A £110k grant from Seafarers UK will support our new UK volunteering outreach strategy for 2019, which aims to increase the number of young people (25-45) and female volunteers, as well as those from different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

This initiative follows on from our research which suggests that engaging a more diverse volunteer base will help improve our services by better reflecting the needs of an increasingly diverse seafaring community.

The funding will also be used to improve our port-based services across the UK, by increasing the number of ship visits which our port chaplains conduct every month, from 50 to 60 and allowing greater access to 24-hour facilities in key ports around the UK. This will allow an additional 5,000 seafarers to receive support from the Mission each year, in Wales, the Humber and Scotland.

Canon Andrew Wright, Secretary General, The Mission to Seafarers, said: “We are hugely grateful to Seafarers UK for their generosity and continued support of our work here at the Mission. This vital funding will be used to enrich the quality of the support we provide by diversifying our support network to better align with the needs of men and women we serve. By enhancing our service provision across the UK, we hope that seafarers arriving on our shores will feel truly at home, and will be able to communicate with and relate to the people there to support them.

“We will continue to implement and review our services to ensure they remain relevant and cost effective in the year to come, and ensure that we continue to provide first-rate health, welfare and advocacy services for seafarers in the UK and around the globe.”