AN INTERVIEW WITH
Alex Hamilton Head of Classics and CCF Contingent Commander
DATE JOINED: September 2001 SUBJECT TAUGHT: Classical Civilisation and Latin CO-CURRICULAR: CCF ( mainly) but also athletics, rugby, and hockey at various times POSITIONS OF RESPONSIBILITY DURING YOUR TIME AT LWC: Head of Classics, Head of CCF
It’s been an exciting year for the CCF, what have been the highlights for you? The main highlight of the year so far has definitely been the CCF Banner Blessing parade back in October. The sheer wave of support and goodwill towards the cadets and staff of the CCF was staggering and it was so nice that the whole school could be involved in that important moment, and it wasn’t just a CCF thing. The cadets really rose to the occasion as they always do and performed their roles within the ceremony better than I could have expected. There was even very little complaining about the amount of drill they had to do to prepare for it!
What does your involvement in the CCF mean to you It’s really important to me. It gives the cadets an opportunity to do something different and learn about their own strengths and those of others. It’s a great mixture of teamwork, fun, challenge, adventure, and leadership all in one activity and allows those pupils to excel who might not necessarily be gifted academics or sportsmen and women (although some are!). The cadets are given opportunities that they wouldn’t get elsewhere, like flying in a Chinook or scaling a via ferrata in France, and it’s really special to be part of that.
What’s next for the CCF? We are expanding! We have 65 new recruits joining us this week, both from LWC and from our partnership school, The Costello School in Basingstoke. This will take us over the 150 on the roll for the first time since we became an entirely voluntary activity and it’s great to be working with a Contingent of that size. We are going to be involved in more skills-based competitions over the next couple of years and engaged in a number of
joint exercises with other cadet units so the cadets can test their skills against others in the wider cadet community. We will also be continuing with our regular camps and exercises, both in the UK and abroad.
What drew you towards working at LWC? I loved the mix of academic, cocurricular, co-ed and pastoral that LWC offers. It’s an impressive place when you think of how well it does in each of these facets of education and how much it offers the pupils, when many schools will just specialize in one or two of these aspects. There are very few schools which offer such a good all-round package as LWC and allow the pupils to flourish in so many ways. The staff I met when I first came here were amazingly kind and generous which also helped make the decision that this was the right place for me. Oh, and coming from North London, the chance to live in the beautiful Hampshire countryside also helped!
Alex leads the LWC contingent at the Banner Blesssing parade in October 2021
20
