Seafarers UK Impact Report 2012

Impact report 2012-13

Seafarers UK is the leading maritime charity that supports and promotes the many organisations that look after seafarers in need across the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleets, Royal Navy and Royal Marines, together with their families.

the leading charity for seafarers in need

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£2.94m total charitable

activities expenditure by

Seafarers UK in 2012

Who we are

What we do&For over 95 years, Seafarers UK has been supporting and promoting the many organisations in the UK and Commonwealth that look after seafarers in need across the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleets, Royal Navy and Royal Marines. We are a fundraising and campaigning charity focused on enabling and serving the maritime charity sector, through efficient financial aid and awareness-raising of the sea and seafarers.

We give grants to specialist maritime organisations and support projects that provide frontline services to serving and ex-serving seafarers who are experiencing hardship, and their families. We work to improve the quality of life of those in greatest difficulty by assessing the welfare need across the entire maritime sector, enabling us to target our funding efficiently and effectively.

Seafarers UK believes in a fair chance for all seafarers, an effective maritime charity sector, the need for a transparent approach to funding work, an ability to listen out for changing needs, a thriving maritime community, and a patriotic duty of care.

Our key aims are: to improve the quality of life

for all seafarers and their families in times of need, by securing more efficient aid and support for them

to ensure the effective distribution of funds to those charities that help them.

In pursuing these aims and beliefs we hope to demonstrate that we are: knowledgeable, professional, caring, passionate, respectful of tradition and forward thinking.

What we stand for:

£2.5m funding given out by Seafarers UK in 2012 to support welfare, education, training and safety work

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 3

111,427 individual beneficiaries directly benefited from Seafarers UK’s funding in 2012

Huge strides have been made in recent years in making life safer for those who earn a living at sea: better navigation, better communications, better accom-modation and better terms under which they are employed. Yet despite all these improvements, for seafarers life can still be harsh. Long periods of separation from friends and family, extended periods of duty, fatigue, the dangers of working heavy machinery whilst being exposed to awful weather. Draw all these factors together and it is easy to see why seafarers have a much greater chance of death or injury than many other professions, why relation-

ships can be put under strain, why families

may need support at key moments in their lives.

There is also a mutual respect and a sense of belonging to a spe-

cial club of like-minded individuals, drawn together through hard work and

long hours in an unforgiving environ-ment. It is a bond that some find difficult to replace when the time comes to leave the sea, through age, injury or the vagaries

of the economic situation. These men and women have earned our thanks and our respect – during their years at sea they have kept us clothed, warm and fed. And in their endeavours they have been defended by other seafarers of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Proud, hard-working and highly skilled, many seafarers make the transition successfully to life and jobs ashore, but for others it can be difficult.

They need our support. In some cases to help them re-train and find new employ-ment, in other cases to help them adapt to life after a serious injury or to provide additional help for the essentials of daily living that a small pension (or none) can-not possibly cover. In a small number of cases it is the family of a seafarer who has been killed at sea or who has subsequently passed-away that cannot continue without some additional assistance. Put simply, that is why Seafarers UK came into being nearly 100 years ago – that is still our role today and that will still be our role for as long as we remain an island nation dependent on the sea to survive. But we can only do it with your support.

Peter WilkinsonChairman, Seafarers UK

Why do our seafarers deserve support?

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Who we support

JOHN Norman’s fishing vessel sank in April 2012. The incident affected him badly and he was diagnosed as suffering from Post Traumatic Stress. He was referred to Care Ashore which immediately put into place the required medical support and arranged counselling. Norman was also provided with a grant to have his vehicle and home (a camper van) repaired to ease his worries and give him hope that he might return to work at some time. Seafarers UK gave a grant of £31,000 in 2012 to Care Ashore to help boost the support and health services they provide.

NORMAN

John, a young Royal Marines Reservist, was injured in an incident in Afghanistan. His loss of independence had a tremendous impact on his life. Nevertheless he still wanted his own place to live. The Scottish Veterans’ Garden City Association (SVGCA) stepped in. SVGCA provides low rental housing in Scotland for disabled ex-service personnel with a priority on housing younger people who run the risk of homelessness or who have a family. John says: ‘I couldn’t be more grateful to have a house we can call home.’ Seafarers UK has supported SVGCA for three years with a grant of £30,000 each year to help them renovate 36 houses.

