COMBINED CADET FORCE Wednesday 16th March 2022
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wo years ago, on Tuesday 17th March 2020, everything and everyone was ready for the CCF’s Annual Inspection to go ahead as planned the following day. The stands were set, the guests were committed, the parade rehearsed, and the guard thoroughly drilled. The Inspecting Officer, Maj Gen Felix Gedney, was set for his arrival the following morning. Meanwhile, case rates climbed, and were monitored by those at CCF HQ, as across the country. At around 8pm, the call came in from 11 Brigade Headquarters to Contingent Commander, Sqn Ldr Jonathan Harber: Inspection Day was to be cancelled with immediate effect. Two years hence, Wednesday 16th March 2022 saw the much-anticipated return of Inspection Day – the first for three years. It was a delight to be able to host the event once again, and just another of the many examples of the much-vaunted return of pre-pandemic activities. This is not to say that there were not some challenges to be surmounted in organising the event: with the generous assistance of Old Manorian Col Alex Wilson, Commander of the British Peace Support Team in Nairobi, a very senior Inspecting Officer was secured
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early on, in the form of Lt Gen Sir Christopher Tickell, Deputy Chief of the General Staff. Unfortunately, but perhaps not unexpectedly, events unfolding in Eastern Europe meant that the nation’s top brass were rendered suddenly unavailable for such things as days out in Kent, and so we found ourselves just a couple of weeks from the Inspection and without an Officer to stand atop the dais. Once again with the help of Col
