Following from our research into the stressors on the modern Military family, we commissioned the VFI to look into how Naval families are using social media to connect during deployment Continue reading “Dropping in and out: Social media research launch”
1926-2022
The Naval Children’s Charity are deeply saddened by the death of HM The Queen. She first became our Patron as a princess and we were honoured to have her as our Patron for some 75 years. She was an inspiration to us all, steadfast and loyal, dedicated to her people. All those connected to the Royal Navy are proud to have served her. Our heartfelt condolences to her family and the Nation.
In 1945, the then Princess Elizabeth, became Patron of the Royal Navy and Royal Marine’s Children’s Trust. Her Majesty held the position for over 70 years, and has always been a fierce champion for Naval families.
This continued the Royal Family’s years of service to the Royal Navy. Her Majesty’s grandfather, George V, served for 15 years, while her father, George VI was stationed at HMS Collingworth during the First World War.
During the course of her patronage, Her Majesty’s fierce support for the children in our community allowed us to deliver so much, and brought with it some brilliant celebratory moments for Naval children.
In 2009, we were delighted to host a royal reception at St James’ Palace attended by Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh, where they met many of our beneficiaries and supporters.
To celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, Naval children stitched together a very special present: a quilt made of crowns.
In 2016, we were honoured to take part in another of Her Majesty’s landmark celebrations: her 90th birthday. Representatives of the Naval Children’s Charity were invited to a reception of Her Majesty’s charities in The Mall. Later that year, she would step down from her official role as patron.
On behalf of the Naval Children’s Charity, I would like to thank Her Majesty for a lifetime of unwavering support for our cause and the Royal Navy at large. May she rest in peace.
Best wishes,
Clare Scherer, CEO of the Naval Children’s Charity
To work at sea requires a mix of interpersonal and technical knowledge. It’s all well and good knowing how to steer a boat, raise a sail or navigate the open water, but without the communication, teamwork and ability to muck in for the common good, you’ll get nowhere. Continue reading “Naval children make maiden voyage on iconic Challenger Yacht”
Every year, around 600 babies are born to serving Naval personnel. That’s a lot of new members in our thriving community!
We wanted to provide Naval families with a little gift for their newest additions, and let the children know there is great support out there for them.
As our CEO Clare Scherer said on BFBS Radio recently:
“It’s a really nice thing that you can also keep forever. It’s quite small. It’s quite sweet. And I think it’s something that they’re just gonna love and treasure.”
To find out how you can claim a bib for your child, please email ncc@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk.
We’d love to see as many cute #NavalBaby photos on our website and social media channels, so please tag us on Twitter or Facebook once you have received them.
You can listen to Clare’s full interview with George Wedlake on BFBS Radio, or read the transcript below.
Clare: So we know that around 600 babies are born to serving Naval personnel every year. We wanted to find a way to welcome them to our naval family And really just introduce them to the fact that throughout their child’s life, there is great support for them from both the Naval Children’s Charity and lots of other naval charities.
So we have created a wonderful little bandana bib with a very simple logo on. It doesn’t say charity on there. It’s just a little image, and we’re sending it out free to our families, when they email us and tell us about their new baby. We’re using the hashtag #NavyBaby and #MadeInTheNavy. It’s just a little welcome. Congratulations. And making them feel part of the whole naval family community,
George: I understand it is a very touching gift. It’s a nice welcome to the Naval community and the Naval world. But how did you nail it down to the specific product? Because as a parent of two children: one is two and the other four months old, I would say the more bibs, the better. Is that kind of the thought process behind it?
Clare: It is and it’s also kind of one size fits all, depending on the age of your baby. We looked at babygros, or those lovely muslin cloths, but actually babygros come in all different sizes. So it seemed like a very simple thing. And actually, it’s a really nice thing that you can also keep forever. It’s quite small. It’s quite sweet. And I think it’s something that they’re just gonna love and treasure. We only launched it a couple of weeks ago, we’ve had about 60 fly out the doors already and lovely pictures coming in of our babies in their bibs, which is just brilliant.
George: So for any parents who are looking to get one of these, how do they share their interest? How do they share the details with you about their child?
Clare: Well, the details are coming on the website soon. So look on the website, or they email us at NCC@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk and just tell us where they’re serving, tell us the age of your baby and or when you’re expecting your baby. We’re getting mums to be, which is great.
George: And in terms of sharing images of their babies with these bibs, how do they get in touch with those?
Clare: They can email them or they can put them on social media and tag us in it or they can send it to us through Facebook. We have a Twitter handle which is @navalchildren. So if they’re happy to put their baby pictures out there and tag us in it, that would be fantastic.
Arctic Star Short Story Competition
Open to Naval children aged between 8 and 16 yrs old.
In conjunction with Tom Palmer, author of the Arctic Star novel, whilst celebrating and supporting the Month of the Military Child, the Naval Children’s Charity is running a short story competition open to Naval Children.
This includes children of veterans from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Tom’s latest book, Arctic Star, is about three young Naval recruits braving the Arctic Convoys during the Second World War.
The Canadian Naval Memorial Trust has also kindly donated a copy of the graphic novel ”Dusty Dreams & Troubled Water: A story of HMCS Sackville and the Battle of the Atlantic” by Brian Bowman.
This novel follows the journey of a 12-year-old boy and his experiences of Arctic Convoys in the Canadian Navy.
The competition is open until Monday 25th April 2022, winners will be announced on Friday 29th April 2022 and contacted by email.
book@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk
Please ensure you state your full name and age with submissions.
The Board of Trustees of the Naval Children’s Charity (NCC) are delighted to announce that Mr
Christopher Tite will succeed Mr Alistair Sheppard OBE as the new Chair of the Charity when Alistair
completes his five-year term of office 24 th March 2022.
We welcome Mr Tite as our new Chair and look forward to exciting times ahead as we move towards
our 200 th anniversary in 2025. Christopher is a member of the Greenwich Hospital Advisory Board (a
Crown foundation and the Navy's oldest charity) and a trustee of other significant charitable and
private trusts. He was previously a trustee of the Fleet Air Arm Museum and the Tall Ships Youth
Trust.
On his successor’s appointment, Alistair Sheppard said: "I am delighted that Christopher brings his
extensive experience from the naval charitable sector that will ensure the great work and momentum
of the Naval Children’s Charity continues.”
Mr Sheppard has overseen a period of great success and change in the Naval Children's Charity's
near-200 year history.
During his tenure, the Charity has undergone a change of name and a transition from our long-
serving CEO Monique Bateman to our current chief executive Clare Scherer.
The strategic overview he led during 2019 broadened the scope of the Charity’s services.
NCC now provides support for all Naval children, not just those in distress, with a particular focus on
the development of resources including our children’s books Zoe and The Time Penguin and Henry
and the Time Rabbit.
Over the past five years, the team has grown to five dedicated caseworkers, delivered resources to
thousands of children across the UK and awarded over 5,000 grants to Naval families.
Clare Scherer, Chief Executive, said: “We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Alistair for his outstanding
work as Chair, leading the Charity through a strategic overview, change of name and clear focus on
the future work supporting our Naval Children. I am delighted with the appointment of Mr Tite and
look forward to working with him to develop our support and help to our Naval Children.”
About NCC
The Naval Children’s Charity has been helping Naval Children since 1825, for nearly 200 years. We
help children, up to the age of 25, whose parents have served in the Naval Service (Royal Navy, Royal
Marines, QARNNS, WRNS, Reserves or Royal Fleet Auxiliary).
We help around 2000 children directly each year and many thousands more through our resources
and work with communities and other organisations.
We believe that…to be the child of someone who is, or has been, in the Naval Service should be a
positive and enhancing experience – something to be borne with pride. For those children where life
is more difficult, we are there to help.
