About The Sea Cadet Corps
The Sea Cadet Corps is a nationwide voluntary uniformed youth organisation, open to all young people aged 12 to 18, Marine Cadets for young people aged 13 to 18 and with Junior Sections open to those of 10 to 12 years of age. It is Britain's most successful nautical organisation for the development of young people with Units run by enthusiastic adult volunteers.
We have 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.
Sea Cadet History
The Sea Cadet Corps has one of the longest continuous histories of any youth organisation in the country, but it has evolved haphazardly. The Corps dates back to the Crimean War (1854-1856) when sailors returning home from the campaign formed Naval Lads' Brigades to help orphans in the back streets of sea ports.
The SCC in the UK can be traced back to the Kent port of Whitstable where the first of the Naval Lads' Brigades was established. The success of the brigades in helping disadvantaged youth led to the formation of the Navy League, a national organisation with a membership of 250,000 dedicated to supporting the Royal Navy, which subsequently adopted the Brigades in 1910.
1914
The Navy League applied to the Admiralty for recognition of its 34 Boys' Naval Brigades. This was granted in 1919 subject to an annual efficiency inspection by an officer on the staff of the Admiral Commanding Reserves, and the title Navy League Sea Cadet Corps was adopted.
1937
Lord Nuffield gave £50,000 (over £2 million in today's money) to fund the re-launch and expansion of the Sea Cadet Corps.
1939
At the start of World War II there were almost 100 Sea Cadet Units in the UK with more than 10,000 Cadets
1940
In June the Navy League purchased an old sailing vessel and renamed her TS BOUNTY. She was fitted out to accommodate 40 Cadets. In July weekly courses started for Cadets from all Units.
1941
The shortage of visual and wireless ratings in the Royal Navy led to special three-week training courses being run on board TS BOUNTY for Sea Cadets, to qualify them more quickly for entry into the RN. This made good use of the training and skills they had already gained in the Cadets and meant a considerable saving in training time for the Admiralty.
1942
The 1941 scheme had caught the Admiralty’s imagination. As a result, the Admiral Commanding Reserves took over the training role, HM King George VI became Admiral of the Corps, Officers were granted appointments in the RNVR and the Corps was renamed the Sea Cadet Corps. A huge expansion to 400 Units and 50,000 Cadets coincided in many towns with Warship Weeks, so the newly formed Unit took the same name as the adopted warship. The Admiralty now paid for uniforms, equipment, travel and training, while the Navy League funded sport and Unit headquarters.
In the same year, the Girls’ Naval Training Corps was formed as part of the National Association of Girls’ Corps, with Units mainly in southern England.
1948
The Sea Cadet Council was set up to govern the Corps, with membership from the Navy League and the Royal Navy, and a retired Captain took on the task of supervision, first as Secretary to the Council and later as Captain, Sea Cadet Corps.
1953
Banbury Sea Cadet unit is formed by Lt Franklin & Cmdr. Jesell RN and was originally called T.S.LION.
1955
The Commandant General, Royal Marines asked permission to form a Marine Cadet Section that could be fitted into the existing organisation and the Council agreed to this. By 1964 the Section had expanded from the original five Detachments to 40. Today there are 98.
1963
The Girls’ Nautical Training Corps became affiliated to the Sea Cadet Corps, in many cases sharing the same premises with local Units.
1974
Banbury Sea Cadets change their name from T.S.Lion to T.S.HARVESTER to honour the ship HMS Harvester that the town adopted during Warship Week in 1940.
1976
The Navy League was renamed the Sea Cadet Association since support of the Sea Cadets and Girls’ Nautical Training Corps had become its sole aims.
1980
The admission of girls into the Sea Cadet Corps was approved and the Girls’ Nautical Training Corps ceased to exist as a separate body.
2004
In November the Sea Cadet Association merged with the Marine Society to form a new charity ‘The Marine Society & Sea Cadets’.
Banbury Junior Section
If you're aged 10-12, then we'd love to welcome you into our Junior Section.
We have loads of fun and participate in so many activities that it would make your head spin. The training is centred around projects which vary from building models and studying the environment, to using semaphore and bandaging one of the instructors (though not necessarily at the same time)! Then there are plenty of activities to have a go at such as sailing, canoeing and sports. We may be able to visit some Royal Navy ships and different places of interest, as well as other Sea Cadet Units.
Once a year Juniors hold their National Camp and you meet Junior Cadets from all over the country and have a really great week, full of fun. We organise visits to different places, swimming, abseiling, badge making, sailing, power boating, competitions.
Juniors can also take part in competitions against other Junior sections in the District.
So, don't stand on the sidelines and watch, come and join us, you never know, you might enjoy it!!!
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CALLING ALL ADULTS!
We greatly value our adult volunteers, without whom the sea cadet organisation could not function, and support and train them, whatever their previous experience and skills.
There are opportunities for both teaching the Cadets in the enormous variety of subjects that we offer, and also supporting their activities via Parents' and Supporters' Associations and Unit Management Committees. We need administrators and DIY experts; people willing to run the snack bar and others to drive the minibus; canoeists and IT enthusiasts. If you've got a skill, we can find an outlet for it. And you can even pick up some new skills and qualifications yourself along the way!
The financial support that we receive from the Royal Navy enables us to offer our uniformed volunteers a number of days' training pay each year.
It doesn't matter whether you've got previous experience dealing with young people or not - we're just looking for willing volunteers who want to be part of the team and enjoy the satisfaction of seeing Cadets develop and mature. As you'd expect, all our volunteers are rigorously vetted.
Interested?
FOR MORE DETAILS ON JOINING THE SEA CADETS AS A VOLUNTEER STAFF CONTACT:
COMMANDING OFFICER
Lieutenant (SCC) Jon Cox RNR
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