The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity (RNRMC) is helping families within the naval community to stay connected through their funding of the Aggie Weston’s Storybook Waves initiative.
Aggie Westons is a charity which provides pastoral care and practical help for serving personnel of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and their families. They enable serving personnel to record a bedtime story for their children to listen to whilst they are separated.
Lt Commander Ian McClelland is serving on board the Type 45 Destroyer HMS Duncan, currently on an operational deployment in the Mediterranean. He took the opportunity to record a Storybook Waves bedtime story for his two daughters, aged 10 and 8.
He highlighted how meaningful this initiative has been to his family:
‘It is important to me that the girls can hear my voice and still feel connected to me despite the distance. Modern technology can provide calls and video calls, but the Storybook Waves allows me to be part of their bedtime without breaking the family routine.’
Ian has served in the Royal Navy for 18 years and in the last 10 years has spent more than 40 months deployed. He heard about Aggie’s through the Chain of Command and has used it since 2014 to record a story so that his daughters have some contact with him while he is away.
RNRMC’s Head of Commissioned Grants, Mandy Harding said:
‘Storybook Waves is a unique and fantastic project which enables families to stay connected and for children and adults to hear familiar voices. Getting the books through the post and having the reassuring voice of a loved one on tape whenever they want to listen to it, can be very comforting. We are delighted to fund this project which puts smiles on people’s faces.’
Recording a Storybook Waves is easy, serving personnel simply complete the form found at the link here: https://www.aggies.org.uk/storybook-waves Recording centres are based in convenient locations around the country and each recording centre has a selection of books available suitable for different ages.
For personnel currently on board a ship or deployed, contact your Chaplain who will make arrangements for you to record a story.
