News from the Ahoy Centre Charity
AHOY is a Thames-based water sports charity operating within one of London’s most deprived communities whose primary objective is to provide opportunities for disadvantaged and at-risk youths based around waterborne activities. In June 2020 the Education and Charity Committee awarded £2,000 to AHOY and we have received the following update on their progress.
As you know too well, 2020 has been a challenging time for all and it seems set to continue for the remainder of the year. We’d like to firstly thank you for your support, guidance and flexibility, without which we would not have been able to be as innovative in the support we have been offering to our community.
A lot of positive outcomes have been achieved since our return to face-to-face activities and the gradual re-introduction of our programmes and below are just some highlights during the period of July 1st to October 31st
- We welcomed in excess of 100 unique participants
- Provided 68 RYA qualifications – a combination of Sailing stages 1 & 2 and Powerboat level 2
- Developed new working relationships with local youth groups such as Scouts and other youth-based charities.
Whilst we are extremely pleased that participants felt safe and comfortable to re-engage with their programmes, as we find ourselves navigating through a second national lockdown we wanted to reassure you that our commitment to delivering your project and related activities to our beneficiaries and the wider community during this time continues.
With the safety and wellbeing of all staff and beneficiaries in mind, whilst taking into consideration best practice and government guidance, we have developed a calendar of activities which allow many of our service users to continue to attend AHOY – albeit with some adaptions, including reduced numbers, to align with the current restrictions.
Many of our beneficiaries we welcome to AHOY are disadvantaged, at risk children, young people and adults, who are likely to experience an increase of vulnerability during these times, making our programmes an essential service within the community. We will continue to explore providing additional support where we can to them and their families through mentoring and access to third party resources, such as Local Authority Corona Virus Support Hubs.
We have re-introduced our AHOY online learning hub where those who cannot attend onsite will still have the opportunity to participate once more with a series of engaging, fun and educational activities held virtually and we will continue to closely monitor the situation and will reinstate any activities that are delivered via the online learning hub back to a face-to-face capacity at the first opportunity to do so safely.
We’d like to thank you once more for your support, and as we continue to work through these somewhat odd times, should you wish to talk to a listening ear please do get in touch.
