Members of the public are invited to take part in a silent auction to help veterans who are suffering in silence.
Every pound raised through RMA-The Royal Marines Charity’s online auction, which has more than 100 coveted lots, will go towards helping former and serving Royal Marines and their families through financial, health and wellbeing support. Funds will also support the charity’s anti-suicide campaign ‘Lifting the Lid’ which aims to break down the stigma associated with mental illness and encourage people to talk to someone if they are struggling – not to suffer in silence.
With seven Royal Marines units and four Reserve Units, plus other key specialist bases across England and Scotland most people will know someone who is either a serving Royal Marine or a veteran, most of whom will have been involved in a tour of duty. The charity’s auction is a chance for civilians to give back to them.
Former Lieutenant Colonel Jon Boucher is one of 3,000 beneficiaries of the charity this year, describing the help he received from its health and wellbeing team as “seismic”. The 44-year-old who grew up in Plymouth, puts his breakdown – characterised by panic attacks, anxiety and depression – down to his “people-pleasing, perfectionist nature and workaholic attitude”. He said everything “came to a head” after 20 years in the Corps including three operational tours of Afghanistan and Libya and numerous amphibious deployments.
Advocating the importance of opening up and talking to someone if you’re struggling with your mental health, Jon said: “I realised that there’s a lot of people going through stuff and keeping it to themselves. But when you’re honest with people, they’re honest with you. If we all started talking to each other, I think we’d all feel a lot better.
“I knew I had to do something when one night, I opened my laptop to carry on working and just burst into tears and couldn’t stop crying,” he said. “This turned into a panic attack, which I then started getting about every two weeks.”
Jon, who now works as a construction project manager near Fife, was initially offered group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and prescribed anti-depressants which he says were a “game changer”. While he was on a resettlement programme at CTCRM in Lympstone he was signposted to RMA-The Royal Marines Charity and went on to receive 1-2-1 therapy sessions.
“The therapy made a seismic difference in my life and I wished I’d gone sooner,” he stressed. “My therapist had worked with a lot of military people and said, ‘Sorry to burst your bubble, but you’re not special, I’ve seen this all before, there are lots of perfectionists in the military out there! And it’s solvable.’”
The auction is being held as part of the charity’s tenth annual Guildhall Dinner in London; the event is the charity’s biggest annual fundraiser with its auction so far raising more than £2 million. It is particularly poignant this year as 2026 is the 80th anniversary of the Royal Marines Association.
More than 100 high-end lots are available including a private dinner at Windsor Castle; a VIP day at Selfridges including a champagne lunch and a personal shopping experience for two; a catered box at the Mountbatten Festival of Music at the Royal Albert Hall for eight; a five-day Royal Marines Arctic expedition in Norway for six, and a private evening at the Tower of London for up to 25.
The silent auction is open until 11pm on Thursday 5 November and people can also register to bid in the live auction. To browse the lots and place your bids visit, www.royalmarinesguildhalldinner2026.com.
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