The cadets at 8F (1st City of Coventry) Sqn saluted their Committee chairperson – Mrs Gill Dawkins, who recently received an award for her fundraising and community efforts with the Squadron. Gill was nominated for a Pride of Coventry & Warwickshire Award in the ‘Community Project’ category which is sponsored by Heart of England Community Foundation and PSA Peugeot Citroen in Coventry.

The awards are presented by the Coventry Telegraph who receive nominations from throughout the Coventry & Warwickshire area and put the nominees through a thorough screening system. From there, 6 finalists went through to an interview process with judges from local industry together with the Coventry Telegraph organisers. The six finalists were invited to the awards ceremony together with other finalists of five other categories and their guests with representatives from the award sponsors.

The category nominations were read out with details of the reason they were nominated. The nomination for the category of ‘Community Project’ were so diverse that no one expected 8F to win such a prestigious award.

On winning the award a stunned Gill said: "Everyone at 8F strives to make sure that the cadets learn skills that enable them to get on in life, the committee raise funds to make sure the staff can make things happen. I am so surprised that we won the award but proud of everyone’s part played in this achievement."

Commanding Officer of 8F Squadron – Flt Lt Steve Jenkins said: "I am always proud of all our squadron’s achievements, it is especially nice to have these achievements recognised in the form of an award. We have an excellent working relationship with our committee which the cadets certainly benefit from."

The award came with a winners cheque for £250 which will be put towards squadron funds.