Voting open to make Shropshire Sailing Club the UK's best
A sailing club in Shropshire has been named as the Midlands finalist by the Royal Yachting Association, and the public are urged to vote for their local club to be named the UK's best.
Chelmarsh Sailing Club has once again been chosen as the region's finalist in the RYA and Yachts and Yachting Club of the Year Awards for 2022 for the second year in a row.
The award celebrates the outstanding achievement and the hard work of sailing clubs in the UK, and Chelmarsh has been specifically recognised in the category of 'Inclusive and Open to all'.
Dave Strain, interim chief executive of the RYA, said: “Congratulations on achieving this prestigious award and I look forward to meeting you in February, 2022."
The club has been recognised for increasing membership, particularly with many more local people, women and families enjoying sailing, stand-up paddle boarding and open water swimming. In addition the club has run the first ever session for Seaful, a charity promoting the health of and health benefits of water, where 40 inner city children were able to take to the water for the first time.
Open water swimming has been an incredible success at the club, with over 3000 kilometres having been swum this year by 300 swimmers. A survey showed members appreciated not only the physical benefits but also the mental health improvements, as well as the great club atmosphere which helps to counter the negative aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Commodore of Chelmarsh, David Partridge, said: “It is a great honour to once again be nominated as the Midlands finalist. We have found the experience has helped us build a great community of sailors, paddlers and swimmers who support each other, and all help develop the volunteer led and run club. I know just how important the club is to many of our members who quite literally have found regular exercise and club membership to be life changing.”
The voting is now open to the public, and voting runs until January.
You can vote for Chelmarsh Sailing Club as the overall winner from the ten finalists by clicking here.
Commodore David added: “A vote for Chelmarsh is a vote for sailing clubs nationally to consider opening their doors and water to stand up paddleboarding, swimming and other users and to build and support local communities."
