Combined Cadet Force
Stonyhurst’s connection to the Combined Cadet Force (CCF) stretches back more than a century.
There are seven platoons, each named after Stonyhurst OS awarded the Victoria Cross and a newly created platoon to accommodate the number of students joining the College in Higher Line, named after the first commanding officer of the Corps.
The Platoons are:
- Costello (Lieutenant Edmund William Costello, V.C. (1897), 22nd Punjab Infantry Regiment)
- Coury (Second- Lieutenant George Gabriel Coury, V.C. (1916), (1st/4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment. Prince of Wales’s Volunteers)
- Dease (Lieutenant Maurice James Dease, V.C. (1914), 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. City of London Regiment)
- Ervine- Andrews (Captain Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews, V.C. (1940), 1st Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment)
- Jackman (Captain James Joseph Bernard Jackman, V.C. (1941), 1st Battalion, Royal Northumberland Fusiliers)
- Kenna (Captain Paul Aloysius Kenna, V.C. (1898), 21st (Empress of India’s) Lancers)
- Liddell (Captain John Aidan Liddell, V.C. (1915), 3rd Reserve Battalion (Attached 2nd Battalion) Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and Royal Flying Corps)
- Pearse (Colonel Lieutenant S.A. Pearse, DSO (1917), first O.C. Stonyhurst OTC, East Lancashire Regiment)
Building skills for the future
CCF is not just for those who plan a career in the Forces, it is a youth organisation sponsored by the Ministry of Defence that helps develop a number of leadership and life enhancing skills.
We enrol students automatically into the CCF in their Grammar year (age 14+) and supply each pupil with a uniform, which they are expected to keep in good order for inspection each week.
Training includes drill (marching and manoeuvres); learning how to assemble, clean and shoot weapons; and many useful life skills including team work; leadership; tactical planning and discipline.
There’s lots of fun and friendship involved too, so much so that after the annual summer camp which takes place at a military camp, many students opt to continue their CCF activities, taking on increasingly responsible leadership roles as they progress through the school.
Links with military families
Our robust CCF programme is an attractive offering for pupils who would like to follow in their families footsteps. With a long tradition of welcoming armed forces families, Stonyhurst encourages individuality and the opportunity for children to become all that they can be.