No images? Click here Dear Supporter Welcome to the October edition of The Seafarers' Charity's e-newsletter, Seapost! The last few months have been pretty exciting with many events taking place one after the other. In this issue, you will learn about the Fly the Red Ensign for Merchant Navy Day campaign, London Marathon 2021, The Safety Net webinar to train financial champions, London International Shipping Week 2021, AMI Marine challenge event as well as The Seafarers' Charity upcoming challenge events and how to get involved. Finally, we are happy to deliver the exciting news of our upcoming, brand new website which we are going to launch very soon! So watch this space! Best wishes, Editor To our Merchant Navy... Thank youOur Fly the Red Ensign for Merchant Navy Day annual campaign continued its success this year, with the British Merchant Navy’s official flag (Red Ensign) being flown on Merchant Navy Day on September 3rd in many locations across the UK, highlighting the vital role of merchant seafarers – past, present and future. Started in 2015 by The Seafarers’ Charity to address ‘sea blindness’ that appeared to afflict a huge proportion of the population, the campaign provides an opportunity to honour the many brave men and women who kept the UK afloat during both World Wars and celebrate our dependence on modern-day merchant seafarers who are responsible for more than 90% of the UK’s imports. This year, in recognition of extreme financial challenges that many working and retired UK seafarers and their families have been facing during the pandemic, we also asked for donations as part of the campaign towards Merchant Navy Fund, administered by The Seafarers’ Charity and supported by the Merchant Navy Fund Welfare Board, as a way of thanking our merchant seafarers who have worked so hard to keep our country going throughout the COVID-19 crisis. If you would like to support our appeal, please make a donation online. Your donation will help us give Merchant Navy seafarers and their families somewhere to turn for support at time of crisis. London International Shipping Week 2021As part of London International Shipping Week 2021, The Seafarers’ Charity, alongside The Mission to Seafarers, Sailors’ Society and Stella Maris organised a conference on 13 September, to explore seafarers’ wellbeing in a digital age. Hosted by satellite communications firm, Inmarsat, the event had 250 participants and a panel of experts from across the industry who explored the welfare issues faced by seafarers during the pandemic, and whether the digital solutions put in place were effective. Do you want to become a Financial Champion in your local fishing community?On Thursday 7th October at 2pm there will be a free, online workshop to train ‘financial champions’ in UK fishing ports and harbours. Anyone living or working within a fishing community and interested in discovering how best to support people working in fishing with their money management can join the session. The workshop has been developed in partnership with The Money Charity and a working group of stakeholders drawn from industry and maritime welfare charities. Through improving money management practices and understanding of financial choices we aim to remove hardship, strengthen financial resilience and help fishing families and communities build a financial Safety Net which will help them to thrive. London MarathonIt’s been a long 18 months since the London Marathon was cancelled in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic so it was an amazing and emotional day finally watching our runners take to the streets of London and complete the 26.2 miles. Huge congratulations to all 18 of our runners who completed the race and have raised over £25K (and counting!) for our charity – we are so proud of you all. Particular thanks to our long standing supporter, John Corp (photographed far left) who ran his 7th marathon in support of us at 78 years of age which is an incredible achievement. We held a post-marathon reception on board the stunning HQS Wellington for our runners to celebrate with their family and friends which was a huge success and we are already looking forward to the London Marathon on Sunday 2nd October 2022. If you are interested in joining our team in 2022, please get in touch.
Upcoming challenge eventsSanta Run: Take on this truly iconic route with your friends and family and start feeling festive. You can either run, jog or walk - no previous experience is needed for a 5k run like this. The dates for the event are Wednesday 1st & Thursday 2nd December 2021. If you have questions about this event, please get in touch. 24 Peaks 2022: We are delighted to confirm that the 24 Peak will be returning in 2022! The dates for the event are Saturday 2nd & Sunday 3rd July 2022. More details on how to apply will be available in the next few months but if you would like to register your interest, please get in touch. Upcoming websiteWatch this space! |