Portland Sea Cadets have won the National Drill Competition at HMS Raleigh, Plymouth on Saturday 3 May 2014 with their continuity drill display – making them the best in the country.
The display is comprised of a 10 minute marching drill routine to various pieces of music without verbal orders, from memory. The team marched to the following tunes: the Stars and Stripes Forever (John Phillip Sousa), The Gael (theme to the Last of the Mohicans Film), Call Me Maybe (an orchestral cover – Carly Rae Jepson), The Can Can (Offenbach) finishing with a finale to Rule Britannia (Arne).
The team of eight cadets (aged 12-17) originally entered the first round of the competition at the District Level, which they won with ease at RNAS Yeovilton in February. This allowed the team to progress to the Area level of the competition in March at HMS Raleigh, whereby the Cadets represented Somerset and Dorset District. The team narrowly clinched victory at the Area stage; fending off stiff competition from Avon, South Wales, West Wales, Cornwall, Mercia and Devon Districts.
Following this victory, the team progressed to the National stage of the competition where they represented the entire South West Area of the UK on 3 May. Their great improvement from the Area competition and steely determination paid off when they were declared the National winners of the competition – fending off competition from Southern, London, Eastern, Northern, North-West and Northern Ireland Areas’ drill teams – thus making them the best Continuity Drill Team in the country.
Ordinary Cadet Madelaine Louch, aged 14, who was a member of the Drill Team said “I can’t believe we did it -all those weekends of training really paid off”, adding: “it makes the achievement even better when you can share it with your friends”.
The team were trained by APO (SCC) Rhys Tanner (aged 19) and APO (SCC) Thomas Louch aged (aged 18), who both also composed the winning routine. The Portland Free Mason Lodge kindly allowed the Drill Team to practice in their hall at weekends, as the hall permitted the routine to be accurately practiced in the correct space, with the same dimensions as a drill square. This generous assistance was overseen by Bro. Vic Pomeroy of the Lodge Committee.
APO (SCC) Rhys Tanner, one of their trainers, commented: “I’m so proud of what the Cadets have achieved. They’ve managed to learn a complex routine from memory, with over 200 orders – demonstrating immaculate drill that could give the Navy a run for their money”. He added: “we definitely couldn’t have done this without the kind help of Vic Pomeroy and the Portland Free Masons who allowed us to use their facilities for training”.
This result was the best ever for Portland Sea Cadets, who have been entering this competition for nearly 50 years. It marks another accolade they can add to their list of recent wins, following their victory at the National Band Contest last year.
Rhys Tanner
