We're recruiting for new roles at Challenge Wales

We’re Recruiting For Two Roles!

Posted by Challenge Wales on

Join us and share our amazing adventures!  As the Challenge Wales sail training charity expands we are on the hunt for a Mate AND a Skipper. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who has the right sailing experience, fun and enthusiastic outlook and wants to help young people develop their potential.

Mate

The Mate will be supporting the Skipper in delivering the services of Challenge Wales on its two vessels Adventure Wales and Challenge Wales.

Deadline for applications:  17th April 2018

Click here to read the Mate Job Description

This role has been created as the Challenge Wales charity is supported by the European Regional Development Fund through Welsh Government and through the Social Business Growth Fund, which is managed by WCVA (Wales Council of Voluntary Action).

Skipper

For the Skipper  role we are looking for someone with enthusiasm and passion for helping young people develop and leading a team with a good helping of fun thrown in.  Could this be you?  You will be initially skippering on Adventure Wales (60 foot schooner) with opportunity to also skipper the charity’s flagship vessel Challenge Wales | Wales’ Tall Ship.

Deadline for Applications: 4th May 2018

Read the Skipper Job Description and how to apply

Any enquiries regarding these roles can be directed to the Challenge Wales office.

This role has been created as the Challenge Wales charity is supported by the European Regional Development Fund through Welsh Government and through the Social Business Growth Fund, which is managed by WCVA (Wales Council of Voluntary Action).

Tall Ships Racing 2018

Nominate someone for a Tall Ships adventure

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As Challenge Wales prepares its season, the sail training charity is on the hunt for 13 young people to take up one of its fully funded places in either the spectacular Tall Ships Races or the Three Festivals Tall Ships Regatta this year and is encouraging those aged 16 – 25 years to apply.

The award-winning charity already operates a bursary scheme to subsidise all UK residents to take part in its activities however, extra funding is enabling Challenge Wales to offer eight fully funded places, to those living in a CF postcode area across two of its nine day Tall Ships legs this summer which will sail from Denmark to Norway and race from Norway to the Netherlands onboard Challenge Wales | Wales’ Tall Ship. You can find out more by reading our Tall Ships Races Information pack.

A further five fully funded places are available on the charity’s smaller vessel Adventure Wales which will be participating in the Three Festivals Tall Ships Regatta, a 10 day experience, racing from Liverpool to Dublin before returning to Cardiff. You can find our more by reading our Three Festivals Tall Ships Regatta Information Pack.

Fully funded berths are going to be offered to those young people who are nominated and are truly deserving of a place onboard for an amazing life-changing adventure. Young people can nominate themselves or ask a teacher, parent/guardian, employer, relative or group leader to nominate them.

Successful applicants will be joining the rest of the crew and racing against other Tall Ships from the international Tall Ships fleet and will be representing Wales and the UK at these spectacular events, and no sailing experience is required to take part.

The charity is looking for young people who are wanting an adventure and are up for a challenge. Those taking part are actively running the boat, so it’s not just sailing but also cooking, cleaning and working in watches! There is lots of fun onboard too and there is a host of shore-side inter-crew activities organised as well at the end of the race.

How To Apply:

Young people can contact us themselves to apply but we are also encouraging teachers, colleagues, employees, group leaders, parents and friends to nominate others, aged 16 – 25, for this opportunity who might benefit. Perhaps someone has been working hard for exams or at work and needs a break, maybe someone has had a tough few months, it might be someone who hasn’t been able to have a holiday for a few years or someone who would enjoy an adventure, challenge and experiencing new cultures
To get an application form and for further details email the Challenge Wales office reservations@challengewales.org  or call 029 20 704 657.

Due to Easter holidays and some nominations not being eligible we have extended the deadline for applications to 10th May 2018 and applicants must be available to travel from 27th May – 5th June (for the Liverpool-Dublin-Cardiff voyage) or 20th – 28th July (for Denmark – Norway voyage) or 28th July – 5th August (for Norway to Netherlands voyage).

Read more information about both the Tall Ships Race 2018 and The Three Festivals Tall Ships Regatta with full details of what the events are like.

A CF postcode area is found in Wales and is a group of postcode districts around Aberdare, Bargoed, Barry, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Dinas Powys, Ferndale, Hengoed, Llantwit Major, Maesteg, Merthyr Tydfil, Mountain Ash, Penarth, Pentre, Pontyclun, Pontypridd, Porth, Porthcawl, Rhoose, Sully, Tonypandy, Treharris, Treorchy.
Successful applicants will need to write a voyage report and blog about their time onboard the boat and be available for publicity as well as completing before and after voyage surveys. Challenge Wales works hard to secure funding for its activities and any person awarded funding is required to write a thank you to the funder. There is a £35 refundable deposit to reserve a berth, this is refunded after the voyage.

