IS SO MUCH MORE THAN A TRANSITIONAL TIME BETWEEN FRIGID TEMPERATURES AND BALMY BEACH DAYS.

It's a season of new beginnings, rejuvenation, and rebirth capturing the imagination of writers and poets throughout the centuries. Tolstoy hit the nail on the head when he said that Spring is the time of plans and projects. This very much applies here at Halton as we reconfigure both Ops and Trg Wings to face forthcoming challenges, not least aligning workforce in the latter to engage with Programme PORTAL planning and to better understand what the transition to 2 Group might look like and how it will affect our business. This work takes place under the watchful eye of our new Station Warrant Officer, Dave Iliffe, who most will know from his time in the Finlay gym.

Our routine business of delivering motivated, welltrained warfighters to the frontline continues unabated and has never been more relevant than set against the backdrop of ongoing war in Ukraine. The courage, determination, and resilience that we have seen from the Ukrainian people in defending their country and their shared values of freedom and democracy has been awe inspiring. Their struggle for the future of their country and that of their children has captured the hearts and minds of the entire free world, whose support for their fight has been unwavering. The Ministry of Defence and the UK Armed Forces have taken a leading role in this international effort, providing vital equipment, training thousands of Ukrainian recruits and reinforcing our commitment to NATO. Specifically the RAF has overseen a huge logistical effort to source equipment and move military aid by air. More than 500 Typhoon sorties have been flown in support of UK and NATO security, and Rivet Joint has flown more than 125 intelligence gathering missions across the High North, Baltic, and Black Seas.

As ever this month's edition offers an insight into the smorgasbord of diverse station activity. What it does not perhaps reflect was the herculean whole force effort which secured an Ofsted assessment of GOOD following their visit immediately upon our return from the Christmas break. With only 48 hours' notice the team descended to assess both the BTRC and DE SNCO courses. Whilst our challenges with infrastructure were quite rightly identified as needing improvement, the Ofsted team were clear that we have high expectations of recruits and are ambitious for them to succeed: 'staff have a clear vision and mission to train motivated and wellprepared aviators. They are determined to ensure recruits experience an inclusive and fair living and training environment where they feel safe. Recruits are positive about their experience, courses are well planned and ordered so that recruits have enough time to practise new skills'. Specifically our trainers were assessed to have expert subject knowledge and relevant training qualifications, using these effectively to explain information clearly which keeps recruits motivated to listen and contribute. Well done and thank you to everyone involved; the Ofsted assessment accurately reflects that which I have held dear since my arrival last summer: Halton is blessed with great people doing great work.

Welcome to the first edition of Mainpoint for 2023. Despite the apparent quietness of the Stn in Jan and Feb, I am pleased to say that we have a magazine packed with interesting stories for you.

We tell how RAF Halton SATTs have been providing support at RAF Honington as part of their holds, and the role of Halton in training Part Time Voluntary Reservists is also covered. We feature another well-known station building with a huge history - Halton House Officers’ Mess. In other news we cover some amazing community and charity events, with a huge weight lifted in support of Suicide Awareness and some of our SATTs challenged to restore an area at the RSPCA Blackberry Farm Animal Centre.

Sporting stories include cross-country and golf… there is a flashback to Christmas to catch up with events from late December and January. Finally, two long-serving Halton personnel who recently left the RAF give a few details of their varied RAF life and there are 2 familiar faces along with a new face in ‘Meet the New…’

My huge thanks, as always, to all contributors – without you the magazine would not appear. However, I am sad to say that this is my final edition of Mainpoint as Editor – I am handing over to Flt Lt Kate Gale who is eagerly awaiting any new volunteers to join the Mainpoint Team! Good luck Kate and enjoy your time creating a varied magazine which hopefully can be kept in a printed version. I became involved with Mainpoint because I wanted to know what was going on at Halton (I’m nosey!). Whatever your motivation, if you have an interest in helping to produce the magazine or ideas for content, I am sure that Kate would welcome hearing from you!

Ed