Saturday 5 th February 2011 was a special day for 487 (Kingstanding and Perry Barr) Sqn ATC. Not only was it their 70 th Birthday, they were also holding their annual presentation evening.

Over 150 guests, staff and cadets gathered at the Kingstanding British Legion Club along with guests of honour, Mr Jack Dromey MP, Councillor Peter Kane and Sqn Ldr Stuart Iles.

The evening started with Fg Off Simon Jennings giving a brief history of the sqn and the ATC and there followed a piece of video which the Sqn had managed to find on the British Pathe website. This showed Sir Archibald Sinclair, minister for Air in 1941, announcing the formation of the ATC. There then followed pictures of the 487 Sqn old boys, a number of whom were sitting in the audience. At the start of the evening, Fg Off Jennings was given an enrolment card that was given to a 487 Sqn cadet in April 1941.

Following the look back to the start of the ATC, things were brought bang up to date when the new ATC promotional DVD was played to the audience, all a bit different than 1941.

Flt Lt Brendan O'Neill, OC 487 Sqn, then took a look back at the remarkable year 487 Sqn had had in 2010. This obviously culminated with the Sqn finishing first at the Wing Field Training Day and winning the coveted Per Ardua Trophy.

It was now time for the cadets to take centre stage. A total of 32 NCO's and cadets marched forward to receive their individual certificates of achievement from Mr Jack Dromey, MP for Erdington. Mr Dromey went on to give a rousing speech to the audience where he commented on the commitment shown by not only the cadets, but the staff as well. His final words were that he thought the ATC were the best of the best and he wished the Sqn all the best for 2011.

The winners of the various cadets awards were then announced, they were:

• Best Sporting Cadet Sgt Jack Kirby
• Best cadet – drill Cpl Tom Bell
• Service to 487 Sqn Cpl Robert Andrew
• Best Flight Merlin Flight
• Overall Best Cadet FS Joe Creamer

Three more awards were given out on the evening, CWO Rigby and Cpl Reynolds received their CVQO awards, and Sgt Andy Hudson ATC, was presented with the British Legion Poppy shield for collecting the largest amount of money during the 2010 poppy collection campaign.

The evening was rounded off by Sqn Ldr Iles who gave a great speech in which he again praised the efforts of the Sqn and he urged that all try their best in 2011 to replicate the success.

Flt Lt Brendan O'Neill commented “Yet again we have had a great evening and I would like to thank all involved. In particular I would like to thank the members of the civilian committee for all their hard work during the year. Amanda Walden has tonight provided our superb buffet, and she has also provided the buffet at 165 Sqn, a remarkable effort! We are very lucky at the Sqn in that we have the best cadets and the best staff in the wing and they make my job a lot easier. We are looking forward in 2011 to protecting our status as the top sqn in the wing and to also getting as many cadets as possible through the Duke of Edinburgh's award”