This year, we need to raise £50,000 to enhance and upgrade Wales’ Tall Ship – Challenge Wales. By investing in improvements, we can continue to support young people across Wales and the UK to steer towards a brighter future and reach their potential.
Challenge Wales activities are transformational, giving young people an opportunity to develop employability skills, improve resilience, improve self-confidence, improve teamwork and communication skills while in a safe and fun learning environment…at sea.
Our activities are evidenced to improve mental health, and provide a pathway into the marine industry whether it is a first step on the ladder, learning about environmental stewardship and ocean literacy or by bringing STEM subjects to life. But young lives don’t change unless our team of amazing volunteers are there. A dedicated group of people who ensure young people get the best out of their voyage and out of themselves but are also there helping to get the boat ship-shape through maintenance activities.
Where funding from Trusts and Foundations is becoming extremely limited due to many other charities ‘fighting’ for the same pot of money and not enough funding to go around, we need to look wider at how we bring much needed funds into the charity, and do this continuously throughout the year. But this year due to the cost-of-living crisis we need financial support more than ever. Not only will it help our future sustainability as an organisation but with the majority of young people needing bursaries to jump onboard, we continue to rely on Trusts for bursary support for our young people.
Young people who have sailed on Challenge Wales over the last 15 years have come from a diverse range of backgrounds; from young carers to those that are homeless, to those who have lost focus in life to those who have are in the care system, to those who are unemployed or suffering from mental health issues to those who want to try an adventure, to those who have faced inequalities to those who need help finding a career or purpose. Our boat is more than a boat, it’s a classroom, a safe space to find sanctuary, a community where everyone supports each other, and a vehicle that connects people with new opportunities and experiences helping them reach their potential. We’ve been there for them, so can you be here for us now and help us with a donation.
Where your money will go:
Lift Out and scrubbing & painting her bottom: This helps keep Challenge Wales ship shape and is vital for safety and longevity. Lifting 50 tonnes of boat, landing her and storing her on land in the boat yard is no mean feat and takes a team to do this
Life Jacket and Life Raft servicing: Safety is crucial onboard a sail training vessel and all our safety equipment gets replaced after time or if they get damaged during the season
Radar: Our radar is almost 20 years old and now needs replacing. It enables us to safely navigate in low visibility conditions
Marine Computers / navigation displays and onboard systems: Over the years our computers and systems which provide information to help us navigate safely start to feel their age. These systems help us understand the boat speed, boat depth and wind speed and computers also help us bring our below deck space to life as an interactive classroom. Marine electronic equipment is naturally more expensive than what you will find in your home or office as it needs to be durable to withstand the moving motion of the boat
Refit Bits and Bobs: This is probably the most expensive part of our refit. There are lots of other things that we need during maintenance activities with Challenge Wales. From hiring scaffolding ladders to buying masking tape! Additionally, we always need specialist tradespeople to help us look after Challenge Wales and do the jobs that our volunteers are not trained to do, from welding to carpentry and more. But we also need tools for volunteers to help them do some of the tasks including paintbrushes, PPE and then we need anti-fouling paint….and lots of it. Our plans to take the galley out (very carefully) is a huge one but an essential one to access parts of the boat that you don’t usually see. Quite often we don’t know the full extent of the work that needs undertaking until we strip the boat, and we can’t do that until we get the boat out of the water in Gosport. Water and fuel tanks need to be accessed, in some cases removed and then rebuilt.
Core Costs: Core costs are those important running costs that means we can manage and do all this work, it covers a contribution towards insurance, our mooring fees, our electricity, stationery and our office costs. Not covering these costs during our maintenance and refit period would impact on the work that we need to do. Very few funders cover core costs meaning it can cause charities to struggle, but is one of the most important costs to cover for charities to ensure they can continue their work.
Compass: We always need to know if we are coming or going and our compass will certainly help point us in the right direction. Our current compass is damaged and will need replacing.
There are several ways you can donate:
There are several ways you can donate:
Financial Donations:
Through Justgiving we have launched a ‘Challenge Wales Upgrade’ campaign. You can securely donate directly to our Upgrade campaign.
You can contact us if you would like to donate towards a particular item. You might like to buy a piece of equipment, you might like to buy the masking tape and paintbrushes or the compass.
In-Kind Donations and Volunteering Help:
If you feel you can help with our upgrade and refit, or with skills, then please contact the office. Whether it is big or small, all help can make a powerful difference and a huge impact
Should we raise more or less of the funding we require for our upgrade, then at the Trustees discretion the charity will use the funds as they see fit in the best interests of Challenge Wales.