Enterprise Mobility Helps Drive More Outdoor Learning Opportunities

Posted by Challenge Wales on

Thanks to a £2,000 donation from Enterprise Mobility, more young people will have the opportunity to learn employability skills and have access to outdoor learning with Challenge Wales.

This generous donation will enable more young individuals to engage in transformative outdoor learning experiences which fostering personal growth, resilience, a deeper connection with the ocean and improves employability skills,, helping young people achieve their potential. The Challenge Wales programme not only enhances academic learning but promotes physical and emotional well-being.

“We are incredibly grateful for the support from Enterprise Mobility” said Vicky Williams, Challenge Wales Co-Founder and Business Development Manager, “This donation will help us deliver more outdoor learning opportunities helping to put more young people on the road to a positive future”.

“At Enterprise Mobility, we are deeply invested in supporting and bettering our local communities. It has been a pleasure to donate to Challenge Wales, an organization that changes lives through their unique voyage experiences. As  local Welsh business partner, we are delighted to see the impact this contribution will have on their efforts to develop life skills and provide life-changing opportunities. We look forward to continuing our partnership and supporting their incredible work” Abby Shardlow, Area Manager South Wales.

Challenge Wales youth development programme continues until November, and will then restart in April 2025. Activities range from 3-hour shore-side sessions focussed on microplastics to 1 day accredited voyages with Agored Cymru to 5 day and longer residential activities. Bursary funding helps many young people jump onboard to improve access to these opportunities for those who would benefit the most.

PennyWise Impact Programme Launched

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For many organisations finding themselves doing budgetary ballet as they sail towards their financial year end, enter Challenge Wales who can help alleviate any problems and step in to help.

Challenge Wales has launched a new service; the ‘PennyWise Impact’ programme to benefit those organisations looking to spend their last pounds and pence this month (although it could be any month depending on when your accounting year ends) in a meaningful way. How amazing does that sound? It helps companies spend their pennies wisely which in turn will provide a measurable impact on a charity and young people’s lives.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the things you could do, but feel free to discuss other ideas with us. You could:
* Support a place for a young person on a personal development voyage. This person is the workforce of tomorrow and who knows could be working for you in the future….or your competitors!


* Allocate us a grant towards our core costs or one of our programmes – we can acknowledge it in our social media and you can let people know about it too. Whether it is a modest contribution or a grand gesture every penny helps Challenge Wales provide more innovative outdoor educational activities. Don’t worry, we can work to your budget.

* You can book a Leadership Development Residential course with our partners E3i onboard our boat in a unique learning environment. Take what you have learnt into the workplace to create high performing teams which can contribute to increasing your efficiency and productive as well as improve working relationships.

* You can book a day out on the water with us for unparalleled networking. You will have a captive audience so great at enhancing relationships and they will see you championing a charitable cause.

* You could help us buy some equipment to enable us to undertake Ocean Literacy activities. That’s a great big tick for sustainability and amplifying your ESG triumphs, and with our Ocean Literacy educational programme we will be passing knowledge on to young people so it becomes a much bigger tick for the environment and safeguarding our shared blue planet.

* You could sponsor one of our shore-side volunteer training days. Our ‘SEA-ing the Bigger Picture’ session enables us to undertake diversity awareness training, safeguarding sessions and ocean literacy training with our volunteers in our office classroom.

* Charitable Change: Make a contribution to the Challenge Wales charity and then roll up your sleeves and take part in some volunteering. You can witness first hand where your money was spent and the transformative impact of taking disadvantaged young people to sea. Your contribution will enable us to provide the right support for young people wanting to volunteer too.

These are just a few ideas to help budgets get spent and we are just a phone call or email away for a friendly chat.

Don’t worry, we will dispatch that invoice with the swiftness of a boat catching the next high tide out of Cardiff Bay. For those of a non-sailing disposition that means we will invoice VERY quickly ensuring we meet your deadline.

If you think our PennyWise Impact programme can impact on your year end budget then get in touch; reservations@challengewales.org or call 029 20 704657

Epic 3,000 mile fundraising row for Challenge Wales by Cardiff Dad

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Stalked by a sea creature, facing 40ft waves and facing sleep deprivation was a challenging and adventurous way to raise vital funds for local sail training charity, Challenge Wales.

Cardiff resident and Challenge Wales supporter, John Solosy set sail in a 28 foot vessel with 3 of his friends in December in a mammoth effort to raise £100,000 for 4 charities, including Challenge Wales.

Faced with fierce storms, being stalked by a 15-foot marlin with a very sharp, sword-like bill, rowing in excess of 1.5 million strokes during the race and eating 7,000 calories a day John had trained for two years for this epic adventure yet five months earlier had knee replacement surgery. Where this might have put off some people, John saw it as physiotherapy that was making a big difference!

Pic credit: The World’s Toughest Row

The team ‘The Big Oardeal’ took part in the World’s Toughest Row and pushed their physical and mental boundaries with remarkable levels of resilience and dedication. The four crewmates (including another John from Cardiff and James & Richard from Norfolk started the race in the Canary Islands and 41 days, 6 hours and 44 minutes later crossed the finish line in Antigua.

So why did John row the Atlantic? John said: “Rowing the Atlantic will be a test unlike anything I have ever attempted. I am fascinated to see how the challenge pushes me emotionally, mentally and physically while still trying to enjoy the beauty of being in the middle of the Ocean. When growing up the outdoors provided a great way to escape from the challenges of being a teenager in the London suburbs and since then I have loved the peace, tranquillity and challenges that the outdoor provides. Challenge Wales provides a unique opportunity for young people to develop their personal skills and life skills in an exhilarating environment, creating truly life-changing opportunities that will not only help the individuals who participate but also those around them. What better charity could there be to align myself to.”

Vicky Williams, Co-Founder and Manager of Challenge Wales said ” From everyone at Challenge Wales, we would like to congratulate the Big Oardeal for their epic achievement of rowing across the Atlantic and raising over £25,000 for the Challenge Wales charity. Myself and the Challenge Wales Team followed their journey every day on social media and on the boat tracker and we gathered ourselves around the laptop to watch them cross the finish line live. We are incredibly grateful for John and his 3 amazing team mates for what they did and their support has never been so important to small charities like us. The funding will help us to enable more disadvantaged young people to have a life-enhancing personal development opportunity through our outdoor education programme at sea. Our programme has a huge impact and helps young people face challenges, improves mental health, enhances teamwork and communication skills, increases their awareness of ocean literacy and improves resilience – although the rowers would have experienced the same on their boat at least when onboard Challenge Wales, we can stop in port and also have fun learning shore-side.“

Watch Big Oardeal’s amazing journey here. (courtesy of World’s Toughest Row)

To donate to the Big Oardeal Team and John [Solosy’s] fundraising for Challenge Wales visit; The Big Oardeal’s JustGiving page.