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Currently the largest all-female, state girls’ Cadet Contingent in the country, now with both an Army and a Naval section, we continue to grow in numbers each year.

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2008 - Saw 6 Cadets and 1 member of staff, walk across the road and join boys from Skinners school for training - and the seed of an idea was planted. Those early days and adventures drove the desire to form our own contingent

  

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2012 - 33 girls and 3 members of staff form up on the ‘parade ground’ (tennis courts!) at TWGGS under the leadership of Captain Aimee Reynolds

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2018 - 167 cadets and 23 staff (both commissioned and civilian instructors) form up on a Monday evening after school -  an Army and  newly formed Royal Navy section on parade - winners of the annual Military Skills competition, winners of the annual camp ‘Gun run’ competition, winners of a prestigious ‘Gold’ medal at the annual Cambrian Patrol competition and winners of the best CCF team at the same event.

Activities in 2018 included visiting the “Ice Maidens” (unsupported all female expedition across the Antarctica) at the National Army Museum, an outdoor “Survival” camp, a visit to the battlefields of the Somme and lots of camps for those interested in first aid, shooting, engineering etc.

In the relatively short time we have been operating independently, our girls have travelled to South Africa, Kenya, Canada, Iceland, Bavaria, the Amazon and the Himalayas. They have debated in the House of Lords, visited 10 Downing Street, met many different politicians at various events, attended military dinners, sailing school (including powerboats gaining RYA sailing qualifications), passed various courses in Adventurous Training and Leadership, successfully competed in a range of competitions and parachuted out of planes.

 

​2019 – What a year for the Contingent. Over 30 events throughout the year running alongside normal parade nights on a Monday reflecting activities by both the Army and Navy services.

Starting the year off with Advanced Infantry camp in January the Army section marched through the year with their usual format of weekend training exercises interspersed with local and national inter-unit competitions – Mil Skills, 1st and 2nd placed teams in the Brigade First Aid Competition, 3rd placed team in the National First Aid Competition at Swynnerton, ‘Gold’ Medal winners at the Cadet Cambrian Patrol Competition and the Best National Team for the second year running.

Navy section cadets qualified on the Royal Yachting Association Sailing courses at levels 1,2 and 3, took part in the annual Cowes Tall ships race around the Isle of Wight, Adventure Training in Aviemore Scotland and a Junior Leadership course at HMS Collingwood.

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Other contingent trips included an organised three day trip to the D-Day beaches, an activity day at Brompton barracks with the Royal Engineers, a visit from the Army Medical services including a two year old working Jack Russel from the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and a STEM activity visit to Sandhurst.

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A squad of cadets had the incredible opportunity and honour of representing the contingent at the Sovereign’s Day Parade at Sandhurst for the passing out parade of April’s Officer cadets.

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It goes without saying that in September a group of 11 slightly mad cadets decided that it was acceptable to jump out of a perfectly serviceable aeroplane at 4,000ft, ALL successfully completed a solo static line jump and ALL landed safety without incident.

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Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award was new to the contingent for 2019, 90 cadets and most of the training staff assembled – all with a little trepidation as to the outcome – map-reading, walking, getting lost, walking, cooking (for those not lost!), camping, cooking, walking and inevitably working out how not to get lost – all with minimum supervision in pretty atrocious weather conditions over Ashdown Forest.

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Amongst the contingent activities, individual cadets and staff booked themselves on various Cadet Centre for Adventure Training (CCAT) packages including Lowland and Mountain walking, climbing, canoeing and Skiing . Cpl Grant enhanced her one week canoeing course with a two week Sea Kayaking adventure in and around the Norwegian fjords.

Some of our senior cadets attended a Senior Cadet Instructors course run for both CCF and ACF cadets and returned with a great insight on their own abilities and skills and those of other contingents under the CCF/ACF banner. Later in the year another group of our up-and-coming seniors joined an inter-unit Leadership event run by Wilsons school

CQSM Gardiner re-visited her trip to Canada returning this year as a Cadet Instructor leading 30 Canadian and 2 British Cadets through their summer adventure.