HAYLEY Hayley’s early life wasn’t an easy one and she moved into residential care after problems in getting on with her par-ents. Hayley has been a Sea Cadet for a number of years and the organi-sation, volunteers and instructors provided some of the support and guid-ance that she was no longer getting at home.

Amongst many other opportunities, the Sea Cadets allowed her to ex-perience a life-changing, week-long trip on the Tall Ship Royalist, giving her a new perspective on her capabilities and her future. She is now looking forward to a career in the Merchant or Royal Navy and is working hard to gain promotion.

£200,000 fundraised by challenge event participants in 2012

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 5

Frank joined the Royal Navy as an ordinary seaman, and later on was in the Royal Navy reserves. After suffering a spinal injury, he spent many years in and out of hospital having surgery, physio and other forms of treatment. Later he was introduced to the British Ex-Services Wheelchair Sports Association (BEWSA). ‘They have been a saviour to me, teaching me there was more to life than staying at home and moaning. They introduced me to wheelchair sport, gave me a fitness programme and have given me back my self-respect.’ In 2012 Seafarers UK gave BEWSA a grant of £12,000 to enable them to continue with the work they do.

FRANK

Donald is a 75 year old former Merchant Navy Officer and recently moved into The Queen Alexandra Hospital Home (QAHH), a home for disabled veterans. Since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, Donald’s mobility has increasingly suffered, but the facilities and activities available mean that he is able to maintain a good quality of life. QAHH have provided him with three physiotherapy sessions a week, where he gets to leave his wheelchair and walk using parallel bars or a Zimmer frame. Seafarers UK has given an average grant of £25,000 to QAHH for the past four years specifically to fund physiotherapy sessions which help maintain residents’ fitness and overall quality of life.

CHIRAG

Chirag was an engineer on the M.T. Marida Marguerite which was seized by pirates on 8 May 2010 in the Gulf of Aden. He was held in captivity for nearly eight months in very poor conditions. The crew were not allowed to contact their families or employer and were deprived of basic human rights. Chirag now works for The Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP), which offers moral and financial support to seafarers and their families suffering the same torturous circumstances that Chirag endured. They also meet released crews with medical help. In 2012 Seafarers UK supported MPHRP with a grant of £67,000.

67 charities and

organisations that received grants from

Seafarers UK in 2012

DONALD

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£468,780 provided in grants in 2012 to seafarers’ dependants and families

Accommodation and care

Advice and information

Children and young people

Education and training

General welfare

Health

Improving sector efficiency

Port-based welfare

Grant to charities supporting individuals (on a regular basis)

£0 £150,000 £300,000 £450,000 £600,000

8 grants

5 grants

7 grants

5 grants

19 grants

6 grants

9 grants

8 grants

6 grants

Our grant making

Seafarers UK provides help for the whole seafaring family, across the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleets, Royal Navy and Royal Marines. In 2012 we gave 73 grants to the value of £2.5m to 67 organisations – all providing services across our core areas of funding, namely older and ex-seafarers, seafarers’ dependants and families, seafarers of working age and maritime youth groups.

In 2012 our funding directly supported 111,427 serving and ex-serving seafarers. This included 24,067 Royal Navy and Royal Marine beneficiaries, 55,608 Merchant Navy beneficiaries, 17,738 Fishing Fleet beneficiaries and 14,914 Maritime Youth beneficiaries.

Small Grants programme

The small grants programme was started in 2011 and enables organistions to apply once a year for a grant of £5,000 or less, in addition to applying for a main grant, and in support of specific projects. In 2012 we awarded 26 grants (totaling £93,948) from this funding programme, up from 18 grants in 2011 (totaling £60,552), indicating that small grants are a valuable additional resource for maritime charities. Small grants also help to encourage organisations to look at alternative or matched sources of funding.

Guidance & Support

Whilst continuing to support organisations that need our funds to carry on delivering a service to their beneficiaries, we have now developed a more project-based approach to how we allocate our funding. With scarce resources and many more requests than available funds we are seeking more detail on precisely what our grant will be spent on, and what service or activity the money will go to support. As of March 2013, we are also now running a ‘continuous grants programme’ where applicants can apply at any time during the year for a grant from Seafarers UK.

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 7

Our sector-wide remit, knowledge and understanding means that Seafarers UK is uniquely positioned to assess the welfare needs across the seafaring community as a whole, to judge where our funding can have the greatest impact within the maritime charity sector, and to then work with partners in sharing information and coordinating grant-giving and campaigning work.

