Instilling confidence and supporting you as you grow
Mission & Purpose
“Inspiring young people to achieve their potential through challenge and nautical adventure guided by the customs and traditions of today’s Royal Navy.”
We seek to achieve this Vision of exciting young people by offering them the opportunity to participate in challenging and nautical adventurous activity.
Royal Navy Traditions
Being “guided by” the Royal Navy reflects that we can learn much from its progress, and our young people benefit from even more engagement with its personnel. By highlighting “today’s” Royal Navy, we recognise its more modern customs – from an inclusive culture to the pioneering use of technology.
Our Values
We offer a platform built on the customs and traditions of the Royal Navy. It inspires our work and commitment to supporting young people today.
How are we managed?
A Board of Trustees looks after the top level organisation of each Unit. They deal with most of the admin and fundraising aspects of the charity. You will see some of us getting our hands dirty, hauling boats, making tea and looking after Stores. However, most of the work takes place behind the scenes making sure that the unit runs smoothly.
Who runs the unit
We have a group of volunteer staff, some uniformed, others not. They organise the day to day running of the unit. They also induct new recruits, teach classes, arrange courses and look after the boating activities.
We are always looking for more volunteers who are keen to help young people flourish and grow in both skills and confidence.
Is it all classroom work?
Some of our lessons take place in the classroom but not all of them. Some involve wheeling one of our smaller boats into the main drill hall (our other ones are too tall) and some take place on the sand or out on the water. Similarly, the best place to learn about the weather is outside (where you can see and feel it) and drill practice is best when you have lots of space to move about.
We try to cater for lots of styles of teaching and learning so no two nights will feel the same.
How We’re Funded
Each Sea Cadet unit is a charity in its own right. This means that funds raised locally go towards local young people.
Our cadets have taken part in around thirty fundraising events in any twelve month period. These have included stalls at events, food festivals and sponsored events. Occasionally, these events have been to support other local charities and causes.
Taking part on one of our stalls is as much about instilling confidence as it is about raising funds. Cadets find themselves gradually moving from handing out change to holding conversations with ex cadets as they grow more confident. Sometimes, they surprise themselves.
We maintain that it is important to value our equipment. By fundraising themselves, our Cadets see everything as something more that just a boat, an oar or a tent. They can see these things as the time spent outside braving the sun, wind, rain and snow trying to raise a few more pounds.
Sea Cadets Nationally
We are a national charity working across several UK sites and operating out of six areas.
We deliver national cadet training through our six boat stations and six national training centres. These range from Port Edgar in Scotland to our head office in London as well as cross our offshore fleet of five vessels. Our dedicated teams, support 400 local units across the UK with assets, funding and vital training.
Sea Cadets is governed by a board of non-executive Council Members (Trustees), who delegate the day-to-day management to the Chief Executive and his team.
The Sea Cadets Offshore Fleet consists of five vessels. The flagship TS Royalist, two power vessels (TS Jack Petchey and TS John Jerwood) and two yachts (TS City of London and TS Sir Stelios)