This week, our update includes a welcome to new Trustees, busy fundraising news, Armed Forces Day activity – and getting up to speed with Tesla!
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RMA – The Royal Marines Charity welcomes new Trustees
We have recruited three new Trustees to the Board as part of our ongoing drive to ensure effective oversight of the Charity and provide the best support to the Corps Family. A warm welcome to Ryan Nast, Richard Swarbrick and Ian Cohen.
Armed Forces Day
We had great support from local RMA branches during the Armed Forces Days with fundraising taking place all over the country. Particular thanks go out locally to the Plymouth RMA branch, and the Exmouth RMA branch who supported the local museum launch and held the fort because our own fundraising team was scuppered by Covid so couldn’t attend personally.
Farther afield, the Eastbourne branch was prominent with a stand at their Armed Forces Day event which was greatly enjoyed by all. Awareness of the veteran community is hugely important and so it was wonderful to see our local branches leading the way with lots of support and awareness being raised for our serving and veteran personnel. A big thank you to everyone involved.
We thank the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity for their extremely generous funding support from their Falklands 40 Associations Fund.
A £12,000 grant enabled us to offer this weekend’s activities at virtually no cost to Members, and a further £10,000 was given to Portsmouth City Council to contribute towards a commemorative dinner which was held in Portsmouth Guildhall and hosted up to 210 Holders of the South Atlantic Medal, including veterans from the Royal Marines.
Rehabilitation Triathlon
We were proud supporters of the Rehabilitation Triathlon in Plymouth Hoe where tri-services personnel and veterans, joined by personnel from the US Marine Corps and the Netherlands Marine Corp, competed in an adaptive triathlon comprising a pool swim, cycle and static row.
It was truly humbling to see all the participants going above and beyond – special thanks go to the organisers from NSRC Hasler, The Bands of HM Royal Marines, partner charities and the Mayor of Plymouth for her tremendous support.
Awesome ultra-marathon support
This has been a week of awesome ultra-marathon successes within the community fundraising sphere. The push to test limits beyond the usual marathon distance has been a real focus for many.
At the weekend, three serving personnel took on the Cotswold Ultra Challenge, and one RSM led by example by completing the second of a series of three ultra-challenges within the space of just six weeks! Between them, these amazing athletes have raised over £5,000 for our Charity. Thank you!!
Employment & Education get out and around
The team has had a positive week networking in London; there was good news all round with COBSEO’s Employment & Education cluster confirming low unemployment at 3.8% and so there are currently many more job opportunities than those looking: there is the exciting news of a first meeting with Tesla. It marks the beginning of what looks set to prove a strong relationship with the world-renowned company that is keen to offer a wide variety of career opportunities to ex-military personnel.
There was also an intro meeting with the ‘Only a Pavement Away’ charity which partnership will give our team yet another resource to tap for hospitality opportunities.
Free kids’ tickets for Gone Wild Festival
With the rising cost of living impacting so many, Bear Grylls is offering a limited amount of free kids’ tickets to Gone Wild Festival 2022 being held at Powderham Castle near Exeter from 25th-28th August.
To take up this offer, simply select the ticket option you want and, for every adult ticket purchased, you can add a ‘kids go free’ ticket. Then just start counting down the days to The Ultimate Family Festival!
Gone Wild Festival is a proud supporter of the RMA – The Royal Marines Charity and we receive 10% of every ticket sold.