OFFICER CADETS

The Bakers Company is proud of its long held relationships with the University of London Officer Training Corps and with the University Royal Naval Unit. Regular contact is maintained, to enthusiastic and mutual benefit.

The ULOTC comprises several hundred student cadets, under a team of highly experienced regular and territorial army staff. The Bakers Company holds their commitment and achievements in great regard. Young people, sometimes with a near even mix of male and female personnel, undergo intense training in all aspects of service life, while still carrying out their full time university studies.

The highlight of the training year is Summer Camp, to which the Bakers Company is invited. To see over 100 cadets working smoothly together and putting their skills into practice is quite inspirational. Whether for civilian or service life in future, these young people are developing invaluable qualities which will benefit society in future.

Bakers' Company visiting cadets at
Summer Camp in North Yorkshire

In some ways, the ULOTC could be accused of letting Liverymen off lightly when they visit Summer Camp, as most of the involvement is necessarily from the sidelines. Not so with the URNU. As any Bakers Company Liveryman who has experienced a day at sea with the cadets on Naval Unit's HMS Puncher will testify, thundering through the choppy waters of the English Channel is not for the feint-hearted.

HRH The Princess Royal on board HMS Puncher

Puncher is a P2000 class patrol boat capable of considerable speed and able, through its shallow draft, to visit locations often inaccessible to other naval vessels. As such, the Naval Unit's 55 member cadets find themselves with an ideal craft on their hands for exercises throughout home waters and around northern mainland Europe.

During the year, among other contact and support, the Company is pleased to welcome officers and cadets from the ULOTC and the URNU to Bakers Hall for meetings and as guests at dinners and other social functions. In this way, the students learn more about the City of London and business generally. In addition, the two units have provided splendid Guards of Honour at the Company's Election Dinner, held at the Mansion House by kind permission of the Lord Mayor.