The History of TS Drax - Poole Sea Cadets

We believe this to be the original crest of TS Drax. It is currently displayed on the wardroom door.



1938

Poole SCC was formed in 1938 and given formal recognition by ACR in 1939.
As with most Units during the war years it was over 200 strong.
The HQ site changed several times over the years until the late forties when it moved to two nissen huts at Sterte Avenue.
Around this time Maurice Astrup (Lieutenant Commander) one of the founding fathers of Hove Unit of the Sea Cadets in 1942 transferred from Hove Unit to TS DRAX at Poole where he served as Training Officer before joining the RNR in 1954.
This was after a distinguished war time service with the Royal Navy in Belgium, that led to his receiving the award of the Chevalier de Leopold, and returning to Hove as a Lieutenant RNVR.
During the late fifties the nissen huts were replaced by a single storey, single, concrete block, walled hut - the older part of the present HQ.
The Unit must have been in the doldrums from 1949 to 1964 as it did not achieve efficiency pennant standard during this period. In fact during 1964 the cadet numbers dropped to 6 and the Unit was given warning of 6 months to become viable or face closure.
From 1965 to 1979 the Unit managed to maintain pennant standard almost every year, but seemed unable to breech the wall around burgee standard. There was an almost disastrous move of HQ to an old fire station site which ended with the County Council ordering us out after 3 years, and a considerable amount of expense and effort by the Parents and friends in building work.
Fortunately the original HQ site had been kept on at a peppercorn rent of £10 per annum from the TA. The building had been vandalised but our move back in 1978 signalled the start of a new era for POOLE Unit.
As newly appointed 1st Lieutenant I was convinced that this return to Sterte Avenue with the enormous amount of work that would be entailed in making the building habitable, should be to a large extent carried out by staff and Cadets. It was important to the Unit morale that we should rebuild our ship and thus forge an identity of belonging, ownership, pride, self~respect and the confidence to stand on our own two feet.
Above all, was the need to show that TS DRAX was there for the Cadets.
With a newly appointed Chairman, Lt Cdr Gerald Bailey RN Rtd, the Unit had the making of an invigorated committee prepared to be forward looking and courageous enough to let the staff develop their potential for the future benefit of the Unit.
With the assistance of a small team of practically orientated parents, and a large number of them fundraising, the staff and Cadets were able to rebuild and improve TS DRAX and then to go on and build a two storey extension.
1980 resulted in the award of the Unit's first efficiency burgee, presented to the Unit by Rear Admiral John Webster. Without the Unit Committee's splendid masterminding of fundraising these excellent new facilities would never have born fruition.

1981 to 1991

Following the opening of the Unit extension, a policy of gradual and continual modernisation of the old part of the building was initiated. This still continues and has been made possible by the final successful conclusion of a long running battle with the Charity Commissioners to get the terms of a Will acceptable to modern day. This battle by the committee took over 6 years and the services of the Unit solicitor and 2 QCs but resulted in a trust fund valued at some £20,000 coming to the Unit. Safe investment has meant that the interest from this trust has been and still is available to help fund capital projects. Some of the work has been contracted out but much is still done by Unit staff, as is all maintenance. I cannot speak too highly of the Unit Committee for their wisdom in ensuring that this trust fund is maintained and only using the interest for long-term improvements for the benefit of future Cadets.
At the same time as the Unit building facilities were being improved, an aggressive policy of staff' training was instigated using internal and external expertise. This continues and I would suspect that, certainly on the boating side, Poole Unit probably leads the country.
The need for more improved training equipment proved essential to enable staff to be trained using Unit expertise, so both the Unit Committee and Parents and Friends Association found themselves, aggressively at times, approached to fund new projects.
As staff skills improved and widened in range, so the benefits were passed on to the Cadets. Although Unit numbers dipped slightly from a usual 30 - 35 during the early 80's to about 25 from 1985 - 88, TS DRAX managed to hold back from the slippery slope that so many other Units found themselves slithering down. Namely that attributed to the demographic trend.This was, I feel, due to the ability of the Unit to provide a widening field of opportunities with professional style instruction in on the water activities.
Other aspects of Sea Cadet life were not ignored during the 80's. Poole Unit is renowned for its drill and have taken both the Southern Area Guard and Guard Commander trophies an almost embarrassing number of times in the past 10 years.
The Unit in fact enters most competitions at District level, but only with the wish of the Cadets. During the past 7 years, successes at National level have included Junior Boys Pulling, Senior Boys Pulling, Powerboat Handling - twice, Best Guard Commander, Best Dressed Cadet (National Drill) - twice, Best Solo Piper, and a number of Swimming Medals.
During 1992 Poole Unit got a 5-aside football team through to the National Competition for the first time in 45 years, but proved not to be in the same league as the lads from the North, and came last.
Poole Unit has always had a close involvement with the community, such as supporting Civic and Ex-Service Association functions, especially when the Unit band was active.
During 1986 thought was being given to Unit Public Relations and it was decided that it would be better if the Unit raised funds itself towards a local charity rather than help others such as the Lions Club or Round Table.
January 1987 - Poole Unit's first sponsored dinghy sail on a local lake.  An enormous amount of planning and preparation went into this project in order to make the event safe.
The result was over £2,000 raised for a local hospital's new ventilator, and a super adventure for all the Cadets. Also, front page news in the local press. The event became an annual one, where the Cadets try to keep 7 dinghies sailing for 24 hours. Over £12,000 has been raised for local charities.
1989 was the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of the formal recognition of TS DRAX. A tentative foray into the unknown world of girls as Cadets was started. Unofficially, and without any public announcement, and with a promise to the boys that under no circumstance would the number of girls be allowed to go above that of the males, should the experiment prove successful. We did not have a big parade to celebrate our Golden Jubilee year, but did put extra effort into making a successful and fun one. It proved to be very special...
For the first time in the Unit's history, it took the Stephenson Trophy for the top Unit in the Area:
Poole Unit has taken the Stephenson Trophy for 1989, 90, 91 and 92, with the results in the Canada Trophy Competition being 4th, 3rd, and finally first for the year of 1991.

Our thanks to our late Vice President, Graham Davis for providing this 'History'.

Please contact us if you can add anything or provide some photos.