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Sea Cadets is holding a Twitter takeover today (Thursday 25 January) to mark Young Carers Awareness Day.

Able Cadet Kate, 16, will be tweeting throughout the day on the @SeaCadetsUK account. Kate, who attends Salford Sea Cadets, is a young carer for her dad, who had a stroke about four years ago.

Kate says: "My dad really supported me when I joined Sea Cadets, and he was in the process of joining as a volunteer when he had a massive stroke. He lost his speech, and some of his mobility. Since then, Sea Cadets has helped me with being a place where I can get away from looking after my dad and being at school, because that’s hard now my dad’s ill. It also helps as I have my first aid qualifications for caring for my dad at home.

“My brother and I help by speaking on my dad’s behalf at appointments at hospital, or we will go round to help him with his work. He does everything himself, but for the things he can’t do, he relies on me and my brother. He can’t walk the dog, so we do that, or we may do the cleaning or cooking sometimes. He is in a lot of pain, so we look after that.

“It is hard, but you make time for things. I’m not at my dad’s every single day, but I make sure I’m there if he needs me. He understands if I’m not there all the time. Sea Cadets has also been understanding.

“One of the things I enjoy doing is engineering. My dad is in engineering, and I’ve grown up learning about it and going into his work. For that reason, Sea Cadets is a bit of a dad figure to me, because what my dad gave me before he became ill, Sea Cadets now gives me. Going on adventures or learning about engineering are opportunities my dad would have given me, and Sea Cadets now does that. I would like to be a Weapon Engineer Officer in the Royal Navy when I am older.

“The volunteers at my unit have been extremely supportive. They are like my second family. They help get you to where you want to be in the right way and the most effective way. Whenever I have been upset about my dad, or worried about something, they have always been there.

“Some of my best friends are cadets. One of my best friends in the whole world is someone I know through Sea Cadets. You meet people all the time – new people and people you have met before – and you become friends. They really support you – it’s almost like they are your siblings. Everyone shows respect for each other and pushes each other to do their best.”

The aim of Young Carers Awareness Day is to identify and raise awareness of the 700,000 young carers across the UK. To find out more, visit: https://carers.org/young-carers-awareness-day-2018

Marine Society is delighted to bring its crew libraries to new global customer Technip FMC, an international leader in oil and gas projects technologies, systems and services. Technip FMC operate 18 vessels that specialise in subsea pipelay and subsea construction.

The first ship 'Global 1201' (pictured) took delivery of a 100 piece paperback library from Marine Society in January 2018. 

Congratulations to Colour Sergeant (SCC) Mark Jones, who has been awarded a British Citizen Award for his services to the community. 

Mark, of Littleport, Ely, recently started volunteering at Cambridge Unit, where he has helped to find new instructors, train them, and launch a new Royal Marines Cadets detachment.

The British Citizen Awards (BCAs) were launched in January 2015, to recognise exceptional individuals who work tirelessly and selflessly to make a positive impact on society. They are awarded twice annually, and recognise everyday people whose achievements may otherwise be overlooked.

Mark, 46, who also has other volunteering roles in Cambridgeshire, says: "I was really surprised when I was told about the award. I don’t like watching TV very much, so I just fill my time with other things. When I was young I went to martial arts and people gave their time to run the club.

"I just think that if people don’t give their time, a lot of those sort of things wouldn’t exist. I have a young family and want my children to be able to take part in activities, which is why I’m happy to give my time to the organisations that I’m involved with.”

Mark is one of 36 medallists who will be honoured at a  ceremony on Thursday 25 January at the Palace of Westminster. The awards are sponsored by Specsavers, Places for People, Irwin Mitchel, Nathan Rous PR and Cisco. Each will be presenting the awards in January, alongside TV star host Bradley Walsh.

Congratulations go out to some of our dedicated Sea Cadets volunteers who were recognised in the New Year's Honours List 2018. They are:

John Eltringham, the Chairman of South Shields Sea Cadets Unit who receives an MBE for his voluntary services to young people.

Francis Osborn, an instructor at Bexley & Lewisham Unit, who receives a BEM for voluntary service to young people

Adrian Prior-Sankey, a Chaplain at Taunton Sea Cadets, who receives an MBE for services to the community of Taunton.

A special mention goes out to Vice Admiral Simon Jonathan Woodcock who received a KCB.

Everyone at MSSC is thrilled your valuable contributions have been recognised in such a way. BZ! 

Marine Society and Sea Cadets would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It's been a fantastic 2017 for the charity. At Sea Cadets, young people have performed brilliantly at district, area and national competitions, and we've seen some great stories of personal successes, too. We also launched our new yacht, TS City of London, and look forward to the naming and commissioning of TS Sir Stelios, our second yacht, next year.

At the Marine Society, we were delighted to be rated 'good' by Ofsted earlier this year, and we also welcomed our 10,000th seafarer to Learn@Sea.

Please note that our offices will be closed from Friday 22 December to Tuesday 2 January. We look forward to hearing from you in 2018!