All the latest News items, whether it be announcements regarding upcoming events, or requests for volunteers, all will be posted as news.
COMMAND CHAMPIONSHIPS PAPERWORK ONLINE
The programme for the Command Championships 2007 has now been posted.
Please ensure that you get your entries in as soon as possible.
Posted: 19 December 2006
TRAVEL AUTHORITY
Some personnel have been experiencing difficulties when arranging transport to competitions for which travel authority has been granted.
To help prevent future problems, I have now amended the Event Calendar page to include links to both the original travel authority request from the RAFFU Captain and the response from the RAF Sports Board, granting the authority.
If anyone continues to experience problems after presenting this documentation to their P Ed Flt, then please contact the Match Secretary.
Posted: 30 November 2006
WELLESBOURNE TEAM TROPHY MATCH REPORT ONLINE
The full match report from this years' Wellesbourne Team Trophy has been kindly supplied by Ruari Henderson-Begg and posted online for all to see.
Still working on getting the One Hit and Juniors reports ready, and starting the ball rolling on the Commands for February.
Posted: 30 November 2006
LATEST SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN TRAINING TECHNIQUES REVEALED!
The redoubtable RAFFU Captain, in his quest to ensure the RAF retain the Inter Service title in 2007, has been investigating different methods to ensure the team reaches peak fitness and performance levels in time for the event in June.
The results have been... interesting.
The latest pre-season flexibility training video can be seen by clicking here.
Posted: 29 November 2006
SLOW WEB UPDATES - AN APOLOGY!
My apologies to all!
Since my recent posting I have been unable to get my new broadband connection in place, particularly due to call centres which don't quite understand the requirement!
I've tried uploading some files using my dial-up connection, but to be honest it's like flogging a dead horse. Therefore, until such time as I get my broadband sorted (hopefully by 25 Nov), I will be unable to add any updates to the site.
Expect to see though the results from the One Hit (I retrieved the laptop from the cages at Cosford!) and the results of the Juniors.
Posted: 14 November 2006
ONE HIT EPEE
Spot the deliberate mistake!
After promising to have the results posted up quite soon after the event, I then realise that I've left the printout in the laptop bag... and the laptop bag in the cage with all the fencing kit at Cosford!
Suffice to say, with the Juniors just round the corner, I will collect the results then and endeavour to get the results online ASAP afterwards.
Posted: 17 October 2006
JUNIORS PROGRAMME ONLINE
The paperwork for the Juniors (4/5 Oct) has now been issued, and the programmje of events published on the website.
Electronic registration for this event is now available.
Posted: 28 September 2006
ONE HIT EPEE
A rather depleted entry from previous years took part in the ONe Hit Epee and International Military competitions at RAF Cosford today, 22 Sep 06.
A very strong performance from the Army saw them take individual honours in the men's and ladies events, as well as the Scratch Team trophy. The International Military event was won by the Veterans.
Full match report to follow soon.
Posted: 23 September 2006
JUNIOR TEAM WINS IN LIVERPOOL
As previously mentioned, the RAF sent a team of Junior and non-RAF Blue fencers to compete against Liverpool University and Liverpool Fencing Club (padded out by one experienced fencer!) on Saturday 16 Sep 06.
A full match report will follow soon, but the headline news is that the team were successful, taking the win over Liverpool University by just 4 hits.
Congratulations to all those concerned, and now is the time to recruit more Juniors for next years event.
Posted: 17 September 2006
NEW DESIGN WEBSITE LAUNCHED
After months of hard work, I can now reveal the new look RAF fencing website.
With photographs instead of graphics, and using CSS to lay-out most of the site, I hope you find it much more pleasing to the eye, and much easier to navigate.
Key features include the collection of like-minded pages under a heading (e.g anything to do with events, from the calendar, programmes, registration etc, are all accessible from the main Events page.
The newest feature is an interactive FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). I have started to populate this FAQ with questions I have received over the years, and posted relevant answers. The fact the FAQ is interactive means that you as a browser can submit your own questions. Once these have been submitted, the question and associated answer will then become part of the FAQ, making it a dynamic and iterative part of the whole.
I have endeavoured to test all the links, and have scanned every page for errors, but if you find anything wrong, or merely want to pass comments, then please use the Guestbook.
Enjoy!
