News

The winner of the Sea Cadets category at the Royal Navy's Peregrine Trophy photographic competition has been named as OC Alessandro Aquar from City of London Unit. His picture (above) depicts Alessandro's view from the top of HMS Queen Elizabeth's 260m long runway. The Peregrine Trophy is awarded each year to a sea cadet between 14 and 17 who has taken a picture that best represents the Sea Cadets Experience. 

Alessandro, beating more than 60 other cadets, wins an offshore voyage to use on one of Sea Cadets' five offshore vessels and a trip to the Royal Navy awards ceremony in Admiralty House, London, on Tuesday 2 July.

Days before her resignation from post, Prime Minister Theresa May was meeting cadets at Maidenhead Unit. As the Member of Parliament for the constituency, Theresa May attended Maidenhead's Duck Derby - the town's biggest on the water community event. 

Maidenhead Unit were challenging the general public to a rowing challenge - testing how far they could row on an electric rowing machine in 60 seconds. With the leaderboard packed full of entries, the Prime Minister stepped up to give her best effort. In 60 seconds, Theresa May managed to travel an impressive 289 virtual metres. 

Cdt 1 Natasha said: "I really enjoyed meeting the Prime Minister and watching her try the rowing machine. It was nice to see her get involved. She was actually quite good!"

Commanding Officer S/Lt (SCC) Chris Edge RNR said: "We always engage with so many people and tend to recruit well from (the day) as a result. The unit is able to actively demonstrate our boat handling skills in rowing, power boating, yoling and Paddlesport which always draws spectators. 

In May, Sea Cadets hosted the first ever official naming event for two RS Zests. Sea Cadets were joined by the BMT Group, who supported Sea Cadets by donating two RS Zests for use at Whale Island Boat Station, one in recognition of the retirement of their former board member, Ian Davies.

Ian Davies was joined by Guy Tomlinson, Group Capability and Strategy Director at BMT, Cdr Chris Roberts, CO at HMS Excellent, local cadets, family, friends and staff members from BMT Group to officially name the RS Zests. As part of the event, all guests had the incredible opportunity to get out on the water with the cadets and sail the dinghies. Both RS Zests will be kept at Whale Island Boat Station and will enable the charity to give opportunities, training and qualifications to more young people in the area.

Congratulations to the four amazing runners who made the most of the May bank holiday weekend and ran Vitality 10k on Monday 27 May for Sea Cadets. The team, who included corporate supporters, a volunteer and an employee all completed their runs with fantastic times and great enthusiasm on a warm day in the capital. 

Six boats have been donated, all of which will be rotated around the country to deliver keelboat training amongst the 15,000 Sea Cadets across the UK. Guests on the day were invited to experience a taste of the programme which the Sea Cadets youth charity will be able to deliver thanks to the generous support of Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

The training made possible through these RS21 keelboats will focus on the delivery of RYA qualifications and league competitions across at least eight boat stations nationally. These boats are expected to provide a minimum of 12 years of service for the benefit of over 1,000 cadets per year.

Sea Cadets charity Chief Executive, Martin Coles said “we are extremely grateful to Sir Stelios for the fantastic opportunity these keelboats will provide our cadets. Many of our young people come from inner city communities or disadvantaged areas and would never have imagined being able to access sail training in such fantastic vessels, maybe even inspiring a future career in the maritime sector. So for many of our cadets, these keelboats mark the beginning of a life that would not otherwise have been available to them.”