Expanding our Horizons
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2023 Season
What we delivered this year ...
This season, between May and August, Blue Spirit reached 46 young people through several activities, three of which were run by sail training organisations we worked with for the first time:
A weekend voyage with Ocean Youth Trust North (OYTN) on board James Cook
A five-day voyage with OYTN on board James Cook
An activity day with Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club (DRSC) where a group of 15 young people tried dinghy sailing and paddleboarding
A 5-day voyage for an individual bursary recipient on board the Cirdan Sailing Trust’s vessel Duet
A five-day voyage with the Cirdan Trust on board Faramir
With one exception, the young people all live in the north east of England and were members of groups we also worked with last year.
Projects4Change and Patchwork work in deprived areas of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North East Solidarity and Teaching (N.E.S.T.), works with members of the forced migrant community, and Hexham Youth Initiative runs activities for young people in Hexham, Northumberland.
One young man from the south of England – who applied via our website – participated in a five-day voyage with the Cirdan Sailing Trust, sailing from Gosport and gaining his Competent Crew certification on one of their Duke of Edinburgh award trips.
Read on for just a small part of the positive feedback we have received, how we plan to build on our success, who has been helping us out, how you can help, and more…
How did it go?
The activities with our new partners – The Cirdan Sailing Trust and Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club – were very successful and we received wonderful feedback from the young people, the groups’ leaders and the sail training organisations.
The voices of participants and those close to them speak for themselves. After each voyage or activity - with all three of the sail training organisations we worked with this year - our young sailors filled in feedback forms and left us comments like:
“Getting a chance to sail at night with the sky full of stars was a once in a lifetime kind of experience.”
“Amazing views and conversations. The new friends I made from the other youth groups were particularly nice.”
“I loved the teamwork and doing everything together.”
“I understood myself a lot more and learned how to communicate as a team and more effectively as well as feeling more confident in my own abilities and trying new skills.”
“I know how to sail now.”
“Wonderful – 9.5/10.”
“Just go for it, don’t hesitate”
We also received feedback from the young people’s support staff and some of the parents. Here is a small selection:
Sarah Warren, Patchwork - OYTN voyage in May
"The worker who dropped us off and picked us up after the five days said the difference in the young people was obvious to see! They came together as a crew and this was noticeable by the end of the trip. The value of sail training is that it can achieve this kind of change in a relatively short space of time."
Bridget Stratford MBE, N.E.S.T. - Cirdan Trust voyage in August
“The opportunity to take young people sailing has provided a once in a lifetime experience for our refugee teenagers. They have grown closer as a group and also developed their own sense of belonging, confidence and resilience. They found the trip very challenging but managed to work together to bring each other through it and find really fun and exciting moments…. I would highly recommend other youth groups to consider sailing as an experience that takes young people out of their situations, whatever those are, and allow them to be consumed by the sailing activities and be freed from everything they bring with them.
I’m so grateful to Blue Spirit for making this trip possible. We could never have funded this independently and it has added huge scope and excitement to our summer programme. Thank you so much.”
Emma Miles - Ben's voyage with Cirdan in August
“Ben has really found the last few years a challenge and despite persevering through his A-Levels, his attendance has been very low and so have his motivation and energy levels. Previously so active, that has been very hard to see. We timed his trip to be over ‘results day’ so that he did not have to be going in to school alongside his peers - knowing that despite his teachers telling us he is a higher grade thinker, it was questionable he would even pass due to his absence.
“In the run up to the trip, Ben loved the preparation and spent days packing. His motivation and energy levels picked right up. I drove him down to the boat and due to the confidence I had in the organisation running it, I waved him off with only little anxiety myself. Tracking his vessel over the week I was quite emotional knowing how much he would be loving the sense of freedom on the water, doing something he loved and working on building skills for his future.
“Picking him up on the Saturday he looked liked the younger, fitter Ben - buzzing with achievement and satisfaction with a week of glorious, yet challenging, sailing.
"Returning home, he had passed all of his exams. We toasted his perseverance and attitude and were also able to celebrate his achieving his Crew Competency!
“Ben now hopes to save up to join other sailing trips or even an expedition to experience that thrill and freedom again. Thank you so so much!” Emma Miles, Ben’s mum
Changing young lives
It’s easy to measure what our young sailors are getting out of the voyages at the time, from what they tell us immediately afterwards (see above for a snapshot!) and from their wide grins when they disembark. The longer-term impact is not always so easy to assess but it also very real, as this testimonial from Projects4Change demonstrates.
