OKEHAMPTON air cadets said farewell to their commanding officer Andy Oliver on Monday night.

The cadets at 2443 (Okehampton) Squadron presented a homemade cake for squadron leader Andy Oliver, who is retiring after leading the squadron for five years. Before that, he notched up nearly 30 years as a leader with the air cadets across the South West and was an air cadet before that himself.

Joining cadets past and present at the party were Okehampton mayor Janet Carpenter and commander Francis Reiss, who oversees the Plymouth and Cornwall Wing of the Air Training Corps.

Squadron leader Oliver said: ‘It was a fantastic night. One of the cadets made a homemade cake with the squadron’s name emblazoned on it, which was really nice, and they gave me a bottle of champagne and three different types of gin to try. They presented me with a book of the RAF centenary and one of those old fashioned plaques with the name of the squadron on it.’

In his turn, he presented the cadets with an ‘air cadets’ plastic duck, a reference to the squadron’s efforts each year at the duck race at the annual Okehampton May Fair. ‘That is synonymous with Okehampton, the air cadets and army cadets always help out at the event,’ he said.