On the sunny, but blustery, morning of Thursday 23rd April, the Worshipful Master of Fitzwilliam Lodge – W.Bro Bill Marshall – visited Rutland Sailability at Rutland Sailing Club, Rutland Water to deliver a cheque for £1,500. The money was raised during his first year as Worshipful Master.
The charity have celebrated just over 30 years of facilitating safe sailing for people with disabilities in the delightful setting of Rutland Water, offering a range of training, sailing for fun, and racing, for those with every level of sailing skill, from real land lubbers to experienced sea farers! They welcome sailors with a disability and able-bodied volunteers. Everyone can be a member and age is no barrier, and they currently have members aged between 7 and 87yrs old!
The charity Chairman, Andrew St John and Treasurer, Andrew Painter welcomed Bill and Lodge Secretary W.Bro Craig Bunday, to show them around the facilities, and explain how the money would be spent. “We are very grateful for this cheque from the Freemasons,” said Andrew, “and it will go to buy six new Walkie Talkies.”
Like most charities, Sailability rely on the bulk of their money from donations. “It costs us £20,000 a year to rent our space from Rutland Sailing Club, and our membership fees only raise about half of this, so if you add on equipment purchase and maintenance, the yearly costs rely on donations.” explained Andrew Painter.
Bill and Craig were impressed by the set up at Edith Weston; they have a number of different boats that are designed to meet the varying needs and abilities of the sailors - whether it be sailing solo, or dual with an instructor, or as a crew member, the various craft have been selected to be stable in the water and as practical as possible to get in and out of. “It’s always great to see where the money raised goes,” said Bill, “you can see that everyone here enjoys themselves, a credit to the great team of friendly and experienced volunteers.”