Cadet numbers have shown a strong post-pandemic bounce-back, RFCA chairman David Rhodes told association members.
And with the increasingly vital role played by reservists within the UK’s armed forces, the RFCA planned to throw even greater weight behind efforts to recruit and retain reserve troops in the region, as numbers had dipped in 2021/22, he said.
Association meeting
David, pictured left, joined Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, who is also RFCA president, Mr Ed Anderson CBE, pictured right, to address the RFCA’s annual association meeting at Imphal Barracks in York. The gathering was attended by more than 60 members, including all four of the region’s Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenants.
“The RFCA’s members play an enormously important role in supporting the military’s efforts to engage businesses and communities in every corner of the region and their part in encouraging support for both the Armed Forces and the cadet movement cannot be overstated,” said David.
“It was good to see so many of our members travel from across Yorkshire and the Humber to join us to hear first-hand about the work of the RFCA during 2021/22 and I was delighted to be able to share with them accounts of our many successes and achievements.”
Annual report
To coincide with the meeting, the RFCA published its annual report Delivering for the future of cadets and reserves which set out what the RFCA did during 2021/22 to support cadets and reserves, encourage support for the military from employers and build links with local communities.
At the meeting, members also got updates from the chairs of the RFCA’s engagement, finance and property advisory committees respectively, Darin Gray, John Goodsir and Ed McNaught as well as from Deputy Commander (Reserve) of 4th Infantry Brigade, Colonel Lisa Brooks.