was a Royal Marine incidently.

Wow - this thread resurfaced from the deep like...like....a submarine!

Do you see what I did there? HAHA. So funny. :(

If anyone was a member of TS Sheffield, there's a Facebook group that's reunited a lot of the old crew.

:thumbsup::)This may be a good time to resurrect the thread then.
I was with TS Sheffield for some years as an instructor and although the cadets had lots of fun and made many good friends which still endure after many years. When it came to training for competitions, particularly Guard training, you never saw such dedication and determination to win, putting in extra hours of training outside of normal cadet nights. I was so proud of all those young lads and later we included the girls as well.
Well done to them all.

best years of my youth , we were the best band ever :)

Still going strong:
http://units.ms-sc.org/sheffield/Default

I remember when I was in the Marine cadets we went to one of the clubs on City Road after a parade where they gave us pop and crisps. We came away with our tunics stuffed with packets of crisps !
Another time on parade in number 1s with blancoed belts it poured with rain and the blanco ran down the back of my tunic.
I was only about 12/13 but enjoyed my short time with them.