RMC Annual Review 2020-21 digital (1) - Flipbook - Page 27
A Brief History of the Royal Marines Association
‘RMA-The Royal Marines Charity’. The
Membership operation also moved from
Whale Island to CTCRM. Commando 999,
renamed Royal Marines Club, merged with
the Charity in 2020, while Go Commando
now operates in close collaboration. HM
The Queen remains Royal Patron, with
General Sir Gordon Messenger KCB DSO*
OBE as Patron, and CGRM as President.
camaraderie in the RMA, has not been allowed,
the members of the Association have, as ever, risen
to the challenge and ensured they flourish as best
they can. Work on the Gordon Messenger Centre
continued and it will soon become a focal point
for the Corps family. The round of annual events
of the RMA has a regular rhythm and these will
return, many of them have a history all of their
own, some newly established putting down roots.
There are few national ceremonies at which
the National Standard and branch standards of
the RMA are not flown. It was in 1985 that the
RMA (City of London) started to hold an annual
Graspan parade at the Royal Marines Memorial in
the Mall, as well as representations at ceremonies
at the Cenotaph, the Commando Memorial at
Spean Bridge and Merseyside (Zeebrugge). In 1988
the Royal British Legion gave approval for the
RMA National Standard to be paraded annually
with other National Standards at the Festival
of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
Since 2010 when
RMCTF was
established, over £22M
has been distributed
in grants across the
Corps Family,
The Annual National Standard Bearer’s
competition is a tough day, the reward is to be
presented with the coveted Challenge Cup and
then the National Standard by the President
of the RMA. To the winner is the privilege of
parading the Association Standard at those
very high-profile events. There are 90-odd
branch standards in the Association but not all
participate in the annual RMA drill competition.
John Farlie describes the year he won.
...but RMA–The Royal Marines Charity
is now a whole service delivery charity.
Operating from a HQ at CTCRM, but with
satellite offices at Whale Island, Stonehouse
Barracks Plymouth and Piccadilly in
London, we offer preventative and reactive
benevolence support to individuals and
families in need, employment support to RM
who are compulsorily discharged or who find
themselves in need as veterans, membership
services to the now over 16,500 members in 91
worldwide geographical and virtual branches
(including sports, military specialisms
and the arts), undergirded by an effective
fundraising and communications function.
‘This event is run to a very high standard and
is judged and marked by the present serving
Corps Drill Staff and a few RMA ex winners
of the event. To start with, the inspection took
over an hour and at one stage I felt I was back
in Kings Squad training, with the first drill
even asking me if I had a handkerchief in my
pocket and what colour socks I was wearing!
In December 2020 the Charity delivered over
the Gordon Messenger Centre at CTCRM to the
Corps, providing a state-of-the-art whole Corps
Family resilience-enabling and community
facility at the heart of the Corps, a £2.7M
project started in 2014 which paralleled the
mergers and recent history of the Charity.
The drill test followed, which follows the
very strict RMA official drill book with
pictures of standard-bearers to show how
it should all be done! Needless to say, PTI’s
never read anything! All competitors from
the start are kept locked up in the dressing
room, unable to see each bearer being
judged. Again this is performed in front of
a very critical RMA audience (including
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21 and the
consequent ‘lockdowns’ have made this last year
difficult but not impossible. Although for most of
the year, physically being together, the heart of
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wives) who seem to know how each and every
movement should be performed and certainly
let you know when you make a mistake!’
On Sunday, the 25th of November 1929, on the
anniversary of the of the Battle of Graspan, a
large number of Old Comrades assembled at
the Royal Marine Memorial in the Mall, where
wreaths were placed in memory of fallen
comrades by the Adjutant-General, General L.
S. T. Halliday, V.C., C.B., and a short service was
conducted by the Chaplain of the Fleet, the Ven.
Archdeacon R McKew, C.B.E., D.D., “The Last
Post” and “Reveille” were sounded by Corporal
Swift from Royal Hospital School, and a number
of Greenwich Branch also attended and placed a
wreath. This became an annual gathering until
the start of WW2 when the tradition faltered.
The drill manual for RMA Standard Bearers
was introduced in 1990 whilst five years later,
for the first time, rehearsals were built into
the programme of annual reunion weekend.
To mark the 50 th anniversary of the RMA,
branches that had been formed for 50 years were
awarded a pennant and HM Queen Elizabeth
gave permission for her personal cypher to
be worn on the standard bearer’s belt.
On 23rd April 1918 the two Mersey Ferries,
Daffodil and Iris, found immortality
during the Zeebrugge raid.
In the 1980’s a small group, six members of the
RMA City of London Branch, gathered to lay a
wreath at the memorial. Interest grew quickly and
in 1985 the South East correspondent reported that
To mark the first
anniversary of the
Zeebrugge Raid
the Lord Mayor of
Liverpool held a ball
for veterans, the guest
of honour was Lord
Keyes. The following
year a Liverpool branch
of the RMOCA was
formed and set about
arranging an annual
parade in memory of
those Marines who
died at Zeebrugge.
‘The Region was well represented at the
ceremony in London organised by City of
London Branch on Sunday 28 th April, when
a Memorial Service was reintroduced at
the Royal Marines Memorial in The Mall. A
short service of prayer and a brief history of
the monument was given by the Officiating
Minister, after which a wreath was laid by
former Commandant General, Sir Steuart
Pringle. It is hoped that this successful ‘pilot’
gathering will be followed in future years by a
more formal parade, encompassing perhaps a
wider spread of Branches from other Regions.’
Through some 30 years of effort by Jim Ellard
and his team this has now become a very public,
annual national celebration of the Royal Marines.
The National Memorial Arboretum opened in
2007 to provide a home in central Britain for the
Armed Forces Memorial and allow individual
and organisations to demonstrate remembrance
throughout the year. The RMA very quickly
identified the importance of ensuring the Corps
was well represented and a campaign to raise
funds for a RM memorial was soon launched.
On the 1 June 2008 the RMA Memorial was
dedicated and since then an annual RMA Parade
has been held in late June at the Memorial.
The tradition continues into the present
with Birkenhead branch for many years
leading the commemorations.
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