Posted: 14 September 2006
JUNIORS DATE CHANGED
On the provisional programme I sent out in May, I had moved the Juniors to 7/8 October due to the addition of the Warwickshire Mixed Triples competition in October.
I have since discovered that the British Fencing Association are holding the British Junior & U20 Championships that weekend, at Cosford. Therefore there is NO gym space available.
A check of the gym availability with Cosford now means that the Juniors 2006 will be held over the weekend 4/5 November. Put this date in your diaries now.
Posted: 11 September 2006
ONE HIT EPEE
After a bit of a delay, the paperwork for the One Hit Epee on 23 Sep 06 should be hitting the streets soon.
The electronic version of the letter has been posted under Event Programmes and as always, electronic registration for this event is now enabled.
This is always a fun and friendly event, so get your entries in soonest (particularly if you require accommodation).
Posted: 31 August 2006
NEW PHOTOS POSTED
Courtesy of Shaun Taylor, we now have photographs from Ireland and the Seniors this year.
He also sent me some oldmovies from 1996, however I'm having a tough job reducing them in size from their original 200Mb per file down to something able to stream across the net.
I've managed to compress them and keep the quality OK down to 20Mb each, but if anyone knows any tips for reducing them further, let me know at the Webmaster address.
Posted: 28 August 2006
BITS AND PIECES
Received confirmation today that the match against Liverpool University will be going ahead. The team has been selected and letters are going out soon.
One Hit is still planned for 23 Sep, just waiting for the DOC (Admin) to issue the paperwork.
Updated some Committee contacts.
Posted: 21 August 2006
COMBINED SERVICES CANADA TOUR
I have received the team selection from the Captain of CSFA, however due to changing circumstances, 2 of those people selected can no longer make it.
Congratulations to Maz Darrow-Bland and Gary Brailsford on their selection. The other 2 slots have gone back to the CSFA Captain to consider the volunteers received.
Needless to say, as soon as any news is received I will let you know.
Posted: 17 August 2006
INTER SERVICES SUCCESS!!
A full match report will be coming soon, but in the interim the most important news is that the RAF Men's Triangular Squad regained the Inter Service title after a 2 year break, narrowly beating the Army by just 4 hits.
Additionally, Fg Off Graeme Hart secured the individual foil and sabre titles, easily winning the Champion-at-Arms trophy too.
Posted: 23 June 2006
TRAINING WEEKEND - 3/4 JUN
All personnel selected for the Inter Services Triangular team, or who qualified for the Combined Services Individual events are expected to attend the 2 day training session being held at Cosford on 3/4 Jun 06.
Top class coaching will be available over the course of the weekend for a nominal fee, accommodation has been block booked, and it is also expected to have a match against Wrekin Sword Club, subject to confirmation of final arrangements.
Posted: 30 May 2006
LATEST WEBSITE UPDATES
Thanks to everyone who expressed an opinion on the proposed new look of the website. I unfortunately now have a problem: I won't publish a website I don't understand the code for, and since I initially "borrowed" a lot of the code from the RAF Careers website, I need to dig out the books again to figure out how it works!
In the meantime, I have updated the RAF Rankings for the men, and am in the process of creating new ones for the women (yes, we finally have enough women competing to warrant their own rankings!).
I've also just published the latest edition of the RAFFU magazine, Reprise, onto the website, so if you haven't seen the hard copy that Shaun produced, check it out here.
Posted: 26 May 2006
SENIORS 2006
The closing date for requesting accommodation has now passed, therefore if you didn't get your accommodation requirements in to the DOC (Admin) you will have to make your own arrangements.
All personnel need to remember 2 things:
There will be a repair and assembly session starting at approximately 1600 hrs on Friday night, to service the RAFFU equipment, and then set-up the gym ready for Saturday morning.
There is a trophy muster taking place over the weekend, therefore ALL RAFFU trophies are to be returned to allow the records to be updated on current holders.
Posted: 9 May 2006
ACCOMMODATION FOR LEUCHARS TRAINING DAY
Anyone who requires accommodation at Leuchars for the Training Day and Glasgow Open weekend is NOT to contact the Accommodation Cell there ... they will tell you there is nothing available.
Graeme Hart has made provisions to ensure all fencers will have accommodation, therefore all requests are to be directed to him on 95151 Ext 4045. Please ensure you get your requests in within the next few days as the clock is now ticking and time is running short!
