Royal Navy Sailor From Ammanford Has Opportunity Of A Lifetime

Joining the Navy in June 2002 Natalie has had a varied career serving in HMS St Albans from 2002-2006 in the Gulf and Baltic deployments. Her highlights during this time were meeting Prince Charles in St Petersburg who was honouring Russia’s WW2 sacrifice, and evacuating British pats from Beirut in July 2006.

She also served on HMS Westminster2006-2011 completing Gulf and Far East deployments. For her service Natalie was awarded and Op Veritas medal in 2003 and Iraq medal in 2005.

Natalie is looking forward to returning home for this 9 month secondment, she said of the challenge ahead:

“I’m really excited after nearly 10 years away to be going home and giving something back to my local area, it feels daunting to be returning to help the young people in that and the surrounding areas get back to work.

"I expect it to be a challenge and I’m looking forward to proving myself in this new role.

"The Prince’s Trust do an amazing job and I consider it an honour to be going to work with them.”

Natalie’s mum Anita lives in Ammanford, where she was a pupil of Amman valley Comprehensive School, her father Nigel now lives in Port Talbot. When Natalie completes her secondment she is hoping to join HMS Richmond.

The Prince’s Trust and the uniformed services have a proud history of working in partnership, and together they have helped thousands of young people to change their lives. Martina Milburn Chief Executive of the Prince’s Trust said:

“Without a doubt, the dedication and tireless enthusiasm of the uniformed services makes a real and lasting contribution to many individuals and communities across the UK.”

The relationship with the Armed Services has developed as they have professional and personal skills that make them particularly well-suited to be effective leaders and influential role models for young people.

Natalie will be an Assistant Team Leader assisting and supporting a Team Leader to recruit, select and lead a Team of individuals through the Team programme. The Team Leader facilitates and encourages Team achievements, while guiding each Team member on an individual learning journey.

HMS Collingwood is the home of the Maritime Warfare School which contributes to the operational capability of the Fleet by providing first class training to all officers and ratings of the Royal Navy in their professional specialisations which include, Weapon Engineering, Communications, and Warfare. The training they receive is relevant, agile and flexible in order to keep pace with the challenging operational needs.