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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.”

My name is Matthew and I attended Worcester Sea Cadets. I joined when I was 12-years-old and left when I was 16-years-old.

I had a fantastic time there and I am still welcome to go back when I can. It’s feels like a family, everyone is so nice and caring.

Sea Cadets helped me gain confidence and leadership. I did many courses such as Powerboat level 2 which was amazing.

I reached Able Cadet and enjoyed every second, especially the courses! You gain so many friends from around the nation, meet amazing people and see amazing things.

When I finished my GCSEs, I got the right grades to go to Fleetwood Nautical College where I am currently studying a HNC in nautical science as a Deck Officer Cadet. I am sponsored by P and O ferries and am really enjoying it. Sea Cadets has giving me the confidence and discipline to live on my own away from home and follow my dreams.

Although I had to leave at 16 I would have happily stayed until 18 if I could.

Once I qualify as a third officer in the Merchant Navy I will be sure to return.

Many thanks for what you have done for me.

On Saturday the 4th of May cadets helped open the Army Vs Royal Navy game by carrying out the White Ensigned flag onto the pitch. 

Senior Events Officer Seb Britton said “It started raining heavily just before the cadets went out on the pitch but this didn’t dampen their spirits, all the cadets did superbly well and put on a great show in front of 80,000 rugby fans. There’s very little time to practice carrying the White Ensign ahead of the game and once you’re on the pitch you can’t hear anything over the noise of the crowd. It’s a nerve-racking experience, especially when the flag is revealed but the cadets managed to pull it off perfectly!"

One parent commented saying "the cadets did so well and made us very proud". 

The overall score was 27-11 to Army 

Cadets represented from the following units:

Camberley

Chelmsford

Cheshunt

Chichester

Haringey

Hove and Adur

Milton Keynes

Newhaven

Portsmouth

Reigate

I signed up for the cadet fundraising challenge when our unit asked us to think of a challenge that we could do ourselves to raise money for our new minibus. We had a lot of the money raised by other means, but we still needed another £2000 or so.

We had to think of the idea ourselves and carry it out. It could be anything. I chose my challenge and decided to do a 1.4-mile swim from Bournemouth pier to Boscombe pier. It’s longer than you think!

I have swum many times and probably even that distance, but this is completely different. For a start it’s much, much colder. The tides, if against you make swimming a lot harder and it feels like you are going one stroke forward and five strokes back.

I started out too shallow and swam deeper to avoid the groynes; these are walls built into the sea to prevent longshore drift. The good thing about these groynes is there are lots of them from Bournemouth to Boscombe and I used them to count down how long I had left. I knew how many there were because we parked at Boscombe and walked to Bournemouth before I started, so I counted as I went along. This helped me to think about the length of time I might have left to swim.

I didn’t have time to practice this swim because I had been so busy doing my first year of A levels. I would recommend that anyone doing something similar does practice a lot in the sea.

Myself and the other four cadets managed to raise £1242.55 by doing our challenges and this made buying the minibus a lot quicker.

Ordinary Cadet James
Winchester Sea Cadets

Last month, our First Sea Lord Cadets were invited to join Admiral Sir Philip Jones KCB ADC at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) HQ in London for the day, getting the opportunity to speak to the Admiral and meet members of the Navy Board, the body responsible for the day-to-day running of the Royal Navy.

Before heading to the MoD main building, cadets were treated to a tour of the historic boardroom in the old admiralty buildings, this is where the most important decisions affecting the Navy have been made since 1725 and contains a number of artefacts including a portrait of Admiral Nelson and an ornate carved fireplace.

Once at main building the group received briefings on naval operations, aviation and life as a weapons engineer before a buffet lunch and photographs with the Navy Board.