I’d like to start this month’s newsletter with some fantastic news.
Royally great news: The Naval Children’s Charity are delighted to announce that HRH The Princess Royal is to become our new Patron, following on from many years of Royal Patronage from her mother, Her Majesty The late Queen, who was our Patron for over 70 years. As we celebrate our Bicentenary, 200 years of supporting Naval children, Patronage of The Princess Royal is of particular significance.
Her Royal Highness has a long history of supporting military families and promoting the well-being of children. The Princess Royal’s Patronage of The Naval Children’s Charity will bring significant attention to the Charity’s vital work and help to ensure that children of Naval personnel receive the support they need to thrive.
On behalf of all at the Naval Children’s Charity we offer our warmest thanks to HRH for agreeing to become our Patron. The Princess has shown great interest, over the years, into the wellbeing of our families and Her Royal Highness’s commitment to the Charities that she serves is outstanding. We look forward to introducing The Princess Royal to our team and our children and young people so that they can tell their stories to Her Royal Highness directly.
Competition Time: Now, as you may have seen we have been running an exciting competition for our young people where we asked for talented young artists to craft a unique ‘200th birthday’ creation using one of our complimentary craft kits. It is fair to say that we were absolutely inundated with some truly wonderful creations.
A selection of young people from our Youth Council had the difficult task of judging the large volume of entries, and after much deliberation we are thrilled to announce that our two winning entries, that will each receive a £200 Merlin Voucher for first place, are Lavinia and Aldo Richmond in the 3 – 8 years category and Ruby Hewins in the 9 – 14 years category. Also winning some fantastic prizes in the runner up positions are Mylah-Rose, Quinn Beale, Imogen Goulbourn and Zac Kwok.
Next month is the Month of the Military Child: April is a month where we champion our amazing, resilient children and young people from Armed Forces families. They can experience many challenges because they are from an Armed Forces family, and we are in awe of how brilliant they are.
This April 2025, the MOTMC has a theme of ‘Memories’ – which could not be more appropriate for us here at the Naval Children’s Charity as we celebrate our bicentenary – 200 years of our own memories supporting our Naval children.
To help us celebrate you and our bicentenary we would like you to share your memories – be as creative as you like: write something, turn it into a poem, draw it, paint it, sculpt it or just send us a photo of you and your Armed Forces family that is a memory you cherish. With your permission we will share these on social media and our website as we celebrate throughout the month.
25th April is Purple Up! Day: this is part of the Month of the Military Child and takes place to raise awareness of the unique challenges and resilience of children in military families. This would be a fantastic opportunity if you would like to show your support for us and maybe even join our #NCC200 Club by fundraising for us on the day. If you would like to participate, please wear purple clothing to show your support, you may also like to get your school/organisation involved, whilst fundraising for us. You can download our poster here for further information. Send your photos to: ncc@navalchildrenscharity.org.uk, use the hashtags #MotMC and #ncc200 on social media to share your activities and support, then donate here.
Best wishes,
Clare Scherer MBE
Chief Executive Officer, Naval Children’s Charity
