News

This week Sea Cadets are celebrating 162 years of empowering young people to be the best versions of themselves through a mixture of adventure, learning and friendship.

To coincide with the occasion, we are launching our ‘draw your own future’ campaign, which aims to promote the role Sea Cadets can have in preparing young people for life, helping them to succeed in whatever future they envisage for themselves.

The world can be a complex and overwhelming place for a young person in today’s society, and working out their place in it can be daunting. We equip our cadets with the tools they need to embrace this challenge and become active and well-rounded members of the community.

Find out more about our 'Draw Your Own Future' campaign here.

Susan Catterall MBE, Lt (SCC) Andre Bonjour MBE and Jenn Harrison BEM have all been recognised for their selfless hard work and dedication as committed Sea Cadet volunteers in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Susan, 67, is one of our longest serving volunteers and has devoted 40 years to the Sea Cadets. As Lieutenant (SCC) she commanded Orpington Sea Cadets for 17 years, overseeing their transformation into one of the leading groups in the London region. Since stepping she has remained an active supporter of Orpington Sea Cadets as a Unit Management Committee (UMC) member and trustee.

Lt (SCC) Andre Bonjour, Commanding Officer for Jersey Sea Cadets, was also recognised for his service to the charity which spans many years and has included many highlights, including leading his marine cadets to Gibraltar Cup success this year.

Jenn, 45, is a passionate volunteer and local charity champion and has been Chair of Birmingham Vernon Sea Cadets since 2014. A prolific fundraiser, Jenn has raised £60,000 of funding for Birmingham Vernon, secured £30,000 from the Armed Forces Community Covenant for essential refurbishment work at Sandwell and helped Walsall to raise £10,000 to replace their heating system.

Jersey’s Royal Marines Cadets have been declared winners of the Gibraltar Cup beating stiff competition from across the UK. The prestigious award celebrates the best Royal Marine cadet group in the country, recognising the training and achievements of the cadets during the previous year. The youngsters were nominated in November after they outperformed 25 other cadet groups in the Southern Area Conference. A team of eight cadets were due to join teams from the other five area finalists for a weekend of competition at the Commando Training Centre near Exeter. However, these plans were disrupted by poor weather and instead a command team visited each of the nominated detachments in May.

The Captain Sea Cadets, Captain Phil Russell, who announced the winner, said: “All of the detachments displayed the highest standards of commitment, determination and motivation, and the cadets should be proud of their successes over the past year. Congratulations to Jersey, they are the deserved winners of a closely-contested competition.”

Congratulations to Sea Cadets' North West Area Officer, Commander Charlie Bagot-Jewitt DL RN, who walked from Scarborough Unit to Barrow Unit to mark his transfer from Eastern Area Officer and raise funds for Sea Cadets. Charlie walked for ten days with an average of 22 miles-per-day. Charlie said: "The walk was beautiful and the weather superb. My feet are quite numb and I’m just coming around to feeling my toes once more. It was lovely to see the Corps come out in force to support me along the way, culminating in a delicious welcome BBQ from Barrow Unit!". So far Charlie has raised more than £770. Thank you for supporting the charity nationally for cadets, volunteers and units across the country

Bravo zulu to former cadets Nicole Gildert and Jordan Connor, both 18, who completed the Manchester Half Marathon this month to raise money for Sea Cadets. The two runners were supported on the day by an amazing cheer team from Stockport Unit. Both Jordan and Nicole finished the Great Manchester Run in less than two hours and 45 minutes, raising over £170 for the charity, with more still to come in. A further congratulations to Matthew, 39, another former cadet, and Marina, 48, a volunteer for her local unit and MSSC staff member, Rachel Gurnett, for completing Vitality London 10,000. All our runners completed the challenge in great times despite the incredible heat, and were cheered on by our amazing cheer team near St Paul’s Cathedral. The team have currently raised more than £850, with more donations still coming in.