"15-year-old Danny (not his real name) is a physically disabled young person who has a condition commonly known as brittle bones as well as anxiety and depression. When he first started attending the project he would use his wheelchair often and depended on painkillers . He regularly self-harmed, and suffered from anxiety, low mood and lack of self-esteem. […] He is a regular at Projects4Change and he has taken part in many activities within the project both at Betty’s Hut and many outdoor locations over a year-long period in the run up to the sailing experience with Blue Spirit [in 2022].
"Being involved with our project had motivated him to want to change his limiting beliefs and slowly he was changing before our eyes, taking responsibility for helping out, not using his wheelchair as much, eating better and making new friends. He was starting to develop a love of the outdoors and Betty’s Hut was his “safe place”. He loved sitting around the fire pit and being outside in all weathers.
"When the opportunity came to go on a two-night, three days sail with Blue Spirit, he surprised staff by jumping at the chance. During the trip he pushed himself further and really tested his physical and mental capabilities, surprising himself and others with his positive attitude. Since returning, he has been surer of his purpose in life – he wants to be a youth worker. I don't believe he would have progressed so much without the life-changing experience of Blue Spirit Sailing. He has since attended counselling and is in the process of setting up a support group for other boys to talk about their mental health and do outdoor pursuits.
"There have been blips, but the positive change in him is visible. He recovers from self-doubt easier than before, he has forward momentum in his life now and an understanding of his challenges, as well as new coping mechanisms.
"Thanks to Blue Spirit Bursary Fund. "
Building on our successes
To build on this year’s work, as well as the lessons we have learned, we have lots of plans for next season: two 5-day voyages with the Cirdan Trust and two weekend trips with OYTN are pre-booked, as well as – in the pipeline – another activity day at DRSC and a weekend dinghy sailing course for two individual young sailors – girls from Projects4Change. We have the funding in place for some but not all of these activities.
We are in touch with three other youth groups which might be interested in sending their young people sailing and will be exploring possibilities with them over the winter, at the same time as fundraising to finance them.
Having noticed that the majority of participants this year were male (16 females, 30 males), to redress the balance we are planning to get together an all-female crew for one of the voyages with the Cirdan Trust next summer, with Projects4Change and Patchwork. We may use the planned DRSC activity day in the spring as a taster for the young women and girls who might be interested in the voyage, and will carry out outreach activities to encourage more young female sailors to get on board.
In his slipstream update
Announcement! In case you haven’t already seen this on our social media channels - the ‘In his Slipstream’ photo essay, about Laury's family's cross-channel journey in honour of his life - has been finalised and can be seen on our website.
Image from In his Slipstream: Fest-noz, Port Blanc, Côtes D’Armor, Brittany, August 2022. Laury’s best friend Camille Bossard performs with fellow Breton musicians.
© Nina Emett
The film is also complete, although we are holding back on its general release date as we are waiting to see whether it will be accepted to be premiered in one of several film festivals for which it has been entered.
In July we held a small private viewing and the film was well-received, creating a space for people to talk about their own experiences of and emotions around mental ill health, suicide, child loss and bereavement. To build on this, we are currently exploring the possibilities of running one or more events next year in the UK to showcase the film and photo essay, and will also make the film available for wider viewing on our website.
Fundraising & networking news
In July, we were awarded a grant of £9,054 from the National Lottery Community Fund scheme, some of which was used to fund the activity day at Derwent Reservoir as well as our small contribution to the Cirdan Sailing Trust for our ‘taster’ voyage and Ben’s trip in August.
Thank you to the National Lottery for making this possible, as well as some of our future activities early next season!
We were also very happy and grateful when alternative education provider Educla in Hexham committed to making Blue Spirit its ‘charity of choice’. The educators and young people came together to organise a bake sale which raised £282.72. There are plans afoot for a bigger fundraising event by Educla next year – watch this space!
Blue Spirit is now a member of Susila Dharma International Association (SDIA) and Voluntary Organisations' Network North East (VONNE).
How can you help?
We have had some nice little successes this year, but – like most organisations working for social change – we always need to do more.
If you would like to support Blue Spirit, there are several ways you can do so.
The obvious one is to make a donation via our website – or why not set up a standing order? Having regular donations come in really helps us plan ahead.
Otherwise, if you shop online, you could sign up to #easyfundraising and help Blue Spirit raise free donations in a cashback scheme for good causes. Sign-up is quick and easy and, once done, you get a reminder each time you shop, with over 7,500 websites including big names like Expedia, Just Eat, John Lewis & Partners, Argos, Uswitch and eBay. We'll get a small donation, it won't cost you a penny and it will really make a difference to us. It all adds up!
And finally, (for now!) you could also help by nominating us for a Movement for Good Award.
The more people nominate us, the greater our chance to win £1,000. This would provide a group of 16 young people a day of dinghy sailing. And it only takes a few seconds.
