Club overview

Testwood Lakes Sailability is located near Southampton and welcomes both individuals and groups – including community and health organisations, schools and care homes – to help people of all ages enjoy the wellbeing benefits of getting on the water, including those with physical disabilities, long term health and mental health conditions.

The charity operates Mondays and Thursdays from April to October, with a fleet of six access dinghies, a wheelchair accessible pontoon with hoists, and a team of around 60-70 volunteers.

Identifying the challenges

TLS was founded as a charity in 2013 and became operational in autumn 2016 after installing a pontoon with funding and support from the National Lottery via Sport England, New Forest District Council, The Wallace Foundation, local charitable trusts and New Forest Sailability.

Membership includes both sailors and also volunteers, some of whom are older sailors, who have found that giving their time to take others sailing in accessible dinghies, is enabling them to stay on the water enjoying the sport as well.

The need to raise funds while recruiting both customers and volunteers is continuous.

Implementing a solution

The driving force behind the launch of TLS was the late Eric Blyth, who following the construction of a new Scout headquarters to support sailing activities at the lake, saw the location’s potential for hosting Sailability as well.

Eric understood the power of networking to raise awareness and make connections in the community. Among the first people he recruited to the cause was Phil Rawdon, who had been involved as a volunteer with the new Scout hut.

Phil became a TLS Charity Trustee and recalls: “If someone had said I’d be involved with a Sailability organisation I’d think they were way out. I’m not a sailor, but Eric asked me to help. I enjoyed being outside most of the time with my job as a surveyor, and approaching retirement knew I wanted to keep busy. I’d never been drawn to sailing but talking to Eric through the Scouts, he was really passionate about Sailability and some of it rubbed off onto me. It seemed an interesting idea and a challenge to get off the ground, so I got involved.

“When we first started Eric and I went to talk to the New Forest Tractor Club. We were trying to reach out to anybody and everybody. The more people that know you exist, the better, because if you’re only looking for volunteers who are sailors, that’s a very narrow audience. You need to talk to more people than that, not just to find volunteers but also customers and funding.”

TLS has been on a non-stop mission ever since, inspired by Eric’s example, to get out and about, making regular appearances in the community and at local events, including:

• Attending the Totton Family Fun Day and New Forest & Hampshire County Show with an RYA gazebo. 
• Taking part in Totton & Eling Carnival, towing a dinghy in the parade 
• Publicity days at local supermarkets such as Morrisons, ASDA and Sainsbury’s to collect donations and hand out leaflets 
• Making connections with other local sailing clubs – Ashlett SC, Marchwood YC, Hythe SC, Royal Southampton YC and St Denys Boat Club – to take part in their regattas, benefit from fundraising and raise awareness about TLS 
• Making connections with local support groups such as the local Dementia Hub in Totton, the Totton Stroke Support Group, the local MND support group and many more.  
• Talks/attendance at local organisations and events, including a health day at a GP surgery and visiting Totton Football Club. 

Consolidating progress

Additionally, Testwood Lakes Sailability raises awareness by sending out news releases about its activities and events, including at the start of each season.

The charity also advertises its roles using the Volunteer First website, which aims to match people seeking volunteering opportunities with local organisations.

An advert for someone with experience of Google Workspaces resulted in a call from Norfolk, and a new volunteer, who working remotely has also since helped the charity to create a freephone 0300 number which redirects to a mobile or an answerphone, which emails messages to an inbox so that any enquiries, no matter when received, can be followed up.

Insights and tips

TLS has found that keeping an open mind often leads to some welcome opportunities.

For example, when TLS attended a local care home garden fete – having failed initially to attract interest from the residents – it led to not only an enjoyable afternoon with tea and cake, but also a random chat with someone from an investment company with a charitable fund. Although TLS didn’t manage to recruit any volunteers or sailors, it did fill out a form and receive £400 towards two new body slings. A resident has also since become a customer.

Other chats when reaching out in the community have led to invaluable support from local Rotary Clubs, Golf Clubs and Masonic Lodges. An offer from a bank meanwhile to give a staff volunteer day, resulted in two people helping out with refreshments at a regatta, and ongoing support from the branch manager, who pointed out that giving some staff time towards a TLS supermarket collection would enable the bank to match and double the proceeds.

As a charity trustee who is always on the lookout for opportunities to support TLS and secure its future, Phil says that while the effort of attending a carnival might not appear to yield a return on the day, it does get the charity noticed, and two weeks later someone might get in touch and volunteer as an IT specialist or administrator.

Phil sums up: “It’s the whole picture that’s important. You need volunteers and customers as well as funding, and you need connections with your local community to be able to do all three. It's about networking and not closing your eyes and mind to who you’re talking to.

“All these connections, you never know where they’re going to go, you’ve just got to get out there and talk to people because all these little things, you can’t quantify them but they add up.”

Visit RYA Affiliates Zone for funding and communications ideas.