In 2012 we received applications for grants totalling £4.2m. This need is set to increase.

For a full list of all our 2012 grants, see our Annual Report on our website.

Maritime Youth

10%

Fishing13%

Royal Navy36%

Merchant Navy38%

Improving sector

efficiency

6%

Maritime Youth groups

12%

Seafarers of working age

26%

Seafarers’ dependants and families

19%

Older and ex-seafarers

37%

Improving sector

efficiency

3%

£4.2mfunding applied for

by charities and organisations in

2012

£928,967awarded in

grants to older and ex-

seafarers in 2012

Monitoring and Evaluation of our grants

Grant recipients are asked to report back on whether their funding did actually achieve those outcomes that they originally identified in their applications. In January 2013 Seafarers UK piloted a new monitoring and evaluation process. We will now work closely with our beneficiaries to make sure that this evaluation produces valuable evidence of their work, whilst not being onerous to produce.

Other funding programmes

The Merchant Navy Fund was launched in November 2012 as a joint initiative with the Merchant Navy Welfare Board. Grants assessment and management is being undertaken by Seafarers UK via its standard application process. The first Merchant Navy Fund grants will be made in 2013.

Seafarers UK made £227,241 in grants to organisations in Commonwealth countries during 2012. Project fundraising and funding is also set to become an increasing area of focus for the charity in 2013 and beyond, both in the UK and overseas.

Our Key Areas of Funding

By Sector By Beneficiary type

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You can make a huge difference to the quality of people’s lives and their communities by helping us to increase the level of funding and support we provide in trying to meet the immediate and increasing welfare needs of all seafaring families who are in difficulty.

Every time someone gives to Seafarers UK, they do so because they know we understand the entire maritime sector and its welfare needs better than anyone else, and they trust that we’ll spend their money where it has the greatest impact.

We are actively reducing our reserves so as to give out as much funding as we can in meeting the short-term need, whilst also retaining enough to be able to respond to the future demographics* of the seafaring community and the needs of those who will turn to us over the next 10, 20 and 30 years. So we need to raise funds now, to ensure we can meet the current need, as well as those needing us in the future.

*Seafarers UK is currently beginning to undertake updated demographics research, through the Maritime Charities Funding Group, to identify the longer-term welfare needs of the seafaring community.

Why support us?

how to support

us

GIVEby making a donation securely via our website, over the telephone or

by post. You can do this in the form of a one-off donation, a regular

donation (e.g. Direct Debit), a gift in your Will, or an

In Memoriam/Lieu donation.

CORPORATEPARTNER

no matter what your business, we can

create a partnership that will offer tangible benefits

for your company including project specific support, employee

engagement, event sponsorship and retail incentive marketing.

CAMPAIGN

get involved in Seafarers Awareness

Week

help to raise awareness of our Island Nation’s dependence on the

sea and the roles, lives, difficulties and contribution

of our seafarers.

join one of our volunteer fundraising

committees around the UK

organise a street collection

help out at a public event on a Seafarers UK

stand.

VOLUNTEER

FUNDRAISE

take part in one of our challenge events or a fundraising campaign,

such as Nautical Friday

buy tickets for one of our Royal Marines Band concerts

organise your own fundraising activity at home or work.

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 9

‘We are great supporters of Seafarers UK and the work that they do. We are only too pleased to give them the opportunity to raise funds on our ferries on Nautical Friday.’

—Kerry Jackson Marketing Manager, Wightlink

“Seafarers UK has given so much to the seafaring community, so it is great to be able to give something back. The sense of achievement from completing one of their many challenges is amazing. I know – I’ve been there and got the T-shirts!”

—Mark Dickinson General Secretary of Nautilus

International

The Benefits we provide We work with specialist charities to

deliver the best results for seafarers

We make a real difference to people’s lives

We provide financial security for important charities in tough times

We promote an effective maritime charity sector

We are aware of changing need and responsive to it

We raise awareness of the sea and seafarers

Our capabilities 95 years of grant making experience

Strong governance

Research into need informs best use of resources

Monitoring and evaluation confirms that money is well spent

In-depth knowledge gained through coordination role in sector

Leadership of campaigns

how to support

us

GIVEby making a donation securely via our website, over the telephone or

by post. You can do this in the form of a one-off donation, a regular

donation (e.g. Direct Debit), a gift in your Will, or an

In Memoriam/Lieu donation.

