The Latest News From RHS February 2021
For every charity, 2020 was an exceedingly difficult year and Sailability has certainly felt the effects of Covid 19.
For those of us who love to get out on the water and be part of the thrill of sailing, it has been a disastrous year, as we have spent most of the year locked down. Nevertheless, the Trustees have been busy in the background.
Much of our income comes from the proceeds of our social activities, which last year were non-existent and so the Trustees have had to explore different ways of raising money. It was a group effort and between us we successfully raised money to help pay our expenses, which are there whether we sail or not. Here are details of some of the funds raised since last April.
People’s Postcode Trust – A tremendous achievement for Sailability and massive thanks to The People’s Postcode Trust who awarded the charity £19,617.00. This award was put towards the purchase of a second boat, a Drascombe Lugger. The Lugger arrived in September. We hope to get in some more shakedown sails as soon as the lockdown will allow.
Christmas Cards – These have been incredibly popular and a big thank you to all of you who supported Rye Harbour Sailability. With special thanks to John Pulford whose wonderful design skills made the cards so popular. The sale of the cards with donations raised over £1,000 and with the match funding, made the final sum achieved just over £1,760.00.
Match Funding for the Christmas Cards – Ros, as a past employee of Barclay’s Bank successfully achieved match funding from Barclays Bank Just Giving, to match the profit made from the cards. We were delighted to be awarded £750.00. A big thank you Ros and Barclays Bank Just Giving.
Aviva Community Fund – We were delighted to be awarded £700. For more information, please see https://www.ryeharboursailability.org/news/
The Jempsons Foundation – After a successful application to The Jempsons Foundation we were awarded £200 towards our equipment. David Tomkinson and Kerry Phillips collected the award. Please see https://www.ryeharboursailability.org/fundraising/
The 100 Club – The 100 Club is growing and continues to provide us with much needed funds. The club has 28 members raising some £840 per year for Rye Harbour Sailability. For more information and how to join visit https://www.ryeharboursailability.org/fundraising/
Sussex Police Community Fund – After a successful application, the charity was awarded a grant of £500 from the Sussex Police Community Fund. The funding will go towards the cost of two Sailability sailing sessions.
Sport England – We received an award of £1,145 from Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund (CEF) to help towards our insurance costs.
Gemcoe Asset Management – Director, Byron Tomkinson, has given an extremely generous donation of £1,500 to fund the building of the charity website, which is now complete. A huge thank you to Byron from all at the Sailability family.
Rye Harbour Sailability Charity Boxes – 8 charity boxes have been distributed to local people and businesses. If you spot one, please remember that a donation however small is greatly appreciated. There are 2 left waiting to find a home! If you would like one, or know some business that would, please email trustees@ryeharboursailability.org
Smile Amazon – Rye Harbour Sailability (RHS) has signed up to Smile Amazon. The amount raised so far by Smile Amazon for the charity is £6.41. Do you buy goods from Amazon? If the answer is yes, you can donate as you buy goods to the charity. Just go into smile.amazon.co.uk and select our charity as the charity that you wish to donate to. Smile Amazon will donate 0.5% of the total cost of the goods you buy to the charity. Just remember that each time you purchase an item remember to log into smile.amazon.co.uk. Everything on the Amazon website is there but to donate, the purchase must be made through Smile Amazon. You have nothing to lose and the charity will gain!
A huge thank you to everyone who has helped to raise funds and supported Rye Harbour Sailability.
Social Events
Opera Evening – The Opera Evening that was booked for Saturday 19th June has been postponed and is rescheduled for Saturday September 4th at the Winchelsea New Hall from 7.30pm.
The Calendar Girls Tea – the afternoon tea and talk with Angela Knowles, one of the original Calendar Girls is scheduled to be held in October at a date TBC.
Membership Fees 2021 to 2022
In conjunction with other organisations, we are reconsidering our membership fees for this year. As we have been unable to sail during the past year, when fees become due in April, we are giving you the option of postponing your payment until we get sailing again and then the fee can may be paid on a pro rata basis. This of course, will depend on when we start sailing again.
However, if you do feel able to support our charity, we would be incredibly grateful, as our ongoing bills must be paid whether we sail or not. These expenses amount to approximately £3,500 in any one year and include insurance, berthing dues, RYA affiliation fees, storage for the Safety Boat along with maintenance costs of our boats.
The annual cost of membership fees for our volunteers is £5 and this will continue for 2021 to 2022. Thank you for your continued support throughout these difficult times.
We are very pleased to welcome Bill Swan, who is keen to come sailing with us.
We are also thinking of creating a cookery book filled with recipes provided by all members to raise money for the charity. If you have any favourite recipes, of your own creation, especially ones that you’ve tried through lockdown, please send them in to info@ryeharboursailability.org
On the lighter side it has not been all hard work for the trustees. Mike has been visiting various parts of the world via Google Earth at street level, most recently, Russia. As they say, “Why not grab the helm and go on an adventure”! Caroline has been learning French with the help of an app, Duolingo. 344 days of lessons achieved so far and is persuading Jen to do the same! Although, it is fair to say that everyone is in for a treat when we start sailing again as Jen has been trying out some stunning new recipes! Ros is reconnecting with her sewing skills, making curtains and teaching her partner, Crispin, how to get ahead with mastering boat upholstery. Why not let us know what you have been up to during lockdown? Just go to https://www.ryeharboursailability.org/contact-us/ and leave a message or email trustees@ryeharboursailability.org
Keep looking at the website for up-to-date information on our social activities and sailing programme. Our expenses must be paid and if you have any ideas that can help the charity to raise money, please contact trustees@ryeharboursailability.org
In the meantime, keep safe and well and we look forward to seeing you before not too long.
RHS Administration
