Aggie Weston's

Key role: Supporting families

Aggie Weston’s (Aggie’s) is here to help serving members of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and their families. They provide pastoral support around the country and enable families to stay connected through projects such as Storybook Waves.

Association of Royal Navy Officers (RNOC)

Key Role: Financial support

The Association of Royal Navy Officers (RNOC) exists to ‘Provide relief to persons in need (whether or not members of the society) being officers and former officers of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines and Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service and officers and former officers on the Reserve Lists, together with their spouses, widows, widowers, families and dependants.’

Every year, they provide one-off grants and long-term financial support. They treat every case that comes in on its merits, then provide funding to meet the person’s specific needs and situation.

COBSEO

Key Role: Information about Service charities

COBSEO, as the Confederation of Service Charities, provides a single point of contact for interaction with Government, including local government and the Devolved Administrations; with the Royal Household; with the Private Sector; and, of course, with other members of the Armed Forces Community. This allows COBSEO members to interact with all interested parties and especially to cooperate and collaborate with others in order to provide the best possible level of support to our beneficiaries.

The COBSEO website holds a Member Directory which details the type of support that the member charities can provide. This database can be searched using various criteria, such as ‘education’ or ‘disability support’.

Help for Heroes

Key Role: Fundraising and grant making, advice and guidance, support to families

Help for Heroes are a vast network of professionals and partners. They help serving members of the Armed Forces and Veterans and support families through physical and emotional rehabilitation and recovery, identifying new career opportunities as well as offering financial and welfare support. They also run beneficiary support networks, to offer support, camaraderie and a listening ear.

During their first 10 years, they have directly helped more than 17,000 individuals and their families in this way. Offering this to thousands more who need it remains possible thanks to their supporters, and specialist charity partners.

Little Troopers

Little Troopers is a charity supporting children with a parent serving in the Armed Forces (Regluar/Reserves). They have fundamental resources available to help ease and aid any separation period.

Military Wives Choirs

The Military Wives Choirs is an independent charity and subsidiary of SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity.

With an aim to bring women in the military community closer together through singing, there are now over 70 Military Wives Choirs in British Military bases across the UK, and overseas, helping to combat this isolation.

Naval Children's Charity (NCC)

Key Role: Providing financial support for Naval Service children

Formerly known as the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s Fund, the Naval Children’s Charity (NCC) provides grants and support to children whose parents serve or have served in the Naval Service (up to and including the age of 25). Support ranges from grants in their Emergency Essentials Grant Scheme to larger grants for more complex needs around disability and illness.  Every situation is considered individually.

Never Such Innocence

Never Such Innocence is a UK charity that gives children and young people around the world a voice on war and conflict, through poetry, art, speech and song.

The Voices of Armed Forces Children programme invites service and veteran children to use the arts to share what it means to have a parent in the Royal Navy, Army or RAF. They are invited to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of service life. NSI holds creative workshops with service children in the UK and those located at MOD schools abroad.

The Month of the Military Child Poetry and Art competition is an annual event in April – not to be missed!

Royal British Legion (RBL)

Key Role: Fundraising and grant-making, advice and guidance, support to families

The Royal British Legion (RBL) provides lifelong support for the Armed Forces community – Serving personnel (Regulars and Reservists), veterans, and their families. They provide information, advice and guidance to help the Armed Forces community find and access the support they need.

The Legion provides families of serving and ex-Service personnel the chance to take a break and get away from the stresses and strains of everyday life through their Family Holiday Breaks scheme. They also run Adventure Breaks for young people, so that they can enjoy themselves, meet new people, have new experiences, improve their self-esteem and most of all have fun, while giving parents a well-earned break.

The Royal Marines Charity (RMA)

The Royal Marines Charity (RMA) provides support, advice and friendship to serving and retired Royal Marines, their families, those who aspire to join and those with close links to our Corps.

They offer a range of assistance for their beneficiaries. This includes mental health support, respite breaks, bespoke careers advice, grants to help with financial difficulty and getting about inside and outside the home.