For further information or comment, please contact Clare Scherer, CEO on
ceo@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk 023 9263 9536 or 07947 691 950
Our new book is here! Henry and the Time Penguin was written especially for mums who have to go away. You can email us for a free copy at book@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk Remember to give us your name and address and let us know if you want the Henry book for mums going away or the Zoe book for dads going away.
We have been sent this wonderful poem by one of our children, Jacob, aged 10, who is a submariner’s son. It won second place in the Never Such Innocence competition 2020. Huge congratulations to Jacob.
This is normal for me.
This is normal for me, but some people don’t know how it feels.
It can get rough sometimes, children tease because I’m different.
Dad is not there.
I watch the sea for him, I stand still and stare.
This is normal for me, but it might be different if you stayed around a lot.
Christmas, birthdays, holidays, New Years, when we have been apart.
Missing someone so much I have no words for being so sad.
Separation and silence.
This is normal for me, counting days until you are gone,
No mark on the calendar to count down your return.
You had to leave me in hospital, I knew you had to go.
You do such a good job and you were hurting too I know.
This is normal for me, it would help if you knew how it feels.
To feel special, to be part of my family and community.
Every time I see you I am filled with such joy.
You’re important to me, you’re important to everybody, our country.
I still watch the sea. This is normal for me.
By Jacob Mason age 10 (Serving Submariners son)
You can find his poem and the other winners via this link (they are all amazing!): https://www.neversuchinnocence.com/2019-20-winners
Earlier this year we held our First Annual Meeting as the Naval Children’s Charity and launched our new brand. Several of our families that had received support from us in the past travelled up to join us and shared their stories with those present. We are hugely grateful to them for this and will be sharing the videos of their stories with you all shortly. The Chairman, Alistair Sheppard, and the Chief Executive, Clare Scherer, gave those present an overview of the origins of the charity and our plans for the future.
Our thanks go to Trinity House for the use of their beautiful building, Chamberlain’s of London for the delicious food and Farr Vinters for the champagne. If you would like to know more about us please do get in touch, we would love to hear from you.
We have been supporting Naval children since 1825, nearly 200 years, when the first orphanages were opened in Portsmouth and Chatham and then as the needs of our children have evolved and developed over the years we have changed and evolved and developed into the Charity we are today. We hope that we are going to continue to develop and make impact into our children’s lives as we go forward. Families come to us for help and we respond quickly and with compassion to their unique challenges so that we can deliver what they need.
If you think we could help you please do get in touch either by using the form on the website or by contacting us directly by email caseworkers@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk or by phone 023 9263 9534
We have created a short video with highlights from our Annual Meeting at Trinity House, March 2020. Click to watch.
Our thanks go to the members of the Type 21 Club for their generous donation of £1000 in support of our children.
“All members of the Type 21 Club extend their thanks to the team at the Naval Children’s Charity for their committed work and wish them all success in their endeavours on behalf of Naval Children in need.”
The Type 21 Association, more commonly known as the ‘Type 21 Club’, was formed to bring together all those who served in the Royal Navy Type 21 (Amazon Class) frigates. The eight ships of the class entered service between 1970 and 1975; they were Amazon, Antelope, Ambuscade, Arrow, Active, Alacrity, Ardent and Avenger. The first all gas turbine powered ships, they were known for their distinctive sleek lines and good turn of speed. The 21s became the 4th Frigate Squadron, based at Devonport and seven of the eight ships served in the 1982 Falklands conflict. Sadly two of the ships, Ardent and Antelope, were lost during the conflict with many lives lost.
The Club numbers some 1800 and includes many Commanding Officers. No membership fees are charged and all its income arises from the annual reunions. Ten such reunions have now been held with ex 21ers returning from all corners of the globe. Their generosity has allowed a Type 21 memorial and bench to be installed at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA), as well providing for charitable donations to worthy causes. Previous donations have been made to TS Ambuscade, RN&RM Riding School, NMA, Falkland Islands Museum development, RNBT and RNRMC.