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RSM Preston enhanced her Leadership and organisational skills at Frimley taking part in a five day intensive fieldcraft exercise on the Master Cadet Course and went on to represent the brigade at the Annual Cadet Conference.

Both returned to find themselves nominated and subsequently recipients of the Lord Lieutenant’s Award, held during a gala evening at Penshurst Place.

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As the days got shorter we remembered the fallen, a football match with a team from Skinners’ school in memory of Walter Tull, a professional footballer and first infantry officer of black Heritage. There was also collecting for the annual Royal British Legion poppy appeal and representing the contingent both at the Cenotaph at the War Widows remembrance parade and the Tunbridge Wells Remembrance parade.

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Along the way we got soaked in deluges of rain, froze in the snow, lost ourselves using maps up-side down, ran until our lungs burst, shouted until we were hoarse, felt we could no longer go-on- but dug deep, pushed ourselves, supported our team-mates and ‘achieved the impossible’ by giving our best.

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2020 & 2021 The contingent's usual activities were halted by the coronavirus pandemic, leading to cancellations of not only weekly Monday parades, but countless events throughout the two years both new and annual. TWGGS CCF cadets however still kept in touch through a variety of virtual activities including:

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 A 1407km virtual walk from John O'Groats to Land's End in May 2020 which we had completed within a couple of days of starting the week-long challenge, meaning we more than doubled our original challenge to 2990km, returning from Land's End via TWGGS. This incredible effort was sponsored by friends and family, fundraising for the Trussell Trust, a charity providing nationwide support to food banks. All in all, we raised over £3300 for the charity doing this event. ​

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Another charity event held virtually was our Race to Everest Summit; a competition between year groups to see who could climb the distance to Everest's summit first. It was a close race, but year 11 won with a final elevation of 9,855m. This challenge was completed both by running up stairs many times and by climbing up hills (in the snow for many of us!) and again saw us raise a fantastic amount for charity, this time The Ocean Cleanup Project.

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Alongside these challenges, the lockdowns saw us completing twice-weekly fitness sessions on zoom, weekly contingent quizzes, a first aid competition, virtual camp out, bake-off, VE Day celebrations, a pass the boot video, revision sessions, CFIT qualifications, and much more; all alongside a return to some training both virtual and face-to-face when lockdowns eased.

 

July 2021 saw us finish the year with a drill display from all year groups and annual camp where although we were unable to camp out, the activities and enjoyment were not hampered and we all had a lot of fun, made memories and learnt new skills!

 

Above all, we kept ourselves very busy in such a challenging time, meaning morale remained high, our competitive nature intact and our skills up to date! 

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November 2021 Major Reynolds received the Cadet Forces Medal for her service to the Contingent over the last twelve years. Her unwavering commitment to the contingent is the reason we take part in such amazing activities and have so many unique opportunities offered to us such as marching at the cenotaph, visiting 10 Downing Street, participating in the Cambrian Patrol, foreign trips and CCAT courses; whilst holding the Standards and Values of the British Army at the heart of it all. Wherever TWGGS CCF goes they know our name, which is a reputation well-earned and hard fought for by both the officers and cadets, who model the leadership shown to them. Without a strong leader, TWGGS CCF would not be the force it is today, and the commitment it took and still takes to uphold this standard is reflected in the presentation of this award. 

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March 2022 TWGGS CCF attended the Military Skills Competition at Longmoor. Having been three years since we last attended it, all cadets and officers were apprehensive yet excited. We had spent months having extra revision and fitness sessions in the lead up to the competition, meaning our team was as prepared as we could be. We arrived and set up camp in one of the TIBUA villages, before starting the competition early the next morning. Throughout the day we competed in stands such as navigation, shooting, section attack, patrol lane, communications and casualty evacuation, actively patrolling between each one. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day for the whole team and we all loved being back on camp after so long, both developing new skills and competing against other contingents. We headed home hugely proud of our efforts to discover the next day that we had won the competition! This was a very proud moment for all involved and showed us that both the efforts of the cadets in the team and the officers training us had paid off and we have come out of the pandemic as strong as ever! 

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Contingent Commander               Major Ian Patterson

 

Head of Army section                  Captain Paul Tester

 

Head of Royal Navy section          Lieutenant Keith Fuller