On the subject of British sea cadets, the following is from The Times.Sir, Martin Samuel’s article (“Heroin is hard work. You don’t drift into it”, Sept 26) is skilfully written but seeks ultimately to equate the dangers of taking heroin with that of joining the Sea Cadets.
Christopher Preece was no longer a cadet at the time of this death. While he was a cadet his behaviour was exemplary and we offer our sincerest condolences to his family.
The Sea Cadets provide opportunities to more than 14,000 young people across the country to participate positively with other young people engaging in a multitude of activities such as drill, sailing, canoeing and catering. They get to meet other young people nationally and internationally at a huge number of courses, events and competitions. These activities provide life skills, citizenship and leadership development. The activities also seek to relieve the boredom of the teenage years that Mr Samuel’s article highlights correctly as being one of the principal causes of drug use.
Only a small fraction of the 14,000 join the Royal Navy, although those who do join ultimately turn out to be the ones the Navy retains the longest. The Royal Navy needs this to carry on the fight against the many dangers we face, one of which, of course, is preventing the traffic of drugs into this country.
More than 9,500 volunteers give up a huge amount of their spare time changing the lives of young people and their communities for the better. Average uniformed volunteers will give 16.6 hours a week supporting their local unit, a substantial amount of which is involved in fundraising to keep the self-financing units running.
An indication of the challenge and the rewards that face our volunteers is that 40 per cent of cadets come from single-parent backgrounds and from areas that the Government describes as being of multiple deprivation.
It is for these reasons Mr Samuel’s conclusion causes immense offence.
Mike Cornish
Chief Executive
Marine Society and Sea Cadets
