The Volunteer Cadet Corps (VCC) is a national youth organisation managed by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and sponsored by the UK's Ministry of Defence. The VCC comprises:
Headquarters VCC. Based at in Gosport. VCC Training Centre. Based at . Royal Naval VCC. Units in , and . Royal Marines VCC. Units (Divisions) in Arbroath, Chivenor, Lympstone, Portsmouth, Gosport and Plymouth. plus the Band of the RMVCC Plymouth and the Band of the RMVCC Gosport.
The VCC is not part of the Sea Cadet Corps but exists alongside it as part of the Royal Navy's 'Navy Cadets' organization, which also includes CCF(RN) and RN Recognised Sea Scouts. The Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps are part of the Royal Marines Cadets family alongside the Royal Marines Cadets of the Sea Cadet Corps and Combined Cadet Force.
History of the VCC
The VCC traces its history back to the formation of the Royal Marines Artillery Cadet Corps (RMACC) in the Mission Hall, Prince Albert Street, Eastney on 14 February 1901. The new Cadet Corps was then based at the now closed Royal Marines Eastney Barracks in Portsmouth. It was formed, so the story goes, to "gainfully occupy the spare time of sons of senior Non-Commissioned Officers (SNCOs)" after an occasion when the colonel's office window was broken by a ball kicked by an SNCO's son playing outside.
The RMACC was initially formed with the motto 'Manners Maketh Man', and re-titled as the Royal Marines Volunteer Cadet Corps in the mid-20th century. Girls were accepted and the current title was adopted by all units in the 1970s. However, RMVCC Portsmouth only accepted girls from the mid-1990s.
Since 1901, units were also formed at the Royal Marine Barracks, Chatham, Deal, Kent, Forton Barracks, Gosport and Stonehouse Barracks, Plymouth. Later on, another unit was formed at Lympstone, Devon (Commando Training Centre Royal Marines). RMVCC Deal closed when the Royal Marines School of Music left the town and moved to HMNB Portsmouth; RMVCC Chatham transferred to the Sea Cadet Corps when Pay & Records Royal Marines left Chatham in the 1960s, and RMVCC Gosport was disbanded and then re-formed as a non-MOD cadet marching band in the 1970s following the traditions of the Royal Marines Light Infantry but closed again in 2006. Cadets from the RMVCC have appeared at Navy Days and the Royal Tournament as well as in the 1955 film The Cockleshell Heroes.
As of 6 July 2014, following a tri-partite RMC parade at Buckingham Palace in the presence of The Duke of Edinburgh (then Captain General Royal Marines) and in celebration of the 350th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Marines, all cadets from the RMVCC, RMSCC and RMCCF can be titled as Royal Marines Cadets.
The Royal Naval Volunteer Cadet Corps was formed in 1904 when the officer in charge of HMS Victory barracks in Portsmouth, now known as HMS Nelson, requested permission from Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth to form a cadet corps unit similar to the Royal Marines Artillery Cadets in Eastney. The Admiralty granted permission and soon units were also established at HM Dockyard Devonport, HM Dockyard Chatham, , HMS Daedalus, and , as well as the three RNVCC units that still exist today. Entry was originally restricted to the sons of serving ratings but was later opened up to boys and girls from the general public. The date of the request, 29 July 1904, is regarded as the birthday of the Royal Naval Cadets.
Tragedy struck the RNVCC in 1929 when four Royal Naval Cadets were killed during the Gillingham Fair in what is now known as the Gillingham Fair fire disaster. There was equally a sad occasion in the Medway area when 24 Royal Marines Cadets from RMVCC Chatham were killed in the Gillingham bus disaster in December 1951.
Structure and Organisation
Each VCC unit is staffed by unpaid adult volunteers, some with former military service, and sometimes with current serving personnel helping the Cadet Corps in addition to their duties. The units are under the command of their own Commanding Officers (usually a cadet force adult volunteer (CFAV)) who report into HQVCC. The VCC is led by Commander VCC who is assisted by Deputy Commander VCC, Executive Officer (Training) and Executive Officer (Support). There are also a Regional Officer (South) and a Regional Officer (West.) The VCC as a whole does not have charitable status but each unit is either a charity or in the process of applying.