Edition 46
This week, in the run up to this historic Coronation weekend, you can read about some exciting new relationships and updates on ambitious fundraising attempts.
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The Coronation of His Majesty The King and Her Majesty The Queen Consort on Saturday 6th May will feature the largest number of Royal Marines on parade in nearly a decade – and will give an opportunity for the Corps to march for the first time for their new Captain General, an honorary title famously held for decades by the King’s late father.
The Royal Navy reports that the many naval personnel taking part have spoken of their pride at this ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’.
Nearly 900 Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines (which number of course includes members of the world-famous HM Massed Bands whose spectacular presence always adds particular colour and pageantry to any Royal occasion) alongside other members of personnel, will march through or line the streets of London, or oversee and support the huge ceremonial effort.
Royal Marines Bugler, James Barnes from Birmingham, will be using a brand new drum featuring the new Royal Cypher. “Everyone here involved in her late Majesty The Queen’s funeral will be there this weekend so there’s a great sense of pride at being able to be part of the Coronation, too – the other side of the coin if you like,” he said. “There’s a great feeling of being part of history once again.”
All are undergoing the final days of drill and preparation in the culmination of months of planning for this historic event.
Donate when you spend with Charity’s new debit card
The new RMA – The Royal Marines Charity debit card, powered by Currensea and Mastercard, gives you the choice to make a donation to our Charity each time you spend at home or abroad.
The branded card – which is free and is available unbranded on application if preferred – links to an existing current account. Each time it’s used in the UK, there is the choice to make a donation to the Charity by rounding up spending to the nearest 50p or £1.
It also offers interbank exchange rates for 16 major currency pairings and avoids at least 85% of your bank’s fees when used abroad, allowing you to also choose to donate some or all of these savings.
Jonathan Ball, Chief Executive, RMA – The Royal Marines Charity, says: “We are constantly looking for innovative ways to drive donations for our lifelong programmes for serving and former serving Royal Marines and their families.
Our partnership with Currensea and the launch of our branded debit card will not only enable our supporters to donate easily and conveniently, but it also provides them with a way to save money when spending abroad. We are also grateful to have this opportunity to attract new donors through Currensea’s ‘powered by’ programme.”
Currensea’s ‘powered by’ programme was launched in 2021, and other existing charity partners include Dogs Trust – one of the UK’s largest animal welfare charities: Royal Society of Medicine – a global membership organisation of 20,000 healthcare professionals: Royal Trinity Hospice – the oldest hospice in the UK, and St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust which works with many of London’s most vulnerable communities.
Tesla tie-up
Our Employment & Education (E&E) team has officially secured a working partnership with Tesla through its ‘Veterans at Tesla’ platform, having first met with the company’s recruitment team back in 2022 at the Mission Motor Sport National Transition Event at Silverstone and have since worked tirelessly to secure a great relationship with them.
‘Veterans at Tesla’ offers new career opportunities, including those in manufacturing, logistics, sales and IT, to former serving military personnel of all backgrounds, ranks and experience in over 200 locations across Europe and the UK.
RMA – The Royal Marines Charity’s E&E team has already placed former serving Royal Marines with Tesla and are greatly looking forward to being able to support even more with the great employment opportunities that are now available to them.
“Veterans at Tesla supports employees and their families as they transition from the military into the Tesla workforce. The employee resource group helps to build an inclusive environment within Tesla and organises events within the local community. To facilitate military transition, we partner together with the CTP of the UK Military Defence, Force Families Jobs and RMA – The Royal Marines Charity” – Veterans at Tesla
Northern Ireland visit
As part of our ongoing work to better understand the support provided to the Royal Marines Community in the Devolved Nations, RMA – The Royal Marines Charity’s Deputy Chief Executive, Richard Spencer (pictured middle back row) and Simon Giles, Devolved Nations Veterans Strategy Manager (2nd left) last week visited Belfast.
There they were welcomed and briefed by Veterans’ Commissioner for Northern Ireland Danny Kinahan (front left): Liz Brown, Head of NI Veterans’ Support Office (front middle) and Mike Murdoch, CEO RFCA NI (Reserve Forces & Cadets Association for Northern Ireland).
The meeting and subsequent visits to veterans’ charities was most informative and highlighted the unique challenges faced by both former serving RMs, and those in Northern Ireland who support them.
Climbing ever upwards
Latest update from former serving Royal Marine Craig Hunter from Days 20-23 of his awesome summit attempt on Mount Everest is that he had safely passed “the beast that is the Khumbu Icefall……an intimidating, awesome, terrifying, mystical, unforgiving and hugely demanding part of the route up Mt. Everest” to Camp 1, on again to Camp 2 (6,500m) across “gargantuan crevasses both seen and unseen”, before descending after two nights’ rest back to Base camp to recover and is now awaiting a suitable weather window for his eventual summit push.
The enormity of this tremendous challenge during which he is fundraising for our Charity is awe-inspiring and we cannot wait to see him safely back home.
Just miles to go….
With his fundraising for our Charity and local community hall now pushing £2,000 and rising, former serving Royal Marine Pat Townsend is “doing fab” and still going strong. Having already walked 510 miles of the 630-mile South West Coastal Path trek that he started last year, he expects to finish at the end of this month and members of our fundraising team joined him recently to dust off a few more miles.
Not only is he taking on the challenge of hiking the longest waymarked trail in the UK, from Minehead in Somerset to Poole in Dorset, but – in true military style – is carrying a 15kg backpack, tent and sleeping bag.
Patrick is raising funds for RMA – The Royal Marines Charity and his local community hall and has been ticking off the mileage in sessions of around 90-miles at a time. He says: “In the 1970s I served in the Royal Marines and carried more weight than this on many occasions especially in Arctic Norway. Forty years on, it’s taken a bit of getting used to but I’m confident that I can do it.”
Huge thanks for such great support!
Running success
Huge thanks to Neil Racibowski from Howdens Joinery in Exeter whose proximity to CTCRM and because a lot of their customers are former serving Royal Marines, generously chose to run the Isle of Wight Ultra Challenge 2023 last weekend in aid of RMA – The Royal Marines Charity, raising just shy of £1,000 (including gift aid). Awesome!