Introducing The Children’s Sailing Trust
The Clare Milne Trust trustees were delighted to visit Children’s Sailing Trust in 2023 and were kindly invited by guests from Cornwall, who were staying in Clare Milne House for the week.
Children’s Sailing Trust (CST) is a charity based in Cornwall that offers access to sailing and watersports to children aged 8-16, as well as young people with additional needs. They are passionate about using these activities as a tool to develop key life skills such as confidence, competence and resilience, enabling participants to reach their full potential in life.
One of their key beliefs is that all children and young people should have the same opportunity to learn sailing and watersports, irrespective of financial challenges, disabilities or special educational needs.
2024 sees the 27th year of the charity working on the Helford River taking local children, young people and adults sailing via their term-time schools programme, after school programme, weekend and commercial holiday courses.
Supporting the Construction of New High-Dependency Holiday Homes
The Chidlren’s sailing Trust’s second location is the fully accessible watersports centre at Trevassack Lake on the Lizard Peninsula. Complementing their current activities, Trevassack Lake enables them to offer watersports to a wider range of participants with specialist equipment that allows opportunities for all.
Trevassack Lake is now the charity HQ, and base for their non-profit subsidiaries that support the work of the charity. This includes Trevassack Holidays, an exclusive collection of architect-designed, sustainable holiday properties developed with disabilities in mind.
The construction was only made possible through the support of charities such as Clare Milne Trust, who granted the Children’s Sailing Trust funding to build one of the high-dependency lodges, which of course was named after Clare Milne!
A New Fully Accessible Lodge
Children’s Sailing Trust first contacted The Clare Milne Trust in early 2018 to outline their vision for transforming an old serpentine quarry on the Lizard Peninsula. The Clare Milne Trust trustees shared the excitement of transforming an old, disused quarry into a water sports centre of excellence with state-of-the-art accommodation which would meet the needs of any visitor whatever their disability.
Two years later and after several visits to the site and lengthy discussion, the Children’s Sailing Trust were honoured to be granted funding to build a fully accessible lodge with a stunning view of Trevassack Lake.
There were a few delays thanks to the global pandemic but in late 2021, Trevassack Lake was finally open to the public, and Clare Milne Lodge saw its first guests stay that winter.
A Special Place to Stay
Since the opening, Children’s Sailing Trust have hosted The Clare Milne Trust on site with the most notable of compliments from Margaret Rogers (who was Clare’s principle carer), saying that Clare “would have loved the lodge and have been very proud of what we have achieved together”.
The Children’s Sailing Trust also received a spectacular review in The Times, from a journalist who stayed in Clare Milne House with his family – “Children’s Sailing Trust: watersports and family bonding on the Lizard peninsula” (thetimes.co.uk). The review absolutely spelled out why the facilities they have here are so important, and the difference The Clare Milne Trust has made in providing such a special place to stay.
The spacious layout was carefully designed to enable families to access all that the site has to offer and provides modern accommodation with all the equipment people with a disability might need for a comfortable stay, without feeling clinical.
Thanks to the support of The Clare Milne Trust, Clare Milne Lodge has enabled 86 families and groups to enjoy all the facilities and the magnificent site, with hopefully many more to come.
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