Meet Sir Don and Lady Shauna – ScoutsCymru’s two new safety boats which are enabling more young people than ever before to take to the waters.
The two power boats were unveiled at a sailing event at Llyn Brenig Reservoir last weekend, enabling more Scouts than ever before to take an active part in water-based adventures.
Water activities such as sailing require strict ratios of adults supervising young people. The two new additional safety boats mean that more adult volunteers can supervise young people on the water, meaning more young people can take part in the activities.
Last weekend’s sailing event saw more than 40 Scouts and Explorers aged 10 to 18 sailing at the popular North Wales activity centre and beauty spot. This was one of a number of events organised throughout the year by the ScoutsCymru Water Activities Team (SWAT) which give young people practical experience of sailing, canoeing, paddle boarding and other water-based activities.
The two boats were funded thanks to a generous donation from The Gosling Foundation, which offers grants to charitable organisations across the UK. The SWAT team launched the two safety boats – named Sir Don and Lady Shauna after the foundation’s founders, Sir Donald Gosling and his wife Lady Shauna Gosling – with cake to celebrate.
Incredibly, all of SWATs events are run entirely by volunteers and their activity programme would not be possible without the dedication and commitment of the team of more than 30 people. They do everything from instructing the young people and keeping the volunteer team fed and watered to helping young people to launch and return the boats and being out on the safety boats keeping participants safe.
For some of the young people, it was their very first experience of sailing and for others, a chance to hone their skills and progress their Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Sailing awards and Scouts awards including the Time on Water and Sailing staged badges.
Kerrie Gemmill, Director of ScoutsCymru, said: “Attending a sailing weekend at Llyn Brenig was one of the first activities I took part in when joining ScoutsCymru just over 12 months ago. It is great to be back to see the team and celebrate the purchase of these two vessels, thanks to the success of securing funding from the Gosling Foundation. We are grateful for their support.
“It was a wonderful sight to see more than 40 young people out on the water and great to see young people such as Lily-Rose, an Explorer Scout from Bangor in Gwynedd, progressing to assistant instructor and passing on their skills to others. I was excited to go out on a boat with Lily-Rose and two of her students, Daisy and Ned, who are Scouts from Lily-Rose’s group in Ynys Môn, getting to grips with sailing for the very first time.”
She added: “Of course the success of these events is due to the dedication of the highly experienced and dedicated Water Activities Team, and the group and section leaders who take time during their weekend to support young people and travel far and wide to bring their young people to experience this fantastic activity. We’re thrilled that the new boats mean that even more young people in Wales will now get the chance to experience such water activities.”
The ScoutsCymru Water Activities Team runs events throughout the year to encourage young people onto the water. You can find more information here.
