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Cadets who took part in NCS were recognised for their amazing projects at a graduation ceremony at Trinity House, London. 

The graduation took place on Saturday 9 December, with cadets from across the country coming together in celebration of their achievements.

This year, the scheme was run in North West, London, Southern, South West and Eastern areas. In phase one, cadets enjoyed various activities at SCTC Raleigh, including tobogganing, skiing, snowboarding and sledding. They also faced their fears on climbing walls and took on a huge waterborne assault course in half-term week (24 October – 27 October).

Cadets then immediately returned to their respective areas, where they started phase two of the project. This included learning employability skills, as well as a session where the teens researched and pitched to link up with community projects. For phase three, a social action project, groups chose a charity or cause to support and delivered the programme in their local community.

London Area set up an education stall talking to the public about addiction and sexual exploitation, while Eastern Area cadets ran an action-packed training day and pictures night for Harborough Junior Sea Cadets in aid of Action4Homeless Leicester. Cadets in South West Area ran an activity day at Victoria Centre in Lydney, Gloucestershire, which provides meals and entertainment for the elderly during the week. And North West Area is working with Veterans in Sefton, a service that offers personalised support to military veterans in need, to distribute rucksacks containing vital items to homeless veterans.

Meanwhile, Southern Area cadets held a Christmas fair on Sunday 3 December in Woking in partnership with Surrey-based Challengers Disability, which provides inclusive play and leisure activities for disabled children and young people in the South East. Challengers Disability needs to raise £600,000 to renovate its fire-damaged property.

Sea Cadets was honoured to be part of an historic day at the commissioning of HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Her Majesty the Queen yesterday commissioned the UK's new aircraft carrier into the Royal Navy, at a ceremony that cadets and volunteers were invited to.

The Queen spoke at Portsmouth Naval Base, attended by Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson and military chiefs.

In her role as the ship's Lady Sponsor, Her Majesty addressed guests before the ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Jerry Kyd, read the commissioning warrant. The White Ensign was then raised.

Sea Cadets is proud to have been a finalist at the Children and Young People Now Awards in the National Citizen Service category.

The event celebrates best practice in the children's sector, and Sea Cadets was shortlisted for its NCS pilot, which ran last autumn. 

Last night's ceremony took place at the Lancaster London and was hosted by children's TV presenter Anna Williamson, who is also an ambassador for Childline, Mind and The Prince's Trust.

Twenty-three winners received awards at the glitzy event, in what was an evening of celebration. The National Citizen Service Award, sponsored by the NCS Trust, was won by Ingeus: Nottinghamshire NCS Regional Youth Board – congratulations to them, and all the other finalists. 

Sea Cadets is running NCS again this year in London, Southern, North West, Eastern and South West areas. Cadets are currently preparing for Phase Three, which is a social action project.

Sea Cadets is delighted to announce that a £304,000 LIBOR funding bid for a new cadet portal has been granted.

The announcement was made in today’s Budget, and paves the way for the interactive online gateway, Waypoint, which will allow 14,000 cadets to manage their training progression and personal development digitally.

The project is cadet-led, and aims to inspire competition, camaraderie and participation, consistent with how young people typically connect today. It will be accessible to all 14,000 sea cadets, who will be able to search, interact with the charity, progress their training and select courses and experiences that will build personal skills such as motivation, self-confidence, leadership, communication and team working.

Waypoint will also act as a spring-board to joining Sea Cadets, allowing young people to experience life-changing opportunities, such as offshore voyages and boating, all while earning nationally recognised qualifications. In turn, this improves life skills and physical and mental wellbeing, and helps teenagers to meet new people.

LIBOR funding is awarded to projects that support the UK’s Armed Forces and Emergency Services communities across the UK, and comes from fines collected from banks.

The portal is scheduled to launch in 2019.

Nick Chubb and Caroline Buckland of Marine Society attended 2017 Crew Connect Summit, that took place in Manila, Philippines 7-8 November. The Crew Connect Summit is the global conference for all aspects of crew management, such as training and welfare. The Marine Society were there to promote Marine Society's Learn@Sea programme, the book and crew library services and to join the debate about the future of crew management.

Sessions included discussions on controversial topics such as introduction of autonomous ships and digital technologies, through to training initiatives such as ‘coming ashore’, the transition of seafarers into shore-based careers - a campaign the Marine Society have supported in the UK.