Trinity Pupils’ Royal Naval Experience

Tom Knock, a Year 9 pupil at Trinity School Teignmouth, had a surprise when , as a new CCF cadet, he and the rest of Year 9 visited HMS RALEIGH in Torpoint, Cornwall as part of their first CCF Field Day.

For Tom, sitting in a school minibus waiting for his CCF staff to pick up vehicle permits, was greeted by none other than his Dad, Lt Cdr Gareth KNOCK RN who is CO of the Logistics Branch at HMS RALEIGH.

Tom is a boarder at Trinity School because his father is a serving member of the Armed Forces. The MOD subsidies the cost of Boarding school so that Tom’s parents can be sure of continuity of education for their son in the event of Lt Cdr KNOCK being posted away from HMS RALEIGH, for example, to sea or to Afghanistan.

Tom and his co-cadets then explored Vigilant Squadron of HMS RALEIGH which accommodates CCF cadets during their stay for national camps and courses. These include dinghy sailing, power boating, submarine acquaint and leadership courses.

Next step was Tregantle Fort in Cornwall where the MoD operates full bore range firing. Inside the Fort, cadets enjoyed a picnic lunch that was interrupted by a helicopter flying low over the Fort. Not just flying low but landing at Tregantle Fort to the excitement of 30 cadets. This was a Sea King helicopter of 849 NAS RNAS CULDROSE, the Parent Establishment of the RN Section Trinity School. The Contingent Commander had kept it a secret that the Schools Liaison Officer Lt Bruce LESLIE was , literally, going to drop in. The photograph shows a rapt audience around Lt LESLIE as he explains the purpose of all the expensive equipment on board his Sea King helicopter. 849 NAS is known as the Eyes of the Fleet for the ability of the Radar, hanging from the Sea King helicopter to latch on to surface threat.

Posted by Geraldine Poulet
Date 31/03/2009 09:39:00

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