Royal Naval Association (RNA)

With over 11,000 members across 250+ branches in the UK and overseas, the Royal Naval Association (RNA) are a family of current and former Naval Service personnel, relatives and supporters of the Royal Navy.

Whether they are catching up with friends at our regular social events, fundraising, advising on welfare and employment matters or just providing an arm around the shoulder, RNA’s natural willingness to help others stems from the tradition and camaraderie that life in the Royal Navy instils.

Royal Naval Benevolent Trust (RNBT)

Key Role: Providing financial support

The Royal Naval Benevolent Trust (RNBT) gives help, in cases of need, to serving and former Royal Naval ratings and Royal Marines other ranks, which includes Reservists. They also help their partners, children and some others connected with them. They make grants to assist in a very wide variety of circumstances, such as help towards living expenses, house repairs, disability aids, job training, all sorts of financial difficulties, care home top-up fees, domiciliary care and much more.

The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC)

Key Role: Fundraising and grant-making

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC) is the principal charity of the Royal Navy. The charity exists to support sailors, marines and their families, for life. Since 2007, they have funded projects and facilities that boost morale for those who serve today. They also distribute millions of pounds annually to military charities which care for the children, families and veterans of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

In practical terms, the RNRMC is a fundraising and grant-making charity. This means it delivers its charitable outputs through dispensing grants to:

• Other Naval charities
• Military charities
• Other charities with Naval beneficiaries
• Ships, units and personnel of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines and Auxiliaries
• Individual serving personnel and veterans through the RNOC and RMCTF

Also check out their Strengthening Families – By Your Side programme to provide you with the right support, at the right time.

Royal Navy & Royal Marines Widows’ Association

Key Role: Providing advice and support

The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Widows’ Association was formed in 2008 when a small group of widows decided to set up an association to support other widows with the aim of bringing friendship, support, guidance and comfort to those who have experienced the trauma of bereavement.

Their members range in age from their 20’s through to their 80’s, each with a different story to tell, but bound by a common bond of support and friendship.

Seafarers’ Advice and Information Line (SAIL)

Key Role: Advice and guidance

Seafarers’ Advice and Information Line (SAIL) is a completely free and confidential advice service dedicated to all seafarers and their families across the UK, including topics such as benefits, money worries, charity grants and pensions.

SAIL is run by Citizens Advice Greenwich. It’s funded by Seafarers Hospital Society, The Seafarers’ Charity, and Greenwich Hospital.

Seafarers’ Charity

Key Role: Fundraising and grant-making

The Seafarers’ Charity’s vision is to create ‘a world where seafarers and their families are valued and free of need and disadvantage’.

They do this this by giving grants to organisations and projects that make a real difference to people’s lives, across the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleets, Royal Navy and Royal Marines. Also see ‘SAIL’ section above.

SSAFA

Key Role: Fundraising and grant-making, advice and guidance, support to families

SSAFA is the Armed Forces charity, formerly known as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association.

SSAFA provides lifelong support to anyone who is currently serving or has ever served in the UK Armed Forces (Regulars and Reserves) and their families.

They have a network of trained volunteers on military bases in the UK and around the world who can give you local support. They provide a range of personalised services, including welfare advice, housing and healthcare, and signposting to organisations that offer more specialised support.

SSAFA Forcesline is a free and confidential telephone helpline and email service that provides support for the Armed Forces community. As an independent charity, SSAFA is not part of the military Chain of Command. The team are there to listen and not to judge.

Women’s Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust (WRNS BT)

Key role: Providing financial support and advice

Every former Wren or female serving member of the Royal Navy who joined the Service between 1st September 1939 and 1st November 1993 is a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust (WRNS BT). They help both officers and ratings. Help is not restricted to members living in this country.

The primary objective of the Trust is to provide relief in cases of necessity or distress among its members and their dependants. The Trust is also empowered, in suitable cases, to make grants for the education of members.