Cadet Warrant Officer Andrew Loy (Upper Sixth) was recently selected as one of her Majesties Lord-Lieutenant’s cadets, and he has undertaken his first cadet duty at Chevening House. Andrew has written a report of the day below. 

“I had the honour of performing a ceremonial duty at the British Empire Medal Investiture.

The ceremony took place at Chevening house on Tuesday 26th of October, I was one of the two cadets to be chosen to support the Lord-Lieutenant Lady Colgrain. I was greeted by the house manager and Lady Colgrain, accompanied by her Deputy. I was amazed to see the beauty that was inside Chevening House. The house is the foreign secretary’s private residence and has been kept in the same immaculate state that it was in when it was gifted by James Richard, 7th Earl Stanhope to the trust of the Chevening estate.

The British Empire Medal is given in recognition of meritorious civil or military service, and it was an honour to meet and talk to all the recipients and hear their stories and experiences that led them to receiving an award.

The ceremony started and I accompanied the Lord-Lieutenant into the room as the national anthem played, I felt immensely proud to represent the CCF and to be a part of such an honourable event. My job during the ceremony was to hand the medals to the Lord-Lieutenant who gave the medal to the recipient. As each recipient was announced by the Deputy Lord-Lieutenant, who gave a small summary as to why the award was given. I enjoyed listening to the stories as they showed how dedicated people can be to their job and their country and really showed me that by working hard and doing the best I can do in helping myself and others can have such a good impact on the world around me.

The whole experience made me very proud, and I look forward to performing more duties in the future.”