Tim Slingsby becomes new Maritime Charities Group chair

The Maritime Charities Group (MCG) says Tim Slingsby, director of skills and education at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, will be its new chair following the retirement of Commander Graham Hockley LVO RN.

“I am truly delighted to be taking on this new role and am grateful to my fellow MCG members for all their support,” says Slingsby. “As an alliance of ten major seafaring charities supporting seafarers in all sectors, from the armed forces, the merchant navy and the fishing fleet, MCG has a critically important role to play.

“Over the past four years, under Graham’s skilful and steady leadership, we really have become the collaborative force for good that we want to be – and now is the time to build on that. With the knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm of every single member, I want to enable MCG to become much more than the sum of its parts, providing a voice for all seafarers. And with the weight of the foundation behind me we will have access to networks, to evidence, to expertise and to two and a half centuries of heritage that will enable us to strengthen our reach and our influence.”

MCG was established almost 25 years ago to foster collaboration across the maritime charity sector to achieve the greatest impact for seafarers and their families. Its members include seafaring charities operating across all sectors and both within and outside the UK.

Priorities include supporting the sector to embrace and promote equality, diversity and inclusion, developing a map of need to identify who’s using its services and where the gaps are, and assessing the future of effective caseworking and how to make sure it’s accessible to all those who need it.