Editon 77
As a valued supporter, we are pleased to bring you up-to-speed with a weekly round-up of activities from RMA – The Royal Marines Charity and the wider Corps Family.
This week, we include news from the Upper House and the lower Pole; dip into the all-important realm of legacies; and share a wonderful example of the healing power of horsepower!
Thank you for your continued support.
Simply the best
The Grand Finale of 2023 Bootnecks in2 Business Awards ceremony was a splendid event hosted by Lord Christopher Tugendhat at The House of Lords.
One hundred and fifty serving and former Royal Marines, along with their wives and partners, enjoyed the evening of networking and celebration. They were joined by Zoe Darnbrough, our Head of Employment & Education, who said she was ‘immensely proud’ to have been invited to represent the Charity.
She added: ”The evening delivered on many levels. This Network is truly inspiring. It is an amazing group of mentoring support, employment guidance and transition support, fully embracing Commando values and spirit at all times. Bootnecks in2 Business has become an integral part of our team’s transition delivery.”
During the evening, Zoe and Bi2B‘s Mick Betteridge (pictured above) also took the opportunity to re-sign the Memorandum of Understanding, “cementing once again the strong bond that exists between both parties.”
The sponsored awards were centred around the Royal Marines Ethos with categories featuring Determination; Cheerfulness: Courage and Unselfishness, the Lifetime Achievement Award being presented to Keith Breslauer, Vice Patron RMA – The Royal Marines Charity, award-winning businessman, philanthropist and Managing Partner of London-based Patron Capital Partners.
Where there’s a Will….
Tom Wilson, Director of Development for RMA-The Royal Marines Charity, was invited to speak earlier this week at The Excellence in Legacy Administration Conference, organised by Smee and Ford and The Institute of Legacy Management. Tom co-presented with Sarah Seddon, Head of Planned Giving at Combat Stress.
They addressed about 120 delegates from across the charity spectrum and covered a variety of topics that included how to implement reality-based income forecasting, common factors affecting the final value of legacy bequests, and some of the obstacles that legacy administrators may encounter and how to deal with them.
Tom commented: “ RMA-The Royal Marines Charity was honoured to have been given this opportunity to collaborate with other sector leading organisations to inform and share best practice with legacy administrators from the charitable sector.“
We are immensely grateful to all supporters who choose to bequeath a gift after remembering friends and family. Legacies ensure that RMA – The Royal Marines Charity have the funding to provide the care and resources for the Corps Family long into the future. In 2022, we partnered with the National Free Wills Network that enables our members and supporters to create a Will with a local solicitor, at no cost to themselves. And while there is absolutely no obligation, it is hoped that the Charity would benefit, no matter how small a legacy.
Pole position…
We are delighted to share with you the latest update received from the awesome Mission Spiritus Antarctica team – and wow! – it has been a gruelling start…:
After a weather delay getting onto the ice, the two former Royal Marines, Alan Chambers MBE (top left) and Dave Thomas set off skiing on 21st November with heavily laden 250lbs pulks (Nordic short, low-slung small sleds) that has been “a bit of a baptism of fire”.
“The steep initial inclines have been brutal, slowing travel to 12 km/day on quite a few days into stiff headwinds, not so easy snow conditions underfoot and escaping into tents to sit out the worst of the weather.
By 5th December, 178 km of travel has been completed of the 1,150km to the South Pole.”
Alan and Dave are ski-ing unassisted to the South Pole in part to raise funds for RMA – The Royal Marines Charity, aiming to fly our flag at the bottom of the earth no later than 14th January 2024, a fitting start to the RM360 year of fundraising. To date, they have already raised almost £4,000! Hoofing…you can help boost their fundraising here.
They are also conducting research into the global impact of nano plastics on behalf of Columbia University Lamont and the effects sensory deprivation has on the body in prolonged remote climates in conjunction with Manchester Met University.
Horse sense
“I struggled to be in a room with more than two people without suffering a spurt of hypervigilance and anxiety.”
Suffering from complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and struggling to connect with people in the easy way that had always been so natural to him, Paul – a former senior NCO with the Royal Marines – was finding it tough to fit back into society after leaving the Corps.
RMA – The Royal Marines Charity sees many Royal Marines like Paul; and many like him have hugely benefitted from being funded by the Charity to attend one of HorseBack UK’s personal development programmes at Aboyne in Scotland.
“I was extremely anxious about taking the trip to Aboyne and struggled at the start,” says Paul. “But I learned a lot about myself and the things that I needed to work on to fit back into society after leaving service.”
How did ‘the magic of horses’ help Paul manage his PTSD ? Read his story via the button below.
Fighting fit
A massive ‘well done’ and enormous ‘thank you’ to former RM Sam Fretten from Hertfordshire who not only raised almost £2,500 (inc Gift Aid) for our Charity at a recent MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) corporate charity fundraising event, winning the evening’s Top Fundraiser Award (pictured above right) – but he also beat his opponent in the second round by submission!
He said: “I won! As an ex-Bootneck myself, I knew I was doing this for a hugely worthy cause and I was very pleased that I got the award for raising the most money at the entire event.”
Shopping Corner
If you’ve run out of ideas on what to buy the Bootneck in your life for Christmas, then a Royal Marines Shop gift card might be just the thing you are looking for! They are available in denominations from £10 – £100 and can be redeemed against any order.
Available exclusively from the Royal Marines Shop that is wholly owned by RMA – The Royal Marines Charity, all profits come back to the Charity to help support the Corps Family.