July 2023 News!

We are now supporting the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust to help them continue their vital work. 

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Why are we doing this? We are so happy our Bus 'Texas' is on the Isle of Wight - also home of the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust - and we learned about their vital work when bringing 'Texas' to the Island on the Red Funnel ferry. It all just clicked with us.

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How will we help? For each booking received for 'Texas' we will send a tenner to the Trust. We also decided to backdated this and so have already sent some tenners for all bookings made from the start of July. You can give an optional donation when you book a stay in Texas, or you can simply donate anything you like here. Thank you.

 

You can read more about the EMC Trust below;

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Every day around 12 young people under 25 are diagnosed with cancer. Cancer can have a big impact on a young person’s mental wellbeing beyond treatment.  

 

When a young person gets the ‘all clear', there is an expectation of happiness and returning to ‘normal’. But what is their ‘normal’ now? Their whole world has changed. The future can feel daunting and overwhelming. 

 

Cancer in young people often leads to lower educational achievement, relationship and friendship difficulties, body image issues, and/or ongoing late effects, such as extreme fatigue, infertility, osteoporosis, thyroid problems and hearing or vision loss. 

 

For many young people simply picking up where they left off before their diagnosis just isn’t possible. That is why when treatment ends, the work of the Trust begins. 

 

Sailing is just the vehicle. On the boat some magic happens. It's not really the sailing or the water, but the environment that being on a boat creates. It is transformational.

 

The friendships they make, the laughs they have, the acceptance they find, boundaries they push, independence they gain and skills they learn help each young person discover what they are capable of and stop feeling like 'the only one'. They feel optimism for the future and start to re-establish their purpose and place in the world.

 

There are 3,000 new young people the Trust could work with every year. But they can currently support just 9% of those on first time trips - less than 1 in 10. 

 

By 2025, the Trust want that to be 16% - 500 young people sailing with them for the first time, with another 500 also returning for further sailing and outdoor adventures. 

 

The demand is there. But the Trust need help to meet that demand and to keep growing.

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Thank you.