National Lottery Dedicated to….Our Clubs, Coaches and Volunteers

Our clubs, coaches and volunteers are at the very heart of our sport and RYA Cymru Wales has never been prouder!

Upand down Wales, community clubs have pulled together to understand guidelines,undertake risk assessments and get our sport back up and running. Even duringthe strictest of restrictions, you have kept members up to date, motivated andactive. Thank you! 

Aspart of the National Lottery Dedicated To…campaign, designed tohighlight the tireless community work of grassroots sporting heroes, we havecaught up with Red Wharf Bay Sailing and Watersports Club on Ynys Mon. 

Theclub – which has recently been awarded National Lottery funding to help it backon its feet – was able to reopen in July and run sail training. Red Wharf Bayis well known for its expert instruction. It has seen America’s Cup sailor Bleddyn Mon risethrough the ranks. Anna Carpenter, who is National Lottery funded and part ofthe GB Sailing team, began her Olympic dreams here and now has Paris 2024 inher sights. Others, who took part in the club’s Junior Training programme,continue to campaign successfully in national championships and some haveforged careers in the marine industry. 

Havinglost revenue from running its courses over Easter, Red Wharf Bay was keen toput a programme together for the summer holidays. Catering for children asyoung as 8 to adults as old as 83, the club limited numbers to ensure Covidsafety.What’smore, the club was eager to use the opportunity to raise money for the RNLI innearby Moelfre. 

ClubCommodore Peter Carpenter explains:“Ordinarily,we would be running fundraising events but of course with the club closedduring lockdown, all activity had to stop. As soon as we knew we could run areduced training programme, we decided we would use the opportunity to raisemuch-needed funds for the RNLI.” 

Theclub raised £350 serving refreshments in return for donations:“TheRNLI is a marvellous institution that is completely run by volunteers. It is afine, super service that provides rescue at sea,” adds Peter. “We weren’t ableto raise as much for them as we do normally, but it was important for us to dosomething.” 

Tohelp the club restart safely, the National Lottery funded the purchase of amini tractor via the Sport Wales Be Active Wales Fund. 

“Wehave a big heavy rescue boat that needs 12 people to heave and pull. The jobdoesn’t lend itself to social distancing! The mini tractor means we avoid any ofthose problems.”

“Wewould like to thank all National Lottery players because the funding hasenabled us to run junior training. In the past, we have also received NationalLottery funding through the Sport Wales Community Chest scheme. We have mainlyinvested these grants into coach qualification and first aid training. Wedeliver a lot of training to juniors, so it is vital we have the rightqualifications in place.” 

With the help of NationalLottery funding, thousands of grassroots sports workers and volunteers fromlocal clubs and organisations across the UK, have been be able to continue tohelp the nation to remain active, happy and motivated during the Covid-19pandemic.

Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised everyweek for good causes, many of which are supporting the most vulnerable in ourcommunities across the UK during the Coronavirus crisis.