News

Here at Sea Cadets we’ve been celebrating Pride Month and showing our support for the LGBT community. There are many LGBT cadets and volunteers in the Sea Cadet family, and we want to share their stories and show that whoever you are, you are welcome. That’s why, for the first time ever, we’ve got a Pride feature in our upcoming Sea Cadet Magazine, and we’ve produced a Guide to Pride to help our units get on board.

We embrace diversity and encourage our cadets to be themselves, and we believe that all people should be able to do the same. So we’ve raised our flag, and we hope you will do the same,

Three Sea Cadets attended a distinguished ceremony at the House of Lords as finalists for the annual CVQO Westminster Award.

Larissa, from Chelmsford, Katie from Warsash and Sam from Weymouth all received their ILM Level 3 Award in Leadership and Management from Lord Lingfield at the event.

Sam was also presented with the Pearson BTEC Achievement Award for the best BTEC Level 2 submission.

The cadets were joined by families, friends and Cadet Force Adult Volunteers, as well as distinguished representatives from the military, government and world of education.

Captain Sea Cadets Captain Phil Russell, who also attended the event, said: “It’s wonderful to see so many young people embracing the opportunities that Sea Cadets can offer. Sam, Larissa and Katie are great examples of what you can achieve with a good attitude, some hard work and dedication.”

They were joined by families, friends and Cadet Force Adult Volunteers, as well as distinguished representatives from the military, government and world of education – all gathered to celebrate their achievements.

The three Sea Cadets will join eight other finalists from other cadet organisations for an expedition to South Africa in July.

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.”