Also, please remember that Travel Authority cannot be granted for training events, but travel authority has been given for the Glasgow Open. Please make sure your travel claim is not rejected by only claiming for the competition.
Posted: 9 May 2006
EMERGENCY!! EPEE AND FOIL TEAM NOW SHORT
After some last minute problems, we are currently 2 men short for the Pentangular match in Ireland on 17 Mar.
I need a foilist and an epeeist who are:
a) Available.
b) Willing to book their flights ASAP.
Funding to offset some of the costs has been approved, so if you are interested email me immediately so we can get the Admin Order amended and out to you.
Posted: 3 March 2006
COACHING COURSE GOING AHEAD
As mentioned on the Home page, Fg Off Graeme Hart has organised a 5 day coaches course at Cosford. Details as follows:
The course will be run from Monday 6th to Friday 10th March. You are to be ready to go at 1000hrs on Monday, in the wooden gym. It is expected that we will finish around lunchtime on Friday.
Throughout the course of the week we will be travelling to clubs in the evening to put our coaching skills to the test on some unsuspecting folk. I will endeavour to get a minibus for this, failing that we may have to use a selection of cars.
The course will be run using foil only. This is not because I am a foilist (although that had something to do with it) but more to keep things simple. At this level the skills that are learnt will be largely transferable to the other weapons and there are large sections of the course which are non-weapon specific anyway.
The following are down as attending:
Flt Lt John Davy
Flt Lt Nev Bo
Flt Lt H Bailey
Fg Off Graeme Hart
Cpl Rob Desforges (please forward to James)
Cpl James Brown
SAC Pete Dewey
SAC Gaz Morris
If any of you are unavailable please let me know asap.
As you can see, there are only 8 going at the moment and there can be up to a maximum of 12. If you are interested, or know someone else who might be, please get back to me asap. If I aim for 12 there's a half chance of getting 10 which is what I budgeted on.
Costs have yet to be finalised but there will be subsidy from the RAFFU and it is not expected to cost the individual more than £35 each. A bargain in anyone's book for a week long course!
Harty
95151 x4047
Posted: 14 February 2006
CHANGE OF DATE FOR SENIORS 2006
Due to a lack of gym and accommodation availability at DCAE Cosford, unfortunately this years RAF Spring Series, or Seniors, have had to be rescheduled.
This event will now be held over the weekend of 20/21 May 06.
Please note this change in your diaries and inform as many people as you can about the change.
Posted: 2 February 2006
THE WAY AHEAD - TEAM TRAINING AND COMPETITIONS FOR EARLY 2006
The Management Plan - that wonderful document that tells us on the Executive Committee just exactly what we are supposed to be doing and when we should be doing it.
That may sound a little simple, but it's exactly right. Every year, we determine exactly what we want to achieve for RAF Fencing, and how we're going to achieve it. And this year, our priority is team matches and training; we want to do everything in our power to retain the Ladies Inter Service title, and regain the Men's.
QUADRANGULAR
For the last couple of years, we have held a Quadrangular match against Scottish Fencing and Irish Fencing; hosted firstly by us, then by Scottish Fencing. This year, the event will be held in conjunction with the South of Ireland Open, on 17 March, and will be organised by Irish Fencing.
Team selection is currently underway, however ANY fencer who would be available for this event is requested to email me at webmaster@raffencing.co.uk with their details and weapon preferences (although subject to availability, weapons fenced will be decided by me in my role as Captain, to provide the strongest possible team across all weapons).
TRAINING
Following on from this event, myself and the Coaching Coordinator, Fg Off Graeme Hart, are currently looking at holding a training day at RAF Leuchars on Friday 31 March. We would like to have as many fencers attend as possible, including anyone either selected for the Quadrangular match or under consideration for the Inter Services team.
Hopefully, accommodation will be available at Leuchars for the Friday evening, with transport available the next day for the trip to compete in the Glasgow Open. Having fenced in this event last year at foil and sabre, the standard is not too high, and it would be an ideal event to attempt to put into practice any lessons identified at the Friday training session.
Again, I would like, at the earliest opportunity, details of anyone who would be interested in both the training session and entering the Glasgow Open. Email details through to webmaster@raffencing.co.uk
Posted: 19 January 2006