CORPORATEPARTNER

no matter what your business, we can

create a partnership that will offer tangible benefits

for your company including project specific support, employee

engagement, event sponsorship and retail incentive marketing.

CAMPAIGN

get involved in Seafarers Awareness

Week

help to raise awareness of our Island Nation’s dependence on the

sea and the roles, lives, difficulties and contribution

of our seafarers.

join one of our volunteer fundraising

committees around the UK

organise a street collection

help out at a public event on a Seafarers UK

stand.

VOLUNTEER

FUNDRAISE

take part in one of our challenge events or a fundraising campaign,

such as Nautical Friday

buy tickets for one of our Royal Marines Band concerts

organise your own fundraising activity at home or work.

£80,000raised by our supporters who ran in the 2012 Virgin London Marathon

4,000followers of the Seafarers UKTwitter account (as at March 2013)

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Impact case studies

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Sea Cadets deliver life changing nautical adven-ture for young people. Our Charter requires us actively to promote seafaring careers to to-day’s children and the Sea Cadets fulfills this role through a national programme of structured training across over 360 units in the UK. An im-pressive proportion of these cadets subsequent-ly join the Royal or Mer-chant Navies, where they often develop outstand-ing records of achieve-ment over long careers.

In 2012 Seafarers UK awarded the Marine Society and Sea Cadets with a £100,000 grant as a contribution to-wards their Direct Grants Scheme, which in turn goes to support over 360 separate Sea Cadet units throughout the UK. These grants range from pro-viding security fencing, alarms and gates for indi-vidual Sea Cadet units, to general building works/maintenance and equip-ment (boats and associ-ated equipment).

REGULAR GRANTS

In 2012 Seafarers UK paid a small grant of £5,000 to the Peterhead & District Fishermen’s Benevolent Fund in support of the payment of regular grants towards eligible ex and retired seafarers and their widows.

ACCOMMODATION & CARE

The Stoll Foundation provides rehabilitative support to vulnerable and disabled ex-service men and women, working with 234 Veterans (23% of whom are ex-seafarers). In 2012 Seafarers UK provided Stoll with a £20,000 grant towards the funding of its Tenant Support

Team with the outcome aims of: keeping 30 tenants more secure in their home by better managing their tenancy, and helping 50 tenants to engage in social and confidence-building activities, contributing to their overall health and well-being and tackling social isolation.

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 11

HEALTH

Blind Veterans UK gives all blind veterans (including Merchant Navy veterans) access to services to help them discover life beyond sight loss. This includes providing rehabilitation, training, long-term nursing, residential and respite care.

Last year Seafarers UK provided Blind Veterans UK with a grant of £30,000 in support of the 147 new seafaring beneficiaries expected to join the charity in the coming year.

Funding outcomes were for 95% of new Royal Navy or Merchant Navy beneficiaries to be leading more independent lives after one year, and for them to have reported an increase in confidence after attending an introductory week

at a Blind Veterans UK centre, and for 70% of new beneficiaries to have undertaken further training, or to have taken up a new leisure activity after nine months.

PORT-BASED WELFARE SERVICESIn 2012 Seafarers UK pro-vided Liverpool Seafarers Centre with a main grant of £11,120 to cover the costs of replacing the with-drawn welfare services of another organisation for vessels using the Man-chester Ship Canal.

Outcomes were to increase the number of vessels visited, to make contact with crew berthed on

vessels in remote locations and to improve morale on-board vessels. The funding was specifically for a part-time visitor plus vehicle, volunteer and other related costs.

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ADVICE & INFORMATION SERVICES

ISWAN, the International Seafarers Welfare Assistance Network, provides a 24-hour help line service, SeafarerHelp, via a team of eleven full and part time staff, who between them speak nine languages.

It is a free and confidential service for all seafarers and their families who find themselves in a difficult situation and require support or assistance.

In 2012 SeafarerHelp assisted 4,091 seafarers – with almost a quarter of those helped being from the UK and Commonwealth countries.

