ACCT UK’s 10th Annual Excellence Awards

This year, we celebrated our 10th Annual Excellence Awards. These awards have become a cherished tradition, shining a spotlight on excellence across the non-military programmes ACCT UK delivers to the ACF. From the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and First Aid, to Music, Sport and Community Service, each category reflects the breadth of opportunity the ACF offers, and the vital life skills our young people develop as a result. Skills such as resilience, teamwork, leadership and a spirit of service and citizenship.

None of this would be possible without the unwavering support and energy of our adult volunteers, who give so much to ensure cadets can access these life-changing experiences. Nor could we achieve our mission without the generosity of our supporters and the enthusiasm of our cadets, who time and again go above and beyond, whether through fundraising challenges or acts of service in their communities.

On this special anniversary of the Excellence Awards, we were delighted to welcome Dame Joanna Lumley, who gave her time so generously to present the awards. In her speech, she perfectly articulated why our winners are so special…

Jessica has played a major and significant part in persuading cadets across Bristol & The Channel Islands ACF to enrol in the DofE Award. In 2024, 67% of the cadets who enrolled were the result of Jessica working tirelessly to promote the Award across her county by giving DofE presentations, sharing her expedition experiences and knowledge with her fellow cadets.  Jess has also supported two of the County’s three DofE expedition weekends, helping with training and route planning. Jessica was appointed as the County’s first ever DofE Young Leader.  She completed her Bronze DofE Award in 2022, Silver in 2024 and is now taking on her Gold DofE Award.

Ros Whyall was appointed County DofE Officer in August 2019 and since then she has developed Cambridgeshire ACF and the East Anglia region into one of the UK’s best DofE providers.  Cambridgeshire ACF won the Quaich Trophy for the Best Performing County in DofE in 2022, and has remained in the top three ACF Counties throughout the past 3 years.  Almost 300 ACF cadets have achieved awards during her tenure, of which 20 have been Gold Awards.  These are wonderful statistics and a testament to Ros’s dedication and commitment.

Amelie Poulton trains cadets in First Aid. She is captain of her Squadron’s First Aid team, which won the County and Region competitions and, subsequently, took on the role of Team Captain for the Area First Aid competition team. Amelie won an area competition to design a poster raising awareness of Restart a Heart Day in 2023. Since completing her First Aid at Work training, Amelie acts as a duty first aider at the Explorer Scouts. On 6^th June 2024, Amelie stopped to assist a cyclist who had fallen from his bike and sustained a major head injury. She supported the casualty and his wife for almost two hours and was described by the casualty’s wife as “a real star”.

As his County’s First Aid Training Officer, Neil is dedicated to opening up opportunities for cadets to learn this important life skill by motivating fellow adult volunteers to develop into first aid tutors.  Neil has been key to the continued success of Gwent & Powys ACF in the national Cadet First Aid competitions. He was instrumental in the team achieving first place in 2023 and, in 2024, despite a very tight deadline, bringing together a group of cadets, building them into a team and training them to achieve second place. His commitment to voluntary service is such that he frequently offers his time either as the primary first aider for an activity or to support first aid training.

Katie was appointed as the National Senior Cadet Bandmaster in November 2023. In July 2024, she conducted the National Massed Bands, Bugles and Drums of the ACF at the Military Music Spectacular on Horse Guards Parade in London in front of an audience of thousands.  This was a high-profile and high-pressure event, with TV cameras. In August 2024, she conducted a massed bands display for the Army Benevolent Fund and the Duchess of Devonshire at Chatsworth House. These were extraordinary accomplishments.  On the way, she has mentored new cadet musicians within her section and persuaded other cadets to take up music.

Adelaide has shown exceptional transformational leadership, steering Cleveland ACF’s Corps of Drums through some years of instability due to the loss of adult leaders.  Stabilising the Corps, she restored vitality and musical standards. Her passion for music and desire to help cadets attracted new members to the Corps of Drums and reignited enthusiasm for music.  Her ability to inspire and develop young cadets is such that, now, Cleveland ACF’s Corps of Drums routinely participate in national parades.  As a tribute to her inspiring mentorship, the Cadet Drum Major was appointed as the National Cadet Drum Major during the National Army Cadet Music Camp in April 2024.

Lucy, after winning all the tenor drumming competitions in 2023, has gone from strength to strength within the tenor Corps. Wanting to progress through the syllabus, she self-funded her Level 4 and 5 qualifications, since there were no assessors available within the National Team. Having achieved these qualifications, which included completing her Level 5 tenor at the Army School of Piping and Drumming, Lucy was then eligible to attend the Cadet Drum Major course in October 2024 and passed with flying colours. Lucy teaches cadets in her own detachment and assisted teaching the tenor Corps during the national Army Cadet Music course in Easter 2024. 

