Amber launches new era for club

By cutting the ribbon Amber ushered in a new chapter so that the club can now focus on providing sailing to a more diverse section of the local and wider community. When RHSC acquired funding for the project through a Sport England Inspired Facilities grant, the MP backed the project saying: “I’m really pleased Sport England has invested in Rye Harbour Sailing Club. This region has a great maritime heritage and I hope these new facilities will encourage many more people to join the club and take to the water.” Club commodore Caroline Wylson takes up the story: “The club then went all out to raise the rest of the funds needed for the new facilities. We had a bumper Auction of Donations in 2016 which raised over £3,300 and the rest was made up of tireless fund raising events and endless application form filling!” As a result the club received funding, including £75,000 from Sport England, £30,000 from Rother District Council, £1,000 from Icklesham Parish Council, £2,500 from Rye Town Council, £2,500 from Little Cheyne Court wind farm; £2,000 from the Sussex Community Foundation as well as raising £35,500 themselves. Caroline continued: “Our project was to build new changing rooms that would provide facilities for less abled people as well as an up to date facilities to attract schools and other younger people to take part in sailing. RHSC Sailability, a charity will be working with RHSC to get less abled people out on the water. Our aim is to become a sailing venue with facilities to provide accessible sailing for all.“ “I am delighted and grateful for the hard work and the support that RHSC has received for this project from club members, members of the public, local businesses, the local media and all those organisations who have chosen to support us by way of funding. The club now has a viable and sustainable future ahead where we can increase local participation in the sport of sailing and get as many people as possible out on the water.” RYA regional development officer Steve Mitchell says: The club has come a remarkable distance in a relatively short period of time and the result of the hard work is now very visible RHSC is a great example of a club that has worked hard to revitalise their presence as a family friendly local sailing club.” For more information about RHSC visit www.rhsc.org.uk/. If you’d like to find out more about how to get out on the water and start your sailing adventure visit http://www.rya.org.uk/go/startboating. Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live. Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on. 1) Make our website your homepage at www.ryeandbattleobserver.co.uk/ 2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RyeandBattleObserver 3) Follow us on Twitter @RyeObs 4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here. And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out! The Rye and Battle Observer - always the first with your local news. Be part of it.