In 2012, Seafarers UK gave a main grant to ISWAN of £50,000, with outcome aims of:

1. ensuring staff training plans resulted in a more effective op-eration, with a direct and positive impact on the outcome of cases handled,

2. improving their data manage-ment system, resulting in more streamlined case handling and reliable data to help highlight emerging trends in welfare needs, and

3. enhancing its community outreach and marketing, thus increasing awareness of SeafarerHelp.

SECTOR EFFICIENCY & CAMPAIGNINGWe are working hard to build new and stronger relationships with other maritime awareness-raising or educational organisations. In particular we agreed a new strategic partnership with Sea Vision, the national on-going campaign to enthuse the young people of today about the maritime opportunities of tomorrow through educational and maritime career related activities for

11 to 22 year olds.

In 2012, Seafarers UK provided £25,000 in funding to Sea Vision to help drive forward the development of a digital media platform to be used to engage young people, informing them of the wide array of opportunities in the maritime sector, as well as the many facts, figures, personalities and stories involved.

Impact case studies

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 13

GENERAL WELFARE

In 2012 Seafarers UK supported the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme with a grant of £67,000.

The outcomes of this funding were multiple. They included welfare support for seafarers and families through advice and assistance in contacting their companies and governments; help in getting medical support; as well as the development of a good practice guide (approved by the International Maritime Organisation) for ship owners and manning agencies. This guide has been downloaded over 8,000 times.

EDUCATION & TRAININGThe UK Sailing Academy (UKSA) is a charity dedicated to changing lives through personal development and maritime education. In 2012 Seafarers UK awarded UKSA with a grant of £78,000 to establish four full bursaries, to be awarded by need, for the UKSA Yachting Cadetship programme. The three-year programme is specifically designed for those seeking to embark on a long term career on super-yachts, who otherwise could not afford to.

The outcomes of this fund-ing were primarily the awarding of a Foundation Degree in Operational Yacht Science (via Plymouth Uni-versity) and the MCA Officer of the Watch Certification (3000gt). Increased self-confidence, self-reliance and a mature attitude and strong work ethic are additional outcomes for the four 18-year old cadets supported onto the cadetship pro-gramme by our funding.

“Your support has boosted our response in Commonwealth countries, including covering the hospital bills of an Indian crew member who had contracted TB whilst being held captive. If we had not done this, he would have been sent back to his village to die.” —Roy Paul, Director,

Maritime Piracy Human Respose Programme

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Key events in 2012

In 2012 Seafarers UK joined forces with Plymouth City Council to jointly host a Grand Civic Reception ahead of Armed Forces Day in honour of our armed forces, and in particular our veterans, along with highlighting the Merchant Navy’s crucial role in previous engagements. The event took place at the Plymouth Guildhall with 350 invited guests, attended by our President, HRH The Earl of Wessex, The First Sea Lord and the Lord Mayor of Plymouth. Seafarers UK is particularly thankful to BAE Systems for sponsoring both the event and the charity’s wider public presence over the weekend.

Seafarers UK ‘joins forces’ with Plymouth

In 2012 our annual Fish & Chip Feast fundraising week was boosted by a new award for the top fundraising chippy, and given as part of the annual Seafish National Fish & Chip Shop Awards. The awards evening took place in January 2013 and Seafarers UK was the charity partner for the event. On the night impressionist and comedian Rory Bremner presented the inaugural Seafarers UK Fish & Chip Feast Top Fundraising Award to Burton Road Chippy, based in Lincoln, for their work in raising an impressive £1,000 from staff and customers throughout the week.

The Fish & Chip Feast

£387,500 funding given by Seafarers UK to maritime youth groups

£100,000: donations from sales of Seafarers Ale, thanks to our partnership with Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC.

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 15

Nautical Friday – a ‘tall’ ask

£134,580awarded specifically to

projects in Scotland (not including UK-

wide grants) in 2012

Seafarers UK celebrated its 95th year in 2012, and to mark this occasion the charity held a gala fundraising evening with its corporate supporters at Trinity House in London. On the night 120 guests

gathered together for a champagne reception followed by a fabulous dinner with speeches and an auction. The event raised an impressive £35,000 for the Seafarers UK Children’s Appeal.

Seafarers UK – 95 years young!

