Crawley Sea and Royal Marine Cadets prepare for 65th birthday celebrations with ‘Colour Parade’

The training ship will be celebrating its 65th birthday on Sunday June 26 and will be marking the occasion with a tea party.

Crawley Sea Cadets and Royal Marine Cadet Detachment have 50 cadets on board and welcome all young people into their ranks.

At the Colour Parade the cadets had their uniform inspected by the Commanding Officer Captain (SCC) Paul Chapman RMR, who went from cadet to cadet checking uniform standards. He was himself a cadet.

The cadets demonstrated flag raising and drilling on the spot. I was shown a cadet’s uniform and one of the officer’s went through the strips and their meaning. The strips are used to indicate what rank the cadet has achieved.

Since 1957, the Crawley unit has given thousands of young people between ten and 18 a great head-start in life through nautical adventure.

The centre helps cadets develop confidence through the customs, traditions and ethos of the Royal Navy. Another great advantage of joining the cadets is that young people find friends for life.

I learnt that the Crawley Sea Cadets and Royal Marine Cadet Detachment provide its young people with skills that can be transferred into a career in the armed forces, but also the corporate world as well.

Mr Chapman said: “On June 26th it’s our 65th birthday. We’ve been around for some time now.

“A lot of people have gone from here to military service but we aren’t a military recruitment service. We use the Navy’s custom, traditions and ethos as we are helped by the Royal Navy, but we alone are a stand-alone charity. We have to fundraise all our money ourselves, hence why we put on our charity events.

“We teach catering and stewarding at this unit. Everything we do at this sea cadet corps is at a basic, immediate and advanced level. We’ve moved away from sea cadet qualifications to align ourselves with an external qualification utilised outside in the community. For example BTECs, NVQs and the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

“It’s very easy for the cadets to get these qualifications by simply coming along and taking part in the activities we do.”

The unit is run by volunteers and welcomes adults that have some spare time and would like to add value to their lives, learn new skills and contribute to the community.

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The unit meets on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 18:45 to 21:00 on board the Training Ship Cossack, Longmere Road, Crawley, RH10 8LP. Visit: www.sea-cadets.org/crawley to find out more.