A TOWN'S Air Training Cadet corps, which five years ago was struggling to survive, will this week open a £165,000 headquarters.

Whitby ATC had only ten members, but today has 42 said the commanding officer, Flight Lieutenant Heather Shardlow.

The new prefabricated building at Caedmon School, Whitby, is three times larger than the corps' former unit in Stonecross Road, she said.

The complex has been funded by the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association.

It will have a large hall, two classrooms, a kitchen and toilets and will be formally opened on Wednesday by Channel Four newscaster Alex Thomson, whose family live in Whitby.

The keys are to be ceremonially delivered by a Sea King helicopter from RAF Leconfield, near Beverley, East Yorkshire.