News

As part of our celebration of National Sea Cadet week, a small group of Croydon sea cadets visited the Royal Alfred Seafarers Society at Banstead. It was a great opportunity for our young people to meet and exchange life stories with Seafarers resident and being taken care of there. The residents we met were all characters with great stories to tell. The gentleman with two hats, one was his beret from when he joined the Royal Navy at the tender age of 15 at HMS Ganges. The second hat was from gaining his PHD and being awarded a doctorate. It was a wonderful celebration and marked a fitting end to our National Cadet week celebrations.

For National Cadet week, we thought we would do something different. Instead of remaining as is often said, the best kept secret, we thought we would reach out into the community to raise awareness and generate interest from potential volunteers. So we attended a careers fair in Fairfields Hall central Croydon.

We didn't know what to expect, this being our first experience of such an event, but we were very pleasantly surprised how engaged people were and how many wanted to speak with us and find out about Sea Cadets. We even managed to do some recruitment for other units across London!

Overall this was a great opportunity to promote Sea Cadets in Croydon and for the national organisation. We returned home exhausted but uplifted by the experience and committed to doing more!

National Cadet Week is a nationwide celebration of everything the cadet forces represent: youth development, community service, resilience, skills for life and the thousands of dedicated volunteers who make it all possible. The week also supports the government’s ambition to grow the cadet forces by 30% by 2030. 
Here is a link to a message from His Majesty King Charles. And a link from the Princess Royal Admiral of the Sea Cadets Corps. Please follow our updates on Facebook.

Croydon Sea Cadets featured today on Inside Croydon. Click here to read the article. In it we set out the need for volunteers to help us deliver the sea cadets experience. Why not make contact with us and be the adult you always wanted to be? We are a friendly group and like to think of ourselves as a second family. Without volunteers cadets miss out. A little goes a long way!

As part of a joint initiative with Croydon Sailing Club, our cadets have been able to start sailing at South Norwood lake in Croydon. This is a great opportunity for cadets to get afloat locally in Croydon, without the need for lengthy journeys, wasting valuable time on the road rather than being on the water. Sailing helps our young people develop skills such as leadership, teamwork and self confidence. Here is a video. Why not come and join them!