MORE local young people will be able to learn to sail, thanks to a coronavirus grant to a Westbury-based club.
West Wilts Youth Sailing Association has been awarded £5,000 from Wiltshire Community Foundation’s Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund to buy two new dinghies to replace ageing boats that are almost beyond repair. The fund has distributed more than £1.1 million through more than 260 grants.
It’s a major boost to the club which has had a challenging time over the past few years, culminating with the problems surrounding the pandemic. This followed on from a serious fire six years ago and then being forced to move home.
Juley Simmonds, the association’s vice commodore, said, “Six years ago, thieves broke in and stole the outboard motors from our safety boats and then set fire to a container. All our sails, rudders and equipment that had been accumulated over 30 years went up in smoke.”
The club, formed in 1967, then had to move to the other side of the lake after Linden Homes built a road leading to new houses on its previous site.
The developer helped with the £25,000 cost of a new HQ, quay and slipway but the club still had to raise part of the money, as well as an extra £10,000 to dredge the lake by the new slipway because it wasn’t deep enough.
“We were looking forward to a grand re-opening and activity day last summer when Covid came along,” said Juley.
Being left high and dry for a year meant that the club’s 41 members couldn’t continue learning to sail and revenue from school and club activity days dried up.
Juley added,“We’ve lost a lot of revenue which has had a big impact on us because we’ve still had to pay the bills.”
She said the club can’t afford to replace two ageing Topper training dinghies.
“Having the grant is wonderful because they are the first boats children learn to sail in,” said Juley, who is also an instructor and fundraiser.
“Because the Topper is a single-hander we can send them out on their own. We will now have enough so that all the kids can go out and not have to wait to take turns. It will really help us to grow and it will absolutely make a big difference.
“We’ve got four senior instructors and 15 dinghy instructors as well as parent helpers and then the children who go through the syllabus become assistant dinghy instructors and then they go for their instructor’s qualification. But because the syllabus was suspended we lost a lot of older youngsters who have gone to university so that has meant we have lost volunteer instructors as well.”
She said learning to sail gives youngsters a new skill as well as a boost to their self-esteem. “I have been involved 12 or 13 years and all the kids I have seen come through the club get something positive out of it, it boosts their confidence and most of them go on and get Saturday jobs and go on to good things because of what they learn here,” she said.
“You have to have a certain mentality to enjoy sailing in the first place, I suppose because of the nature of it – if you do something wrong it could be quite serious – but it makes them into very positive people.”
As well as hosting schools, scouts and adult courses, the association also welcomes young people with additional needs.
Juley said, “We enjoy seeing them grow. We had one child with dyslexia whose confidence was really low because he was failing. But he had a talent for sailing and began winning races and that boosted his confidence and his schoolwork began to improve. You don’t realise how much being out on the water influences them.”
The new clubhouse is fully accessible, and the association hopes to attract more groups supporting people with disabilities.
The club will have its delayed opening on July 24th and 25th but it is already seeing children back on the water.
Juley said, “They are back learning again. We have some double handed boats but we can only allow siblings or children in school bubbles out on them. But it is just so nice to see the kids out there and they are loving being back.”
Wiltshire Community Foundation joint chief executive Fiona Oliver said, “We are delighted the grant is helping the association re-establish itself because it plays an important part in helping young people thrive.
“Our fund has been so important in helping community groups bounce back from Covid, which is why we really need people’s support.”
To donate to the Wiltshire Coronavirus Response Fund or to find out how to apply for a grant, go to wiltshirecf.org.uk.
