THE keys to Fishguard Sea Cadet’s new mini bus were officially handed over on Friday night (April 4) following five years of fundraising.

The cadets have managed to raise the £18,000 needed for their new vehicle by carrying out a range of fundraising activities, including a 24-hour row, family fun regatta, car washes, coffee mornings, and bag packing.

Nickie Brooks, chairman of the parent's fundraising committee said: “We wrote letters to the local businesses asking if they’d like to support us and they did. We would like to thank them from the bottom of our hearts.

“We couldn’t have done it without the parent’s committee. They’re a really great bunch.”

Chris Birch, chairman of the Fishguard Sea Cadets, said: “We had the old mini bus for about seven or eight years. We kept pushing it through its MOT, but eventually it wasn’t going to get through another one. This new mini bus came along just at the right time.

“We use the mini bus for all sorts of things, because we’re out on a limb here. Our area goes from the whole of the south west of England, up as far as Birmingham, across through south Wales and up to Aberystwyth.

“If we’ve got to take teams anywhere, you can’t have big buses all the time because they are so expensive. At the moment the mini bus is in Shropshire, where the cadets are rock climbing, cycling and walking.”

Fishguard Sea Cadets Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Sue Gittins said: “I’m really chuffed with how the fundraising has gone. I can’t thank the parent's committee enough, and the cadets for everything they’ve done. £18,000 is a huge amount of money to raise in that amount of time.”

The Fishguard Sea Cadets have around 70 members who meet three times a week. In the summer they do activities such as windsurfing, power boating, rowing, canoeing and sailing, and in the winter months they work on their marine engineering, communication, cooking and banding skills.