Ardrossan Sea Cadets flew the flag for our town when they were involved in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant.

The group of five were one of just two sea cadet teams from Scotland who had the honour of taking part in the historic event.

CPO(SCC) John Macdonald, Officer in Charge at Ardrossan Sea Cadets and Navigator during the flotilla, told s1ardrossan: "It was amazing because the banks of the Thames and the whole of London were absolutely chock-a-block.

"We had to fly flags representing the countries of the Commonwealth. We were flying the flag for Ghana but being Scottish, we brought the Saltire along with us too. When we saw a Saltire on the banks, we raised up our Scottish flag. It was a bit of fun and you'd get a cheer back because you were Scottish.

"The Sea Cadets came from all over the UK, as well as Hong Kong and Bermuda. We all did a diamond formation on the water for the Diamond Jubilee.

"We were behind the Queen's Barge. We didn't meet the Royal Family but we were close up to them when we went passed."

John travelled to London with the cadets - AC Beth Doherty, AC Alan Frank Falconer, LC David Edgar, LC Ryan Kean - two days before taking part in the Pageant.

The team, who were in boat number 22, only had two practices before the big event, but everything went swimmingly.

John said: "We played quite a big part in it. It was good but there was a lot of travel and preparation. We arrived on the Friday and we practiced on the Saturday and then on the Sunday morning. We then took part on the Sunday afternoon."

Unfortunately, as we all know, the British weather put a bit of a dampener on things at the Jubilee Pageant. And it wasn't just the Duke of Edinburgh who suffered as a result of the freezing conditions.

John said: "It was lovely until we got to Westminster. When we passed Westminster it was torrential rain. It so wet that we were bailing the water out of the boat.

"It was absolutely horrendous. There were 39 people, including one of our girls, who got hypothermia. It was absolutely frozen."

Despite the unpleasant weather, the Ardrossan Sea Cadets will cherish their Royal adventure for some time.

John added: "We made some good friends at it. We had an exchange of flags with the Hong Kong cadets. We learnt to say hello to them in Cantonese and a few other words.

"On the way back home we were stopped in about four or five service stations by people saying they recognised us from the telly! That was nice and was a good pat on the back for the young ones.

"It was a good event for the young people. It was a great thing to be part of, especially for them. They might never get to do something like that ever again in their lifetime."

Well done Ardrossan Sea Cadets!