A £50 travel bursary is available for those taking part in the July/August Tall Ships voyages  that involve overseas ports. Participants need to make their own travel arrangements but Challenge Wales can provide guidance on this for those who want to make their own arrangements or direct you to a travel agent we are working with.

As with all our voyages, our booking terms and conditions apply.

Other bursary funding is available for Welsh residents  and UK residents for Tall Ships Racing if you are not eligible for the above and you should email Challenge Wales to see what funding is available!

Success for Challenge Wales at Awards

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On Friday 9th March 2018, a couple of Challenge Wales volunteers were at the South Wales Business Growth Awards in Cardiff Bay. It was time to leave the scruffy deck shoes and jeans at home and put on smart shoes and posh clothes.

The South Wales Business Awards recognise the amazing achievements of businesses in South Wales (as the name obviously  suggests!), many of them small, many of them innovative, many of them you probably wouldn’t recognise or have heard of but all of them making a difference to the Welsh economy.

Challenge Wales was excited to be shortlisted as a finalist in not one but two categories: People Development and Innovation. Having won the People Development category the previous year we knew it would be difficult with such fantastic businesses in the room to win it again but as always with Award events everyone was very optimistic about winning.

The evening also gave us an opportunity to network amongst some businesses we were already getting to know and were supportive of Challenge Wales. Relationship building is really important to Challenge Wales.

Amazingly, Challenge Wales picked up two Highly Commended Awards (yay) in both the People Development Category AND the Innovation Category. It means a lot to be recognised in the business world for our achievements and our impact, it is great recognition for our volunteers who work tirelessly to help the charity. Winning an award is a great talking point when we go to meetings, it’s a fantastic opportunity to share success amongst our stakeholders and our young people’s groups and funders.

As with most events, there is a ‘financial cost’ to us attending awards however, before we ever book our attendance at any awards event we balance up the benefits. The value and support that we get from being part of the South Wales business networking group which the awards are part of certainly outweighs the cost, and it is this networking group that has introduced us to so many other local businesses who have gone on to support Challenge Wales both directly with fundraising or in-kind with support to help us successfully achieve our charity objectives. These kind of relationships make everyone a winner!

All Aboard as Mate Position is Filled

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The only salaried sea-staff position within the Challenge Wales charity has now been filled and we are excited to announce that Shannon has joined the team as Mate, supporting and assisting the Skipper in delivering sail training activities, supervising volunteers, helping to manage the volunteer training programme and taking an active role in the refit/maintenance programme.

She joins at an exciting time as the charity has also recently acquired a second vessel.

In between servicing some of the winches onboard Challenge Wales today we asked Shannon a couple of questions about her now job and aspirations. Shannon said: “I applied to be the Mate at Challenge Wales because I wanted to be a part of the incredible work the charity does. A few years ago I joined as a trainee on board but didn’t realise at the time it was the start of many sailing adventures! I’m excited to now be able to contribute to other’s positive experiences and inspire young people to follow a different path in life. My goal is to progress to working as Skipper for the charity in the future and I am most looking forward to expanding my knowledge of boat systems and engineering.”

Challenge Wales is keen to support more women to get into the sail training/ marine industry and a few months ago was part of the Only Girls Afloat initiative by RYA Cymru. Challenge Wales is also running two ladies only voyages on 23rd June and 2nd September.

 

Pub Quiz raises almost £200!

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Move over Mastermind, University Challenge and Eggheads as this week it was the local Penarth pub quiz and a chance to raise money for Challenge Wales.

Teams of regular quizzers as well as volunteers from Challenge Wales came together at the Windsor Pub, Penarth, to test their  knowledge.

As the quizmaster read out the questions, it was heads down and pens to the ready. Faint whispers travelled around the bar & restaurant as we tried to recall our music knowledge from the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, guess the pictures round where we realised squinting at the pictures doesn’t really make any difference and put our general knowledge and geography to the test.

Many thanks to the companies and individuals who donated no fewer than 11 prizes for the fundraising raffle including:

The evening raised almost £200 for Challenge Wales and will contribute to the Challenge Wales bursary fund enabling young people to access our youth development opportunities. It’s a big thank you to everyone who took part!

In less than 10 months, the Windsor Pub has raised a whopping £4520 for local charities and whichever charity you are supporting it is certainly a really welcoming, social evening.

The Windsor Pub, Penarth hosts a community quiz the last Tuesday of the month raising funds for local charities. You can book directly with the pub or turn up on the evening.