Seafarers UK’s annual fundraising day, Nautical Friday, sees all our supporters doing something fun to raise money for the charity – whether it’s dressing up at work, a street collection or their own event for friends and family. In 2012 we also organised a fantastic fundraising challenge, that of climbing the 130ft mast of the Jubilee Sailing Trust’s tall ship, STS Lord Nelson, whilst berthed at Southampton. This

proved to be a lot harder than many had thought, and it also resulted in radio interviews and some great social media activity. Many others also took part in fundraising on the day, including two 5-a-side football tournaments, one for London-based shipping firms organised by NYK, and another at RNAS Culdrose where teams could also score ‘goals’ through taking part in a number of nautical challenges.

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In March 2012 we launched the Seafarers UK Children’s Appeal with a reception at the Grange Holborn Hotel (gifted in kind by The Grange Hotel group). The aims of the appeal were to increase the profile and support we give to charities meeting the welfare needs of our seafarers’ children, and to organisations that provide activities and personal development opportunities for children in a maritime environment. By March 2013 £150,000 had been donated to the Appeal from our Individual, Corporate and Trust supporters. In 2012 we provided £541,600 in funding in support of 16,199 individual beneficiaries for services to children and for maritime youth organisations – an increase of 44% from 2011.

The Seafarers UK Children’s Appeal

Key initiatives in 2012

£150,000 donations raised for the Seafarers UK Children’s Appeal in its first 12 months.

Continuous grant-making

For the first time in our grant-making history, we are now providing beneficiary organisations with a ‘continuous grants programme’, where applicants can apply at any time during the year for a grant from Seafarers UK. This means a quicker turn-around of applications, providing a more efficient and effective service to our beneficiary organisations. Of 23 applications in our first grants round in March 2013, 13 were from organisations who had never applied to us before. This was more than the total number of ‘new’ organisations we received applications from in 2012. 

£64,000 raised in 2012 by the teams taking part in the 24 Peaks Challenge.

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 17

In 2012 Seafarers UK enlisted the support of 30 promotional partners to help spread the word about the UK’s dependence on seafarers and how they deserve our support when times are hard. We ran a public relations campaign to get coverage in newspapers, on radio stations, websites and via social media - reaching out to ordinary members of the public to remind them about the importance of our maritime connections. We promoted five specially-commissioned filmed interviews with seafarers who had been directly aided by a Seafarers UK beneficiary charity, and we developed an interactive and fun quiz for young people to learn more about life working at

sea. Thanks to Caroline Dinenage MP, Seafarers UK was pleased to welcome 60 guests to a Seafarers Awareness Week reception in the House of Commons. The week also coincided with the Day of the Seafarer resulting in a day of

joint media work between the IMO and Seafarers UK (see above photo). Finally, our 2013 awareness week campaign was backed by TV presenter and historian, Neil Oliver, and will be reported on in our next Impact Report.

Seafarers Awareness Week

The Merchant Navy Fund

The Merchant Navy Fund is a collaborative initiative by Seafarers UK and the Merchant Navy Welfare Board. Both organisations recognised that many of those with a Merchant Navy background increasingly want to see their donations and legacies used specifically in support of British Merchant Navy seafarers and their families. In November 2012, therefore, the Merchant Navy Fund was launched solely for this purpose, with all monies raised being used exclusively to help finance those charities and projects supporting our own Merchant Navy

seafarers and their families. Seafarers UK administers the fund and any grants given out, thus ensuring no additional administration charges.

£70,894: The advertising value

equivalent of radio and online coverage

achieved by Seafarers Awareness

Week in 2012.

1,100 people attended the Seafarers

UK Royal Marines Band concert at

Edinburgh’s Usher Hall in

2012.

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£300,000 Event, sponsorship and advertising income to Seafarers UK in 2012

We are a small Island Nation that just happened to create one of the greatest trading empires ever seen, thus laying the foundations of London’s present financial supremacy. Our forefathers did this by mastering, dominating and harvesting the sea, but in a few decades this proud maritime heritage seems to have slipped from our collec-tive understanding. A state of sea blindness has descended on the land, but we at Seafarers UK are determined to reverse this trend, and we want to remind you not only of a glorious seafaring tradition but also of an equally vibrant seafaring present. We still have a strong and efficient Royal Navy, dedicated to keeping the world’s sea lanes open. Those sea lanes carry 95% of our trade, both vital imports from abroad and equally vital economy-boosting exports while, despite the

problems of sustainability, our fisher-men still provide a major part of our

national diet.

