With the recent announcement that they have achieved over 20,000 hours for the Millennium Volunteers Scheme, cadets and staff of Solihull 492 Air Training Squadron have plenty of reason to celebrate.

The scheme, which was set up to reward volunteers for contributing their time and effort into youth organisations has proved very popular with 492 Squadron and they have long maintained a consistent position at the top of the leader board.

That said, everyone at 492 was saddened to hear that the Millennium Volunteers Scheme, in its current format, is coming to an end on 2 nd March 2007 . However, their smiles returned when they were officially informed that not only are they top of the leader board for the Warwickshire & Birmingham Wing, they are also top for the entire Air Training Corps – and better still, the top group in the country thanks to the huge amount of hours they've contributed.

It's quite an achievement and everyone at 492 is delighted to see their hard work and commitment to others being so widely recognised.

These days its certainly be reassuring to know young people can build up a solid CV filled with practical skills such as leadership abilities and other life skills through the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. No one knows this better than the cadets of 492 ( Solihull ) Squadron Air Training Corps.

Six of 492 Squadron's cadets were recently awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award (the highest award that can be obtained). Six is the largest number of awards obtained by 492 Squadron in one go since 2003, and contributes to their overall total of 9 Gold Awards earned by the cadets since January 2006.