Home The Company Professional Development Pro-Bono Services Membership News Contact Us

Our Association with the Sea Cadets

The original contact resulted from an invitation to a reception on TS ROYALIST on 27th June 2002, which was attended by Second Warden Alan Broomhead on behalf of the Company when the then Sea Cadet Association was seeking to raise its public profile.  The relationship blossomed rapidly and the Company formally resolved to be affiliated to the Sea Cadet Corps in the summer of 2003. 

The act was celebrated by the presentation of a certificate to Vice Admiral Sir Jonathan Tod, Chairman of the SCA Trustees, at the Installation Dinner in Ironmongers Hall on 16th October 2003. 

   

Since then the Sea Cadet Association (SCA), has united with the Marine Society in 2004 to form a new charity called the Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC).  Practical assistance is given by way of grants to London Area, participation in the Royalist Regatta and consultancy to HQ.  In return the Sea Cadets provide bands, display teams and guides at company functions.  Occasionally they host events on their ships ROYALIST and JERWOOD when these visit HMS PRESIDENT in London.

Grant to London Area

London Area is supported by giving grants.  One is an annual grant of £500 paid to London Area every December to assist individual cadets to go on sailing activities that they otherwise could not afford.  The second is the annual award of £1000 to encourage adventurous training activities by units in the London Area.  This award is paid at the Annual Meeting when the Master and Wardens are piped in.

Royalist Regatta

The Royalist Regatta is normally held at Portsmouth on the second Tuesday and Wednesday of May.  It started in 1998, and since 2005 has been run jointly with The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.  The cost of taking part is £5,500 per yacht with eight crew members, which includes one and a half day's sailing, champagne reception and formal dinner, then breakfast, lunch afloat and afternoon buffet on the second day.   The company has supported this event since first entering a team in 2004, with some pump priming from the Charitable Fund, but crew members have largely paid their own way for the past four years.

Satjit Singh Trophy

A trophy donated by Assistant Satjit Singh was offered to the Sea Cadets in 2004 to encourage the relationship between the two organisations.  It is now awarded annually to the person who achieves the highest scores in the Officer Selection Board course.  It was presented by the Master in 2005 and 2006 and again at the Spring Gala in 2008.

The Lord Mayor's Show

Past Master Hugh Morris personally funded an entry in the Lord Mayor’s Show in November 2006, and agreed to pay for a float in the Sea Cadet section and Company members marched alongside in the parade.  The float contained a Zippa speedboat which was subsequently donated to the London Area for the benefit of the volunteers.  This joint activity has now become an annual event, which is much enjoyed by the Sea Cadets and the Company.

Spring Charity Gala

The Company held a Spring Gala at HMS PRESIDENT on 10th April 2008 with excellent Sea Cadet support in terms of a band, display teams and hosts, and the presence of TS ROYALIST. This event raised £30,834 for charity of which £15,000 financed the purchase of a RIB for London Area.

Consultancy Support

The primary link with HQ has been with Mike Cornish since his appointment as Chief Executive in October 2003.  He outlined five projects in which he would value professional assistance.  These were:-

  • A questionnaire based study of the membership to facilitate negotiations with Royal Navy on a new Memorandum of Understanding which generated some excellent development work involving several members of the Company and other helpers, but which did not progress due to timing difficulties.
  • Assistance in developing a marketing approach, superseded by the appointment of a full time director
  • Analysis of the most effective ways of using various communication tools to reach target audiences which was not pursued
  • Research into the most effective IT infrastructure for the organisation, a project conducted by Liveryman Rupert Turton in 2004
  • Development of a database now operational as the joint ACF and Sea Cadet Project Westminster for which Past Master Alan Broomhead was the initial project manager

A review of this consultancy work was presented to the Professional Network meeting by Past Master Alan Broomhead and Mike Cornish on 21st February 2008, together with an online demonstration of Project Westminster given by Peter Freeman, the Director of IT for the MSSC.

About the Sea Cadets

The Sea Cadets is Britain's oldest voluntary maritime-based youth organisation, involving 22,500 people in almost 400 units across the country. In recent decades, tens of thousands of young people have seized the opportunity from the training and instruction that is offered afloat and ashore.

The Sea Cadets is a very successful organisation, proud of their achievements in ensuring that young people acquire life skills and have fun in doing so. The range of activities is very broad, including boat work and sailing, offshore expeditions, bands and music, cook/stewardship and adventure training, together with BTEC and RYA qualifications.

Many cadets have gone on to join the Royal Navy or the Merchant Services. Some join the other Armed Services, while others choose careers with the uniformed public employers (the police, fire and ambulance service, RNLI etc). But the majority of the cadets have simply been assisted to become good citizens, responsible adults and attractive candidates for employment.

At the core of the work of the Sea Cadets organisation are the many loyal and dedicated adult volunteers, committee members, parents and family groups who, in hundreds of communities, give freely of their time, effort and experience to help generations of young people.

This great organisation was further strengthened when, in November 2004, The Sea Cadet Association merged with The Marine Society, Britain’s oldest maritime charity which was founded in 1756.

“We are grateful for your imaginative help to the cadets of London and look forward with confidence to our continued future partnership."

Mike Cornish, CEO, Sea Cadets