Today we are delighted to launch our 75 for the 75th challenge, celebrating 75 years since the creation of the Royal Marines Association.
You can choose to compete as a team or individual. Run, walk, cycle or even walk the dog to complete your challenge. The Challenge will close on the 28th October 2021, the Corps Birthday.
By entering the 75 for the 75th challenge, you are supporting Royal Marines and their families, enabling us to ensure those who need support, get it.
RMA-The Royal Marines Charity celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2021, marking the foundation of one of its predecessor organisations, the Royal Marines Association (RMA), in 1946.
After the Second World War, there was a Royal Marines Old Comrades Association (RMOCA) which flourished in branches normally in port cities, providing comradeship and mutual support, the demobilisation of some 80% of the then 77,000 Royal Marines posed a challenge to find employment on a huge scale. On the initiative of Lt Col Nicol Gray and Col Paine, RMA was established in early 1946 after an initial meeting on 27 November 1945.
RMA was initially based in an office in Queen Anne’s Mansions in Petty France, Westminster alongside the then Royal Marines HQ, with HM King George VI as Royal Patron and Lt Gen Sir Robert Sturges as President, and a monthly Executive Committee meeting with branch and regional representatives. The original aims were to help those going outside to find jobs, resettle and maintain contact with each other and the Corps, and to assist those in financial need, principally through assistance from the Royal Naval Benevolent Trust. There was a target for 50,000 members by the end of the first financial year 30 April 1947.
A new bespoke HQ was opened by Earl Mountbatten of Burma at 5 Talbot Square, London in 1948, by which time there were 155 branches and 30,000 members, and by the start of 1950 jobs had been found for 9,300 members. 1952 saw a step up in the employment and welfare sections, and the appointment of the first General Secretary followed a year later, and in 1954 the first annual reunion took place in Wigan