Oakham School CCF Collar badge, Rutland (Leics)

[GriffMJ]

Oakham School CCF
Just showing the cap badge.....

[oc14]

Originally Posted by GriffMJ

Not guilty..... I was just looking and it was the first one I had seen up close. One of my sons riding chums goes to Oakham School and I might ask him to get me one (or two) My sons new school's CCF wears the Royal Anglians cap badge

Ratcliffe College CCF, Leics.

Oakham no longer wear this pattern of badge (they also wear the Royal Anglian Regiment cap badge). I don't know when they stopped wearing it but they were not wearing it in 2004 when I had my first contact with the Contingent.
I know the Contingent Commander of Ratcliffe College CCF very well - it was one of the Contingent's that the Cadet Training Team that I commanded supported the training of and I was the brigade reporting officer for !

PL

[hagwalther]

Hi Guys,

Been away out of inter web range.

Seems the badge on eBay went for 51 pounds - blimey!!!

Regards

Chris

[davec2]

Despite a lot of collectors averaion to the Staybrite badge, I've heard that this is one of the badges ideal for investing in for the future ?

It never fails to amaze me at the differences in the prices being achieved by the various A/A badges just lately ( needless to say I bet most of mine fall into the basement price bracket ), sadly, I don't have the nounce to recognise the rare and valuable badges, I do have one to the Wiltshire Regiment which I believe, isn't a ' cheapo '...........

However, those that can, must be in a position to collect a nice little " nest-egg " for the future and in recognising that fact, I for one must congratulate anyone who is doing this, so the winner of this badge must surely know what he's doing ??

Just my thoughts on this subject ........

Dave.

[hagwalther]

Originally Posted by davec2

Despite a lot of collectors averaion to the Staybrite badge, I've heard that this is one of the badges ideal for investing in for the future ?

It never fails to amaze me at the differences in the prices being achieved by the various A/A badges just lately ( needless to say I bet most of mine fall into the basement price bracket ), sadly, I don't have the nounce to recognise the rare and valuable badges, I do have one to the Wiltshire Regiment which I believe, isn't a ' cheapo '...........

However, those that can, must be in a position to collect a nice little " nest-egg " for the future and in recognising that fact, I for one must congratulate anyone who is doing this, so the winner of this badge must surely know what he's doing ??

Just my thoughts on this subject ........

Dave.

Hi Dave,

Some A/A badges are going up in prices unheard of a few years ago while most though will always be a five to ten pound item due to the vast numbers that were made.

I have identified 348 A/A badges that I have found to have been both officially authorised for issue and also manufactured. Add to this a further 10 that look genuine but for which I have no info on and we have 358 items. This total includes ACF and CCF units (which really are a law unto themselves) and Royal Marines.

Most ACF and CCF badges are scarce while some are very rare indeed. The Oakham School badge is relatively common and I was peeved at paying 17 pounds for mine a few months ago.

In my opinion there are 53 rare A/A badges out there in collector land of which, for some units, single pieces only are know of.

I am working hard to get this book finished by June and this seems achievable - all will be revealed then.

Regards

Chris

[davec2]

Cheers Chris,

Thanks for that info !

I appreciate the fact that some people love A/A and others absolutely hate them, I have been half way in my feelings although my own badges ( Junior Learders Reg't cap and D.E.R.R. collars ), were A/A, consequently, I only have about twenty or so, mainly Scottish and new Cavalry but I have only been collecting for about eight years !

I can however see that your book is going to be of so much use to all collectors, not only those who do collect Staybrite, in fact, I, who has been described in the past as being parsimonious, no name no pack drill my Welsh friend, may even try to get a copy myself

Regards.

Dave.

[Mike H]

Originally Posted by hagwalther

I have identified 348 A/A badges that I have found to have been both officially authorised for issue and also manufactured. Add to this a further 10 that look genuine but for which I have no info on and we have 358 items. This total includes ACF and CCF units (which really are a law unto themselves) and Royal Marines.

Have you included RAF in that Chris ?

Ive checked through the information i have and have come up with well over 400 badges.That does not include manufactures errors or blackened badges except for High Wycombe GS.

[bess55]

Originally Posted by oc14

Oakham no longer wear this pattern of badge (they also wear the Royal Anglian Regiment cap badge). I don't know when they stopped wearing it but they were not wearing it in 2004 when I had my first contact with the Contingent.
I know the Contingent Commander of Ratcliffe College CCF very well - it was one of the Contingent's that the Cadet Training Team that I commanded supported the training of and I was the brigade reporting officer for !

