Meanwhile, at Sleaford Poly...
 

From runway to fairway: Anger as RAF spends £14,000 of taxpayer cash on a GOLF SIMULATOR after cutting 10,000 staff in just four years | Daily Mail Online
Hmmm, not sure what to make of this. But, frankly, no different form funding other 'sporting' facilities, I suppose. The best bit, though, is reading the DM comments section.

I need to reduce my handicap but I'd rather fire golf balls out of my a**e than go back to Cranditz to practice.

That's £14000 that could have been poured into the NHS........😏

Given that local councils up a and down the land have also shed jobs, should we not spend money of leisure facilities such as swimming pools, football pitches or parks, oh I forgot everyone would be up in arms about that too!

Another case of a complete non story and understanding the value of nothing but the cost of everything.

The country was so proud of our servicemen who participated in the Olympics and Paralympics but heaven forbid we spend any money on sport.

As usual some of the comments are pretty bitter towards the RAF from former army/navy types, I did not realise that the RAF was the only service playing sport, how lucky we are

I was involved in an expensive sport (sailing) for a number of years, and the Army was notorious for their Black Economy. The various regimental yachts in Gosport and other places, seemingly, had full-time cox'ns - generally a SNCO who lived upon the boat and maintained it full time, with much of the equipment purchased at public expense. And let's not get into the ethics of the recruitment of Fijians principally to bolster the Regimental Rugby Football teams.

It used to be suggested that an important attribute considered in selection for RAFAT was a reasonable standard of golf.......hat, coat.............

As for all RAF sporting activities, I doubt this was Public Taxpayers money. I reckon this money will have come form:

1. The RAF Sports Lottery - which is a fund raising exercise from Sports Club members own money.
2. The RAF Charitable Trust - this is a trust fund set up and managed with donations. It also runs the annual Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford.
3. The Nuffield Trust set up by Viscount Nuffielf with about £1.5M in 1939 to provide access to non-public money for sporting/recreational activity for all HMForces. The Nuffield Trust (for the forces of the crown) - The Nuffield Connection
4. The RAF Central Fund - another large amount of money held in charitable trust RAF Community - RAF Central Fund

So I would offer that not a jot came from the Defence Budget and that the Golf Simulator would be an encroachment to provide accomodation for the simulator - that is about the only link to the Defence Budget.

LJ

Elitest, innit? :rolleyes:
Bas: One time o i/c the stn sub-aqua club in which we had all the gear and an inflatable*
Whole lot would set off on indulgence flights to agreeable diving sites.


*Dinghy, that is, you dirty barstewards! ;)
It DID come to my ears that some hanky-panky took place in the store room :E

Thanks for heads up. Had to post on DM.

LJ - thanks for saving me the trouble - many moons ago I was the deskie at HQRAFSC for such funds - I wonder how many non-publicly provided facilities now rot on closed former RAF stations.

Does my Line Manager know this? Cant wait to tell him I'm off.

Can I put a travel claim in?

Why do they need a simulator anyway, they've got a frikin' golf course.

GR4 Techie

Here is a link to RAF sports policy - RAF Sports Board - Policy

Also, don't forget the Joint Service Adventurous Trg (JSAT) courses run by the Generic Eductaion Trg Centre (GETC). You can go sailing, gliding, paragliding, parachuting, moutain biking and lots more for FREE and be on duty. Many use these courses to decompress or to improve the team cohesion of a section/unit. I once did a JSAT course with some Lance Cpls of the Horse who had just survived a blue-on-blue by an A10 in Iraq - the course kept them together, gave them something exciting to do whilst at the same time decompress through discussing it amongst themselves in a non-work environment. I did take a lot of stick from them as CR FJ aircrew at the time! :eek:

The equivalent in the Civvy sector are Team Building and Corporate Conference days - where they are run to improve the efficiency of the company. http://www.teambuilding.co.uk JSAT has the same sort of objective and also it gets you out in the fresh air for your own health and well being.

You apply for JSAT courses through your Stn FD Trg Centre and/or PEd staff normally.

LJ :ok:

Leon, AT would be lovely. At my location we can't get through our annual leave allowance due to gapped posts, lack of manpower to cover shifts etc. Apparently we're supposed to have AT once a year but that is never going to happen. Imagine the conversation withe boss trying to get approval to carry over more than 15 days leave when you've taken a week for AT instead. Life in the RAF has just become about working hard with no time to play hard. As was mentioned earlier I look forward to putting in a claim to go to Cranwell to use this machine, as we all know it was only ever purchased for the RAF Golf players and to say anything else is just spin.

Why not sell sessions in this device to the local Great Unwashed, with all profits going to RAFBF and H4H?

Presumably there must be enough Lincolnshire folk, intent on ruining a good walk, who could make that viable?

4everAD

The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) have recognised the difficulty for some to get a week away. There are a number of Ex EAGLES 1-day JSAT activities that have recently been authorised. For example Ex SOARING EAGLE is a 1-day 'taster' activity for gliding. Still free of charge Still with the same aim in mind. Plus if you can't get a day off once a year to do something like this then there is something wrong with your management team!

LJ :ok:

BEags

As you well know with your long association with Service Flying Club activity, selling off spare capacity comes with many issues. Not least the Charties Commission requirement to have at leat 51% Full Membership (Regulars and some Reserves) and 49% Associate Membership (Dependents, Contractors, some Reserves, ATC and some civvy enablers) - opening the doors to the so-called "local Great Unwashed" would not be in the spirit of the Charity status of most Service Sports Assocs and Clubs. It also comes with a security burden. An accounting burden (ie. The encroachment is an agreement where no profit for another organisation is being generated from the use of Service infrastructure). Etc...

It's a great idea but within the Service regulations it just can't happen without unravelling a can of worms!

LJ :ok:

CASBO

I agree to some extent and I am often surprised to see that the Stn gym isn't run by Serco like the gyms outside the wire. But some RAF sports are totally funded by non-public money. The only support they get is the use of a building and all members conducting the activity are off-duty either giving their time and expertise for free or they are paying for the sport at a non-profit rate (that normally works out to be 30-50% cheaper than going to a civvy sports provider).

RAF Sports Assocs should come at no cost to the Tax Payer, but even then should offer the opportunity to the Service person to conduct that sporting activity at the lowest possible cost to the Service individual paying for it from their own funds. That is the aim of most RAF Sports Assocs and Clubs.

LJ

A consequence of the RAF handing over a certain Scottish base to the Army?

This was pathetic, lazy journalism by the Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Times. The golf simulator story appeared in RAF News on Friday: all the Sunday rag journalists have done is re-hashed the story, complete with pictures and quotes, and put a negative spin on it, while also managing to get a load of facts wrong in the process. In the context of the great matters affecting Defence, our country and the world, this is a complete non-story.

My attempt to say as much in the Mail on Sunday comments has not appeared: either their server is remarkably slow or I've been 'moderated'. I won't be bothering to pay for access through the Times' firewall to comment there.

Mrs PNs input, it's not a sport but a pastime.

Money would be better spent on a pack of Beagles.