Wealden Sailability

Just Giving
The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service

Last Friday, Brian Stanley was recognised at the Annual RYA Volunteering Awards for his many years of volunteering with Wealden Sailability – so well deserved and I am sure we are all so appreciative of the amazing organisation that he founded and continues to give so much time to.

Below is the RYA press release about the event, which includes a video.  The eagle-eyed among you will spot that HRH The Princess Royal was also honoured by being seated next to Brian for the lunch!

The Francis Elkin Award

The Francis Elkin Award, dedicated to the memory of a former RYA Council Chair and Sailability Trustee, recognises exceptional individuals who have made significant efforts to enable people with disabilities to become involved in sailing. This year, the award went to Brian Stanley who founded Wealden Sailability in 2008, making it one of the largest Sailability organisations in the UK. Brian’s commitment and leadership have been the backbone of Wealden Sailability’s success, providing sailing opportunities to people with disabilities and positively impacting their wellbeing.

On receipt of his award, Brian said the following.

”There were a lot of clubs there [today], many of them I’ve never heard of before … Lots of people who are giving so much time to so many other people, and normally they don’t get recognised. I think it’s absolutely terrific that they can go up there and be presented to The Princess Royal to get their award.”

On behalf of all of our volunteers and clients, Brian, congratulations on winning your award and Thank You!

The Certificates and Prizes were handed out to the winners by the Wealden Sailability Trustee responsible for WS Racing activities , Mike Coleman,  in front of an enthusiastic crowd who applauded the winners’ achievements. John King, another WS Trustee, addressed the crowd (below) about a new award for which WS Racers will be able to compete  – The Peter Hazlewood Trophy. 

Our winners of the Summer Series  are: 1st Mike Blatchford, 2nd Martin Newman and 3rd Malcolm Hill. all pictured below with their certificates and they were also given a printed WS Race Winners Coffee Mug!!

Our winners of the Spring Series , raced between April and July, were also recognised with certificates and appropriately  printed coffee mugs. They were 1st Mike Blatchford, 2nd  David Mason and 3rd Martin Newman. Unfortunately David was unable to attend the prize giving ceremony so instead he is shown below sailing his 2.4m #109 to victory during the season:

All the other WS Racers who had completed at least 5 Races in either or both Race Series in 2018 were awarded a Certificate of Qualification

The full details of the WS Racing Results for 2018 are:

Spring Series Result 

Podium

1st was Mike Blatchford (10 points – Best five finishes 1 1 2 3 3)

2nd was David Mason (11 points – 2 2 2 2 3)

3rd Martin Newman (17 points – 1 3 3 5 5)

Qualifiers

Fay Watson (17 – 2 2 3 4 6)

Steve Farmer (21 – 3 4 4 5 5)

Peter Wagner (21 – 4 4 4 4 5)

Louise McSweeney (30 – 2 5 7 8 8)

Tom Phillips (35 – 4 5 8 8 10)

Imogen Fletcher (40 – 3 5 9 10 13) 

Summer Series Result 

Podium

1st Mike Blatchford (8 points – Best five finishes 1 1 2 2 2)

2nd Martin Newman (10 – 2 2 2 2 2)

3rd Malcolm Hill (11 – 1 1 2 3 4)

Qualifiers

David Mason (11 – 1 1 3 3 3)

Kim Sparkes (14 – 1 1 1 5 6)

Jake Jones (17 – 1 3 4 4 5)

Peter Wagner (18 – 2 2 4 5 5)

Peter Gregory (21 – 1 2 5 6 7)

Mark Cayzer (28 – 5 5 6 6 6)

Louise McSweeney (31 – 4 5 6 7 9)

Fay Watson (33 – 4 7 7 7 8)

Steve Framer (38 – 3 7  7 10 11)

Keith Eeles (41 – 5 6 10 10 10)

Imogen Fletcher (44 – 6 7 8 11 12)

The Peter Hazlewood Trophy – Racer of the Year 

2018

Mike Blatchford

 

Well done for all your achievements this year and we look forward to seeing you on the water again in April.

 

Sevenoaks District Council
Charity of 2017 – Runners Up

Earlier this month, Wealden Sailability were proud to receive the Charity of the Year 2017 – Runner Up Award from Sevenoaks District Council.
Here are some of our fantastic volunteers, overlooking Chipstead Lake, with the Trophy.

sevenoaks district council 2017 charity of the year runners up

On Thursday 24th November, Steve Thomas, Meg Warren and myself (Mike Coleman) attended the Marjorie McClure School for their annual Awards Presentation. We thought we were just there to present certificates to the students that had attended Wealden Sailability sessions throughout the season and attained Entry, Bronze and Silver Level sailing certificates. So we were totally blown away to ourselves be presented with a Marjorie McClure F.L.A.M.E Award, and the highest “Gold, Four Star, burning brightly” award at that..!!

Here’s a copy of the award certificate.

marjorie mcclure flame award

According to the Marjorie McClure website “Our Olympic Flame Award legacy project (set up in the wake of the 2012 London Olympics) is being developed as part of the Sky Living for Sport Challenge. The focus is on recognising pupil achievement and progress using the values framework of the London Olympic Games. Competing to achieve best is at the heart of the award.”
The award we received from the school today was a reflection of the part that WS has played in helping the pupils achieve the aims of the Award, so we were very honoured to receive the Award on behalf of all our Volunteers.

There were so many photos, so here is a second selection of the many taken on 17th September 2015, the day Wealden Sailability were officially presented with the Queens Award for Voluntary Services.

Here is a selection of the many photos taken on 17th September 2015, the day Wealden Sailability were officially presented with the Queens Award for Voluntary Services. It was a great day, hopefully reflected by this small selection..