PL

Gents,
may sound odd, but can anyone confirm/evidence that this badge was worn by Oakham school as a cap badge?

I recall reading that Oakham school wore the Leicestershire Regt cap badge with the 'Oakham' badge as a collar badge. I cannot remember where I read this - I'm sure it was not on a thread on this forum.

I appreciate that the rear fixings do not conform to that usually seen with (anodised) collar badges, but in truth many of the 'school/college' cap badges have lugs where one may well have expected to see a slider.

Regards all

Bess

[hagwalther]

Hi Bess,

The amount of time that I have spent into researching ACF/CCF badge for the amount of generated output beggars belief. The problem is while official (note the word official) info on senior units is pretty much out there in the archives there is very little on ACF/CCF badges and basically none on when you get down to individual units. This is because that while senior unit badge went through a set procedure on procurement followed by their recording in official documentation ACF/CCF items did not. Their procedure was to provide a sketch of a proposed badge to the controlling ACF/CCF authority, a few gin a tonics and bingo - the design was approved. Problem is that this was seldom officially (again, note the word officially) recorded, or if it was, I can't find it.

Therefore, and reluctantly, I have given the benefit of doubt for many of the ACF/CCF badges shown in my forthcoming book which includes the Oakham SchoolCCF. However, saying that, when investigating these badges it was found that many CCF/ACF badges were not A/A but were made of a similarly looking material. I am currently trying to find out what this material is but again, very little if no official documentation exists. Hence many collectors think that they have a rare A/A CCF cap badge when it is in fact made of something else.

Going back to Oakham. I can only assume the badge was worn as a cap badge. The other issue is that all A/A badges (except those exempted by the War Office and Army Dress Committees) were to be made with sliders as per official specification. In the case of ACF/CCF most come with lugs - why? - dunno.

A/A ACF/CCF badges are, to me at least, a real problem and an area which is fraught with contradiction for the collector.

Regards

Chris

[GriffMJ]

Just to add to what Chris has said....... the LDYPAO "F" Squadron ACF wear the insignia of the LDYPAO. All of their items are made locally by a company that can copy the original badge and then reproduce them. All of these badges have the pin and clasp fitting and come in either white or yellow metal. The cadet Officers will "paint" the badges with a silver paint to get the contrasting colour. None of these badges are made officially...... but they are all worn "Officially"

[hagwalther]

Originally Posted by GriffMJ

Just to add to what Chris has said....... the LDYPAO "F" Squadron ACF wear the insignia of the LDYPAO. All of their items are made locally by a company that can copy the original badge and then reproduce them. All of these badges have the pin and clasp fitting and come in either white or yellow metal. The cadet Officers will "paint" the badges with a silver paint to get the contrasting colour. None of these badges are made officially...... but they are all worn "Officially"

Hi Griff,

That is quite interesting - thanks for posting it.

Regards

Chris

[Alan O]

Originally Posted by GriffMJ

Oakham School CCF
Just showing the cap badge.....

Its definately a collar badge. The school archives record its introduction as a collar and their CCF history states their unique use of it as a collar.

The school wore its school crest as a badge until 1929, then a Leicestershire Tiger with Oakham scroll, the Royal Leicester cap badge, Royal Anglian and now RLC.

https://www.oakham.rutland.sch.uk/up...20(19.5MB).pdf

'In 1947 the Contingent was granted the privilege of wearing collar badges – a Rutland horseshoe encircling a small sprig of oak leaves and an acorn above a silver scroll inscribed Oakham.'

[Peter Brydon]

If only this sort of history was available for all cadet units !!!

P.B.

[bess55]

Originally Posted by Peter Brydon

If only this sort of history was available for all cadet units !!!

P.B.

Here here!

Many thanks Alan, I knew I'd heard it right somewhere. It is slightly curious that more do not turn up, but it would depend how many were initially made and if they were recycled over years through the school perhaps. And of course, perhaps they are kept as treasured souvenirs

Kind regards all

Bess

[2747andy]

I'm not going to immediately consign the anodised example in my collection to the collar draw! The date quoted, unless I've missed it elsewhere refers to a period before anodised was even introduced!

The Royal Anglian cap badge, despite belonging to a fine Regiment is probably on a list of one to one hundred of the British Army's most inspired cap badge designs, is probably somewhere in the ten thousands?

From the 50/60's to present date it is unlikely that cadet units whether public school or ACF have had any huge quantity of uniforms upon which collar badges would have been worn?

I would be tempted to do more research before tagging this as a collar badge rather than a badge introduced for wear in the beret in place of a boring Star thingy with a sandcastle stuck to it!

Andy