REVIEW OF OUR 2011 ACTIVITY
Have a look at what we at the Woolverstone Project have achieved during the last 12 months.
October to October
- The Open Sessions held on Mondays at Alton Water took place on all but the Bank Holidays and a few that were cancelled owing to bad weather. We don't have the exact figures but probably about 45 went ahead.
- For the whole academic year the Project worked with 3-4 boys from Alderwood School on Thursday mornings, a total of 36 sessions.
- During the Spring the Project completed a new initiative with Suffolk New College, taking 6 young men sailing for 6 sessions.
- From Easter the Project ran 10 sessions with Thomas Wolsey School, taking the whole senior school sailing.
- During the Summer term 4 pupils from Doucecroft School in Colchester joined the Project on 12 of the Open Monday sessions at Alton Water.
- The Hawthorne Drive Project with 3 - 4 children in Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) also came to the Open Monday sessions.
- Through the last 6 weeks of the summer term the Project ran 6 sessions each with;
...Beacon Hill School
...Parkside PRU
...Suffolk One Sixth Form College
...Bridge School Primary and Secondary Campus
- The Summer Term was topped off with an Inter-Schools Regatta which took place on a day when although the rest of the UK was bathed in sun, Ipswich suffered wet NW 5 -6 wind. However, the Project managed to take 35 pupils sailing.
- During the summer, from May to September, the Project ran weekly Thursday evening sessions at Alton Water for young people. This is a particularly important initiative as it introduces young sailors to a "club" and plots and rewards their achievements in developing their sailing skills.
- From May through to the end of September the Project has continued to run 2 sessions on each of Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Most of these have taken place although a few had to be cancelled owing to weather conditions.
- There were some extra sessions added for the support group Success After Stroke. 18 people sailed at the Woolverstone site. Also the Project collaborated with Sea Change, a Sailability group based in Maldon who operate the Thames Sailing Barge "Reminder". They took 11 of our sailors for a river trip while their crew of 8 young people were given an alternative experience of sailing on our Hawk 20 and the Drascombe Longboat.
If you tot that lot up it comes to about 290 sessions. As the Chief Instructor for the Project, I am speechless for once. I refer you to an email received from Emily Webster at the Thomas Wolsey School after the regatta, "Wow, what troopers you guys are. Despite the weather a great time was had by all…….. Thanks once again especially for all your hard slog……"
PS. This is an example of the work we do.
Woolverstone Project Inter-Special Schools Regatta
Following a summer term programme working with Special Schools in the region, the season finished with a regatta originally billed as "A Sail Around The World" where national flags, made by some of the schools, would be fixed to buoys to create a voyage. Owing to the weather, this plan was dropped in favour of concentrating on just getting the youngsters on the water.
Using six Access 3.03 craft, two ribs and eight staff, we managed to sail with 34 pupils, some with profound disabilities. Two student helpers from the Doucecroft School should also have a special mention.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The WP operates up to five days a week, working with six local schools, running a weekly after school youth session as well as numerous adult sessions both at Alton Water and the River Orwell at Woolverstone Marina.
Below are some pictures showing some of the sailors, and how wet and grey the day was!
