Two senior sailors in the Royal Navy have been hailed for their work to increase the appeal of the Senior Service to ethnic minority communities.

CPO Derek Litherland scooped the Endeavour Award for his outstanding contribution to carrying out diversity and equality principles within his unit, while CPO Casey Fernandes was short-listed for the same award.

Derek is a Careers Adviser in the Armed Forces Careers Office in Nottingham, and in his job
promotes the benefits of life in the Naval service.

Derek said: “I am very proud to receive the Endeavour Award. I have worked in many different and diverse Nottingham communities and I have tried to get the message across that the Royal Navy is an equal opportunities employer with very good career options open to all members of the community.”

Vice Admiral Sir Peter Spencer, Second Sea Lord, has sponsored the new award and said: “The GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards inspire us all towards a deeper commitment to and greater participation in diversity best practice, challenging mediocrity, encouraging progress, promoting excellence and identifying and celebrating achievement.

“We must attract young men and women of the highest quality to join the Navy regardless of race, faith or cultural background. Diversity of background greatly enhances overall team performance.

“It is vital to the long-term health of the Naval service that we should become more representative of the society which we serve.”

Derek has put special effort into increasing contacts with Nottingham’s ethnic community and working with the inner-city Djanogly City Technology College that draws more than half its students from diverse communities and varied cultures.

He began a concentrated campaign with the college, organising a visits programme including accommodation at the school when the crew of HMS Nottingham visited.

Inspired by his drive, sailors returned to Djanogly College to coach students in various sports, and students from the school visited HMS Nottingham, HMS Invincible, and took part in residential courses at the shore establishments HMS Collingwood, HMS Sultan and the Royal Marines Commando Training Centre (CTCRM) at Lympstone, Devon.

School Principal Rosemary Potter said: “Derek’s sheer motivational skills, sustained enthusiasm and total support had a profound and extremely beneficial affect on students.”

CPO Casey Fernandes was nominated for the national prize for his work to try to increase the diversity of Service personnel, and at the same time becoming a much-admired ambassador for the Royal Navy at many community events.

CPO Fernandes, aged 51, was short-listed for the Award for his outstanding contribution to the implementation of diversity and equality principles within his Royal Navy unit – his particular contribution is also in recruiting.

Casey has been the Ethnic Minorities Liaison Officer in London, where he raised awareness of a career in the Service within black and Asian communities.

His lively personality, and an ability to speak Swahili, Hindi and Urdu, enabled him to communicate well with community elders, and he established himself as a popular personality within schools.

After his time in London Casey became ethnic minorities adviser at HMS Raleigh in Cornwall, the Navy’s new-entry training establishment, and at CTCRM.

He developed the post and transformed it into a fundamental element in the recruitment of young men and women from throughout the UK, advising on dress, diet, religious observance and culture.

He runs 28 personal development courses a year for potential recruits aged between 16 and 22, increasing the awareness of the Navy in multi-ethnic communities, and also arranges programmes for schoolchildren throughout the South-West.

Such devotion to duty was well in excess of expectations, and Casey has been praised by contemporaries, senior officers, students and supervisors.

Casey said: “I was delighted to be nominated for the Endeavour Award, a recognition of the huge effort the Royal Navy is putting into diversity action in the community.

“I have gained tremendous job satisfaction over the years seeing recruits from ethnic communities join the Royal Navy or Royal Marines for a worthwhile career.

“That I have been privileged to contribute to this is enough, but the award nomination is a bonus.”

The Endeavour Award is part of the GG2 Leadership and Diversity Awards, run by Garavi Gujarat Publications, and recognises the efforts of Naval personnel, irrespective of their ethnic origin, in creating an environment embracing diversity and equality.

Endeavour was named after John Perkins, a former slave who joined the Navy’s Jamaica Squadron in 1775 as a ship’s pilot.

Within a few years he was commanding a schooner with success, and in 1782 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in command of the brig Endeavour, before being promoted to Commander in 1800.