Today felt like quite an auspicious day as we turned the skiff one last time ready to attach and varnish the rubbing band, add the thole pins, thwarts and floorboards ready for Skiff No. 249 to be named by the members of Faversham Creek Trust (for my money Lapwing would be lovely.. but I’ve only got the one vote).
The last year has been… well… strange to say the least. We are delighted that, having sought advice and reflected carefully on our risk assessments, we’ve managed to continue work over recent months, albeit with a skeleton crew.
What has become clear is that, despite everything, we have succeeded in building a community of novice boat builders. The benefits are many, not least in terms of mental health and general wellbeing.
Launch day soon?
We cannot wait to be able to celebrate the launch of our first, yet-to-be-named St Ayles Skiff. Please make sure you’re signed up to our mailing list to be kept up to date on the project.
Skiff No. 250
We hope to start work on Skiff No. 250 (our second skiff, but the 250th St Ayles Skiff in the world) after the Easter break. As restrictions start to ease and the numbers of people vaccinated increases, we hope to be able to welcome slightly larger numbers of people to the Purifier Building to collaborate on this next boat.
If you would like to get involved, please drop us a line at hello@cinqueportsrowing.org.
Can you support us?
Covid-19 has impacted our little project in no small way, but what it has really done is highlighted the value of what we’re doing. We truly want to be able to extend our project and welcome many, many new faces into the building to participate in building boats for use by the local community under more ‘normal’ circumstances.
Could you help us by making a donation as either a one-off or on a regular basis?
Rather than pay intermediaries such as GoFundMe or similar, we hope that you would consider making a direct payment to us – please get in touch for the details (hello@cinqueportsrowing.org).
The people of Faversham have the most brilliant track record for supporting community projects and making them happen. We hope you can help us continue this brilliant work that supports community cohesion, develops friendships and new skills.
Thank you.
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