Constituent members
Marine Society & Sea Cadet Association
London
| Reg. Charity No. | 313013 |
| Address | 202 Lambeth Road London SE1 7JW |
| Contact(s) | Mr Mike Cornish, Chief Executive |
| Phone | 020 7261 9535 |
| Fax | 020 7401 2537 |
| info@ms-sc.org | |
| Web | www.ms-sc.org |
| Objectives / History | The Marine Society and Sea Cadet Association merged in 2004. The Marine Society is the world's oldest seafarers' charity. It is dedicated to enhancing the wellbeing of professional seafarers from all the sea services - whether they be serving, former, or prospective seafarers. It also has a role in promoting the sea as a career. The Society runs several operations in support of its objectives:- The College of the Sea provides multimedia tuition to serving UK seafarers at GCSE/A Level and is also a free source of impartial, confidential, and expert advice. It is also a registered examination centre and has support arrangements for seafarers studying through The Open University. There are financial support packages to assist seafarers' professional development and scholarships to encourage young people to consider a career at sea. An annual competition to encourage creative expression amongst seafarers has been running since 1933, and now includes a category for the best seafarers website. Seafarers Libraries provide an exchange library service to ships and offshore installations throughout the world. It is also a bookseller to seafarers and can offer attractive discounts. Also available are loan and/or purchase of educational videos and a book-finding service. The Society publishes a popular subscription-only quarterly magazine 'The Seafarer'. The Sea Cadet Corps is a nationwide voluntary uniformed youth organisation run by enthusiastic volunteers, open to young people aged 12 to 18, Marine Cadets for young people ages 13 to 18, and with Junior Sections open to those of 10 to 12 years of age, regardless of sex, religion or race, and within the bounds of safety to themselves and others, to those with special needs. There is a rank structure modelled on that of the Royal Navy, giving Cadets an opportunity to progress and take up positions of responsibility as they acquire skills and seniority. On reaching 18, many Cadets choose to stay on as adult instructors, when their training and talents become invaluable. The remit of the Sea Cadets is to provide fun, friendship, adventure and learning new skills based on waterborne and land based activities. Their website, which is updated every day, carries an extensive sea careers section and is an excellent resource facility for seafarers. It also features 'webships': vessels which are profiled online and whose progress is monitored by means of email despatches and digital photographs from the ships - a sort of online ship's diary. The site is a content provider to the UK National Grid for Learning and is featured in the prestigious BBC Education WebGuide |