Ocean Youth Trust South named as our charity partner for the 2019 Poole Harbour Boat Show

We are delighted to announce Ocean Youth Trust South (OYT South) as our charity partner for the 2019 Poole Harbour Boat Show.

Ocean Youth Trust South provides residential voyages called, ‘Adventure Under Sail’ as a personal development opportunity for young people, aged 12 – 25, the majority of whom are disadvantaged or vulnerable in some way. The voyages on board its 32-metre sail training vessel, Prolific, are used to work with around 450 young people each year. Young people sail as active crew members, responsible for sail handling, steering, watch-keeping, helping with navigation and voyage planning, cooking, cleaning and more. The aim is to develop skills and qualities that will be of lasting value to those young people as well as their schools, employers, families and communities: confidence, resilience, team-working, communication, the ability to cope in unfamiliar situations and more.”

Poole Harbour Boat Show Marketing Director Tracy Payne advised, “One of the missions of the PHBS is to get people on the water. Partnering with Ocean Youth Trust South provides a brilliant opportunity to get children on the water that wouldn’t ordinarily have the chance to do so. Poole Harbour Commissioner’s Marina Manager Kerrie Gray benefitted from a similar opportunity during her own school days and it had a massive, positive impact on her experiences and hugely inspired her. It ultimately transformed and defined Kerrie’s career path and opened up a whole new life for her on the water. She sailed on John Laing, an Ocean Youth Trust ship and went on to volunteer for the Tall Ships Youth Trust – sailing as a Watch Leader and Deckhand on various voyages including 2 Atlantic crossings and 6 months sailing around the Caribbean. Kerrie was subsequently inspired to join the Royal Navy and eventually joined the team at Poole Harbour Commissioners where marine is obviously a significant part of her life!”

Tracy continued, “We will be running an exciting initiative in the run-up to the 2019 PHBS, aimed at getting Dorset children on the water. We look forward to releasing more details early on in 2019 on how people can take part. We have also set up a JustGiving fundraising page for OYT South www.justgiving.com/fundraising/pooleboatshow“

Mark Todd, Chief Executive of Ocean Youth Trust South enthused, “We are thrilled to have been selected as the first dedicated charity for the Poole Harbour Boat Show. Poole has been a very special port in the history of the charity over nearly 60 years. Our previous vessel John Laing started her very first youth voyage in 1990 from Poole Town Quay, and our current vessel Prolific is a regular visitor to Poole. Sailing with young people from all backgrounds means that it is hugely important to us to have access to a safe, secure berth where we are guaranteed a warm welcome. We are also particularly pleased that this project is going to create opportunities for young people from Dorset to sail with us next year.”

The 2019 Poole Harbour Boat Show takes place from 7th – 9th June.