CCF Minden Dinner 2026 

The 93-strong Army section of the CCF held their annual Minden Dinner on Wednesday night, during which cadets enjoyed a superb three course meal prepared by our fantastic catering department. The traditional toast was made to the King by one of our junior cadets, Year 9’s George, and speeches by Capt Capjon and our Head of Army, Year 13’s Ethan. You can read Ethan’s inspiring speech below.

“Before I start, I Just want to say a massive thank you to the catering staff for providing us with some amazing food as usual, and another massive thank you to Mr Garvie, Mr Capjon and Mr Stollery for organising this special evening.

I am extremely proud to be a part of the CCF, and more importantly, to be in charge of the commendable Army Section. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as an army cadet, and it has taught me many lessons about myself and has also taught me key skills that I can take with me further into the future.

Being in the army section has definitely taught me about my own personal perseverance and to never give up when times get, quite honestly, extremely rough. It has also helped me to become skilful and useful when working in a team of people, not only in high pressure combat situations, but also in tame classroom settings. I am sure that the majority of you will feel the same way and hopefully will want to continue to be a part of the CCF, and I can’t recommend enough that you do. We as students have been given a unique opportunity to be a part of something bigger, not many schools have this opportunity, so I encourage you to make it worthwhile not only for us, but also yourselves.

I have had some amazing times in the CCF. I can’t help but comment on the core memories I have made sleeping in the freezing cold on overnight, whilst Mr Garvie prowls around with his ominous red torch to make sure people go to bed! CCF is all about having fun and making these memories. For you keen army cadets in the room tonight, I would highly recommend signing up for combat cadet once you get the chance. We have a promising team this year, and we have promising teams to come.

As my time in Woodbridge School comes to a close, I just want to draw your attention to Mr Stollery, Mr Garvie, Mr Capjon, and the officers that you see every Friday afternoon; they are the backbone of the CCF and especially the army section. The CCF would not be what it is without these people. Many things happen behind closed doors to ensure that Woodbridge School continues to have arguably the best CCF around.

Finally, a toast to the Royal Anglian regiment, which we as a school are connected to, and the honour that comes along with sharing a cap badge.

Ladies and gentlemen please be upstanding for a toast to the Royal Anglian regiment – to the Royal Anglian regiment.”