Pembrokeshire Sailing Venture Gets Backing

Groups tackling equality in West Wales will have the chance to try sailing thanks to sponsorship including bagging £2,000 from a Tesco funding scheme.

Welsh Sailing Venture, backed by RYA Cymru Wales, offers a number of days sailing for groups tackling equality within the community around Milford Haven and all over Pembrokeshire.

The scheme covers all age groups from special schools to retired groups and offers some participants the social and physical benefits of sailing, while some can get involved in training to become instructors to help others in the future.

“There are places for those people to take an alternative activity,” explained RYA Cymru Wales West Wales development officer Hester Walker.

“It is a hands-on opportunity to get out on the water in the Haven and seeing things from a different perspective, helped by backing from the Milford Haven Port Authority.

“Isolation can be a big issue for some retired people so it is being part of a team and also the skipper’s training to be able to help the scheme in the future.

“They are all volunteers, but of course they have to be fully qualified. We had a good winter getting this scheme ready, there is some good sponsorship and backing in place, so it should be in a good place to succeed long term.

“In the future we will be able to offer more hours of sailing each year for all ages from special schools and retirees.

“It is a charity to give people something to enjoy, do something active and make new friends.”

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its Bags of Help funding initiative, which sees grants of up to £5,000, £2,000 and £1,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to thousands of local community projects every year.

Millions of shoppers voted in stores up and down the country. And it can now be revealed Welsh Sailing Venture has been successful and will be able to offer 12 days of free sailing thanks to this backing.

Lindsey Crompton, Tesco’s Head of Community, said, “Bags of Help has been a fantastic success.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response from our customers. The great thing about Bags of Help is that local people are invited to decide how the money will be spent in their community. We can’t wait to see the projects come to life.”

Voting ran in stores throughout February with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the check-out.

Since launching in 2015, Bags of Help has awarded more than £28.5 million across more than 4,000 local projects.

Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said, “Bags of Help continues to fund thousands of projects across the UK. We want to ensure that the money raised benefits as many local people in as many different places as possible so we’ve extended the range of groups and projects that we can support.

“The scale and variety of activities supported by Bags of Helps shows what can be achieved when communities are given the support and the encouragement they need to make change happen in their local area.”

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp