Southampton sailing charity launches £1m emergency appeal

A Hampshire sailing charity, which has been running for more than 40 years, says it will have to close if it does not raise one million pounds by Friday.

The Jubilee Sailing Trust in Southampton offers people with disabilities the opportunity to sail on two Tall Ships.

The charity says if they can't reach their target it will be a terrible loss.

The charity launched an emergency appeal on its website on 28th June.

It says it has been struggling financial for the past 12 months, blaming "substantial mechanical issues across both ships, poor uptake of our winter 2018 programme, and the deferral of some partner projects from this summer to next year".

If the funds are not raised in time, it will impact plans for future work, including a youth development project in August, and a Mediterranean programme in the spring of 2020.

Duncan Souster from the Jubilee Sailing Trust says: "There are lots of activities for people with disabilities where, for example, people with disabilities get to do activities. But there are very few opportunities to bring everyone together and to do it on equal terms. So the UK would be losing not just an amazing charity, but one of the very few opportunities to bring society together."

Anyone aged 16 and upwards can join the crew, working with people of mixed abilities to run one of two ships, STS Lord Nelson or SV Tenacious, as they sail to various destinations around the world.

Captain Simon Catterson says: "Everybody just gets a cracking charge taking part in something like this. A lot of people get a gain in self confidence and for those with limited mobility, they get pushed a little bit to make sure that folk can do more than perhaps they thought they might be able to."

Paul Landamore, a former Royal Marines Commando, who has paid to become a crew member on board, says he left the military with PTSD last year.

He says working on the ship has helped him to gain "that bit of confidence" that he lost with the condition.

"I used to be in charge of people, but with the condition that I suffered with, I went to being scared of my own shadow. With the help of a lot of charities, and the trust, doing things like this has benefitted me massively."

• Watch Andrew Pate's report below