Latest News

03/04/2014

We bid a sad farewell to Captain Eric Harvey Beetham MNN FNI FRIN FRSA who was a MSSC Vice President and a former Trustee, and a member of the MSSC Kent Branch.

He served 30 years in the Merchant Navy, and was awarded the Australian Merchant Navy Service Cross 2000 and UK Merchant Navy Medal in 2009. Our thoughts are with his wife, Brenda, who accompanied him to all our events. His funeral is on Monday 7 April. We will be represented by Captain Nigel Palmer OBE MNM, MSSC Chairman, Captain Mark Windsor RN Retd formerly Captain Sea Cadets and Claire Barnett Company Secretary amongst many others.

*Captain Eric Beetham is pictured left with Nick Price at the Nautical Institute 40th anniversary reception

01/04/2014

There is only three weeks left to enter three photographs for a chance to win the RN Peregrine Trophy photographic competition! The judges will be looking for photographs of a Sea Cadet or RMC theme or activity that combines technical excellence, creativity and impact. The deadline is Wednesday 23 April. Find out how to enter the competition here

21/03/2014

Sea Cadet volunteer Lieutenant Commander (SCC) Michelle Welsh RNR has today received a prestigious Commendation from the Royal Navy’s Second Sea Lord in recognition of her outstanding volunteering service as a training officer for Sea Cadets.

Michelle joined Sea Cadets in 1982, when she was just 13 years old, as a cadet and worked her way through the cadet rank to Petty Officer Cadet before going on to volunteer at the unit in 1987. For the past 27 years as a volunteer, Michelle has been the First Officer of the Guard for HRH Princess Anne, awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award from HRH Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace, and travelled to Canada, Australia, Bermuda and America with cadets on the Sea Cadets International Exchange Programme.

Her determination and commitment to make a difference to young people’s lives at Sea Cadets combined with juggling her full time job and family life has been recognised by the Royal Navy Second Sea Lord.

Sea Cadets are set to benefit from a share of a £10 million Government investment it was announced in today’s budget by the Chancellor George Osborne.

As part of the Youth United network, groups like the Sea Cadets are thrilled to see the investment the Government is making in young people. Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, says:

“We want to ensure that young people have the best possible opportunity to develop the skills they need as they move into adulthood. One of the ways that we can do that is by increasing the opportunities they have to engage in social action and this fund will provide an enormous boost to that effort.”

Martin Coles, CEO for Sea Cadets said:
“We are delighted to see such significant investment and recognition in young people and we welcome today’s announcement and look forward to increasing the incredible opportunities we can offer to even more young people, helping them to build positive futures for themselves and their communities”

For more information click here.

19/03/2014

The 11 Sea Cadet Clipper 2013-2014 Round the World Race volunteers have started their race from Qingdao to San Francisco, USA. Great Britain yacht, who didn’t make the best start, is in the lead after choosing to head furthest north, a decision that proved most successful as it now leads the fleet by almost 20 miles. In stark contrast, Qingdoa yacht took an early lead yesterday but has since dropped several places.

Qingdao skipper Gareth Glover explained: “After a good twelve hours racing under kite from the re-start gate, the wind died off from the north and we sat bobbing for six hours whilst the yachts further north got some wind, which we eventually received during the night. By that time however, we had lost 40 miles and went from first to last position on the leaderboard. This is a long race but every mile will count at the end.”

Unfortunately Clipper Race had to move Adam Montgomery from the Great Britain yacht to join Matthew Owen on the Jamaica Get All Right yacht as they were on short on crew members. Keep up to date with the Clipper Race here.