Donations and Fund Raising:

Jim Unsworth donated a traditional launch “Emma” for the Helen 11 that students at Llandrillo College completely stripped and rebuilt as part of their course during Spring/Summer 2011. They have done a fantastic job as there was a lot more to do than we originally thought. Hopefully they enjoyed the experience and got a lot out of it.

During 2012 it is hoped to use Emma to have trips round the harbour and up river to both promote the project and let youngsters start to get a feel for sailing. She may be small but that is perhaps an advantage when you are learning to handle a boat – having someone on hand to apply powered steering can often prevent those stomach churning events when an obstacle is looming. 

There have two Street Collection days – the first assisted by students from Llandrillo College and the second during the River Festival 2011when a group of musicians gave their time for free and played next to the Liverpool Arms (thanks to them for the electricity.

Andy White from Llandrillo ran a raffle to go sailing on the Helen when she’s finished and raised a brilliant £218. Thank you to all concerned.

Laird Assessors, North West Cruising Club, Conwy River Festival, Cartrefi Conwy and other individuals are just some financial supporters.

A large donation came from one source that the Trustees are extremely grateful for. It has allowed them to draw down part of the Lottery Fund and start the real work of restoration.

Andrew Potter (Marine Surveyor) has provided a full survey of the boat free of charge and Paul Kennerley has provided line drawings in CAD form and these will prove invaluable in the future.

Quay Marinas have donated a berth for Emma which is extremely generous.

The Trustees would like to thank everyone for their support to date.

News

From the initial concept this project has taken ages to formalize. You may think that progress has been slow and you’re right but it’s not for the want of effort. 

We thought we would start a News Letter – so here we go!

We are now a registered Charity and we have been awarded Heritage Lottery funding. This is a Match Funding grant that awards up to £50,000 which means we have to raise funds from other sources before we can draw down money from the Lottery Fund. The trustees have done this with the help of several generous supporters and we cannot thank them enough. Without them we would have been “in irons” (unable to manoeuver because of the position of the sails with relation to the direction of the wind). 

We will have to continue to raise funds to secure the future of the boat and its primary use for youngsters to learn about our maritime environment and to hopefully achieve self confidence and trust in others in their team.

Llandrillo College have built the shelter and thanks to Richard Williams Builders Merchants for providing materials at cost and Blah d Blah for the information boards. We think it now looks an integral part of the quay as well as allowing work to progress in bad weather.