Our links with the Armed Forces
From its formation as a Guild, the Company has set up a series of thriving links with the Armed Forces.
Affiliations started in 1991 with the Military Works Force (MWF), a Royal Engineer unit based in Nottinghamshire. The MWF provides an engineering consultancy or the armed forces and currently has over 100 tasks in hand, mostly overseas.
In 1998, the Company affiliated to HMS Scott, the largest survey vessel to enter service with the Royal Navy. Her advanced sonar array sounding system enables her to chart large areas of ocean at a rate never previously achieved. In 1999 the ship journeyed to the Seychelles for the Royal Society project ‘Shoals of Capricorn’, to which the Company contributed.
No.1 Aeronautical Information Documents Unit RAF, based at RAF Northolt, was affiliated in 1999. Aeronautical Information Documents Unit (AIDU) produces aeronautical information for use by UK military personnel directly concerned with the operation and safety ofaircraft. A digital database of aeronautical information world-wide is maintained in a modern purpose-built complex at Northolt. The Commanding Officer of AIDU is made an Honorary Freeman, and is invited to one of the Company’s formal City events. At this event, an outstanding airman/woman selected by AIDU is awarded a Certificate of Merit and a miniature water tankard.
The Sea Cadet Corps at Maidstone is formally linked to HMS SCOTT as a Training Ship and is also affiliated. A berth on T.S. ROYALIST, the Sail Training Brig, is financed by The Company and awarded to the Best Cadet of the Year. Other financial assistance is given from time to time.
