A (Ferozeshah) Company - ACF History Field Research

Sun 4 Jul 10

On Sunday 4 July 2010, SMI Collins and SI White along with 13 cadets met at Church Place Detachment to begin a long drive to Cambridgeshire.   The aim of the journey was to visit the house where Miss Octavia Hill was born which is now a museum about her life. We arrived at the house - which overlooks the River Nene - in Wisbech where we were met by the curator of the museum.   The curator gave us a talk on her life whilst touring the house and displays. We all identified that Miss Octavia Hill did not form the ACF in 1860 but some 27 years later. The ACF was formed in 1860 by children of serving officers, after Miss Octavia Hill moved to London and started rent collecting and showing concern for the families’ life style where she became the first social worker. Being friends with the head of the armed forces she went to see him requesting that the youth of the time should belong to a group to make them feel wanted.   If he supplied the uniforms she would do the rest! Two years later the cadets were marching through London … and the rest is history as they say! There was an additional aim for the cadets whilst visiting the museum. Cadets from Church Place Detachment will be taking part in this year’s Festival of Remembrance at the Wyvern Theatre on 31st October.   The cadets will be putting on a 30 minute show about the ACF history to include cadets in period uniforms.   So the trip acted has a well deserved field research trip!