Colchester

Community mission

Wet-ever floats your boat !!

9 GoodGymers made their way 1.0km to help the Pioneer Sailing Trust in Colchester.

  • Colchester runner
  • Jade Jones
  • Tav
  • Catherine Darkins
  • Emma Woollard
  • Andrew Whitefield
  • Ella Jeffries
  • Katherine Rose
  • Etienne
 
Saturday, 2nd of November 2019
 
Led by Tav
he/him

Saturday 2nd November brought us a community mission out at Brightlingsea.

We arrived at the Shipyard estate ready to do some good for the Pioneer Sailing Trust.

The trust provides learning opportunities for young people to equip themselves with skills for life, both at sea and on land.

They believe that every young person should have a fair start in life whatever their circumstances.

The trust was set up in 1999 with the idea of restoring a 70ft Essex Smack Pioneer boat which had fallen into decay after years of dredging oysters in the North Sea. The boat was restored in 2005.

The weather was quite frankly horrendous as we arrived at the Trust’s HQ to meet some members of the Trust so a lot a lot of the things which were planned had to be abandoned due the very very windy weather.

We instead went onto the boat and went below the main deck .One of the members of the trust explained about the boats use.

We then set about doing what we could given the awful weather. We tided up some seating ,took down some curtains and removed some lee cloths.

Brief history lesson-Lee cloths are sheets of canvas attached to the open side of a bunk and are usually tucked under the mattress during the day or when sleeping in harbour .The lee cloth keeps the person sleeping in the bunk from falling out when the boat heels during sailing or in rough weather.

After this we went back to the boat house and had a look around the workshop and learnt a bit about he skills involved in boat making.

Sadly due to the weather there was a limited amount we could do today but they appreciated us coming and hopefully its something we can be involved in for many years ahead .

Massive kudos to everyone who came today. The weather was just horrible and I can only begin to imagine how uncomfortable it would be on a boat like the Pioneer out on the open sea in such weather.

Next time hopefully we will be in a better plaice with the weather, but we had a reely good day.

After saying our goodbyes to the members of the trust we headed to the Rosebud pub in Brightlingsea for some warmth, good company and food .

Happy weekend everyone .

As ever,

Ian

Report written by Colchester runner


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Tav
Led by Tav

Kindness is a verb - do more kind.

GoodGymers helping out
  • Back marker

    Make sure that no one is left behind

    • Katherine Rose
  • Report Writer

    Be in charge of writing the session report

    • Colchester runner
  • Photographer

    Take photos for the session report

    • Emma Woollard

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