Cameron has put in a significant amount of time to support Army Cadet Piping & Drumming, giving up many evenings and weekends. At national training events, he has been teaching the tenor drum Corps by himself, also helping the national team to organise events and conducting assessments for the national competitions. Since COVID, he has spent much time building back up the Black Watch Battalion’s Pipes & Drums. This involved parading two nights a week, supporting local events and helping neighbouring ACF battalions. Through his commitment and dedication, Black Watch Battalion cadets have performed publicly in several prestigious events.

In National Army Cadet sporting competitions, Eilidh has represented Scotland at rugby, swimming and hockey, and been awarded colours for football, athletics and cross country. A keen footballer, who now plays for Livingston Women’s team, she saw very few female referees. She put in many nights travelling to Stirling to qualify and now referees matches, helps coach her local and the cadet junior football teams and helps run sports camps for young people. In 2023, she went to Kenya, as part of the ACF football team, which helped set up a Kenyan Football Academy for the local villagers, for which she obtained the donation of over a hundred football kits.

Over the past two years, Fiona has motivated cadets to attend and excel in rugby, football, swimming, cross-country, orienteering, athletics, and archery. This has not only improved the physical skills of her cadets, but also fostered a sense of teamwork and discipline within her own detachment, company and the wider Battalion. Through consistent encouragement and motivation, her cadets now attend not only Battalion Sports, but also compete at Regional and National events. Her voluntary service extends beyond coaching, as she dedicates significant time to preparing cadets for competitions and events.

Along with a fellow cadet, Kayleigh planned a project for their detachment to grow fresh vegetables to be delivered to community food banks. Kayleigh helped to raise funds for the equipment needed to build the community garden by persuading her local supermarket to nominate her project. She planned what could be grown, then, under her guidance, the younger cadets were all involved in building the garden on one night and planting the vegetables on another night, gaining valuable life experience. She maintains the garden by weekly watering and is now looking to expand it to help more residents.  Kayleigh is a role model who always puts others first.

Louise has transformed her detachment in a deprived Rotherham community into a thriving unit of over 70 cadets. She boosted cadet experiences and community ties through activities like building a community garden, promoting water safety, leading Remembrance events, poppy selling, and supporting Walking for Wounded. In June 2024, Louise set up a new detachment in Maltby, recruiting three adult volunteers and attracting many cadet applicants before it even opened! Louise has fostered community cohesion, promoted the Army Cadet ethos, whilst broadening the horizons of her cadets and lifting their aspirations.

Jensen has been quite extraordinary in fundraising for ACCT UK since joining the ACF in 2023. He committed to raising funds for ACCT UK through the Cadet Challenge.  In 2023 and 2004, instead of receiving birthday presents, he asked for donations to ACCT UK, raising £245 in total.  He then grew his hair to shave it to fundraise for ACCT UK.  When his mum, Trish, promised to join him if he raised £400, Jensen surpassed the target, raising £610! Both bravely shaved their heads. He has also supported various activities with the Sword Company fundraising group.  Through his personal and selfless generosity, many other ACF cadets will benefit by receiving ACCT UK grants.

There could only be one winner for the adult volunteer fundraising award.  Having applied for a ballot place in the London Marathon and to his surprise, been allocated a place, Joe duly ran the marathon in 2024, choosing to raise funds for ACCT UK.  That he did so was astonishing for two reasons, because he had no prior experience as a runner and was no longer in “the fountain of youth”.  Through sheer determination and the support of fellow volunteers, Joe not only completed this demanding feat but also raised well over £3,000 for ACCT UK, directly benefiting ACF cadets and opening doors to new opportunities for them. 

From the start, Lincolnshire ACF have led the way in fundraising for ACCT UK with great energy. Cadets and volunteers organised a wide range of events, from supermarket bag-packing and community clean-ups in Sleaford to sponsored sleep-outs and bike rides. The Skegness cadets took on a unique challenge, manually operating a pump carriage for 15km along the Nene Valley Railway. Every effort, big and small, raised an impressive cumulative £12,625.78 for ACCT UK.  Lincolnshire ACF’s teamwork, creativity and group commitment throughout the entire county will benefit cadets across the UK, also setting a standard for other ACF counties to follow.

See more photos from the event here.

Special thanks go to BAE Systems for supporting the Excellence Awards. BAE Systems told us that they are incredibly proud to have supported ACCT UK in recognising excellence and celebrating the achievements of inspiring young cadets and selfless adult volunteers for the past decade.

Thank you also to Ammo & Co. for supporting the Community Service award and to Horiba Mira for supporting the Cadet Challenge Fundraising awards.

The Excellence Awards would not be possible without the generous support of these companies in helping us recognise the incredible achievements of the cadets and volunteers of the ACF with such a memorable event.

Nominations are now being accepted for next year’s Excellence Awards, which will be recognised at our ceremony in June 2026. Download a nomination form.