We want Government to provide greater investment in maritime infrastructure,

skills and employment opportunities, teachers to realise exciting sea-going career

possibilities and the general public to recognise the pivotal role that the Royal and Merchant Navies and fishing fleets have played, and continue to play, in our very existence. In fact,

we need everyone to appreciate that without our seafarers, past, present and future, our very way of life would grind to a halt. We promote events such as Seafarers Awareness Week and Nautical Friday, asking you to spare a thought for these men and women undergoing a sometimes harsh and lonely existence on behalf of us all. We do this not just to restore our sense of national pride as a seafaring nation, but also in the hope that everyone will better appreciate the realities of a nautical life and support Seafarers UK as it strives to help UK and Commonwealth seafarers and their families in distress.

If our campaigning is to reach out further, then we need greater support for it. We need indi-vidual supporters to spread the word, as part of their fundraising, or by organising their own awareness-raising event. We also need financial and corporate support in the form of partner-ing and sponsorship to help us underwrite the costs of Seafarers Awareness Week, but with the ultimate aim of reaching out further with our message.

Seafarers work at the margins of society, out of sight and out of mind, which makes the huge dif-ference they make to our world all the more re-markable. Let’s help everyone to understand that.

Barry Bryant, Director General, Seafarers UK

Our Campaigning

Picture by Evie Brett: winner (6-11 year old category)

of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s Fund 2012 Children’s Art Competition, which took

place during Seafarers Awareness Week.

IMPACT REPORT 2012-13 19

1.3m Estimated number of Merchant Navy seafarers worldwide

717,000 Ex-seafarers and their dependants in the UK over retirement age*

277,000 Former seafarers of working age in the UK*

157,000 Children (under age of 18) of working seafarers in the UK*

80,000 Active British seafarers in the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets

2,000 Estimated number of seafarers that die at sea each year (ITF)

1,586 Number of ships lost (2000-10)

375 Number of fishing vessels lost (2000-10)

270 Average number of days at a time a seafarer is away from their family

170 Seafarers being held hostage for ransom by Somali pirates in 2013 (WSC)

81 Percentage of seafarers who have no access to the Internet whilst at sea

9 Number of ships lost on average each month**

* Supporting seafarers and their families, 2007**Allianz Safety & Shipping Review

Partnership working and collaboration

Seafaring by numbers£20 to pay for a life jacket for a Sea

Cadet

£30 can contribute to the costs of

a school uniform for a child whose father has been badly injured or killed whilst at sea

£50 for a physiotherapy session to

aid a veteran’s mobility and independence

£200 can provide three children with

bereavement counselling

£500 to go towards one week’s worth

of dementia care for a seafarer

£1,000 monthly grants to three

widows of deceased Merchant Navy seamen for a year

£1,500 to support development of a

skills improvement programme for seafarers

£2,000 a week’s occupational therapy

and leisure activities for seafarers in care

£5,000 to provide a homeless ex-Royal

Marine with a room for a year

Partnership working and collaboration is the future, and Seafarers UK has joined forces with our beneficiary organisations, other grant-givers, corporates, NGOs, cross-sector bodies and other maritime institutions wherever and whenever the opportunity has presented itself, and particularly where there is efficiency to be

gained. We continue to work in close partnership, through chairing the Maritime Charities Funding Group, with Trinity House, the Seamen’s Hospital Society, the Merchant Navy Welfare Board, the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity and most recently with ITF Seafarers Trust, and this has strengthened grant making in the maritime sector.

What your donations go towards

020 7932 0000

www.seafarers-uk.org

@Seafarers_UK

Facebook.com/SeafarersUK

Seafarers UK, 8 Hatherley Street London, SW1P 2QT

During 2012 our impact was:

the leading charity for seafarers in need

£2.5m in funding in support of welfare services for seafarers in need and their families.

73 grants made to 67 organisations, charities and projects in the UK and overseas.

111,427 seafarers in need directly aided and supported through our funding.

Registered as a charity in England & Wales, no: 226446, incorporated under Royal Charter. Registered in Scotland SC038191. Registered office: 8 Hatherley Street, London, SW1P 2QT

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of Seafarers UK in 2012.

Please get in touch if you have your own story to tell, or you want more information about our grants, fundraising or campaigning work at [email protected].

Other publications you might be interested in can be found at www.seafarers-uk.org:

2012 Annual Report

Introduction to Seafarers UK leaflet

Flagship magazine

Flagpost e-newsletter