PUDSEY BEAR HAS GOLDEN SAILING EXPERIENCE AT WPNSA

The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) welcomed Pudsey Bear, the face of BBC Children in Need on Friday, November 7 to help run the fundraising events. 

Medal stars from Qingdao including Bryony Shaw and Paralympic inspiration, Helena Lucas were on hand to show Pudsey round the internationally renowned venue as well as the Mayor of Weymouth and Portland and the Town Mayor of Portland.  Over 150 local children entered the, ‘Indoor WPNSA Rowathon’, where teams raised funds for the charity and won prizes donated by the Royal Yachting Association and Musto Clothing.  Children also tried dry dinghy sailing and had fun in the VSail Access Simulator.  The silent auction for a signed piece of sailing legend and triple medallist, Ben Ainslie’s medal race clothing is still open, everyone is free to enter at the Academy.

Mark Stubbings, Chief Executive of WPNSA, explains why the Academy is involved with fundraising efforts, “BBC Children in Need is a nationally recognised charity that really assists children across the UK, we have a legacy programme in place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy ‘Sail for a Fiver’ which has already introduced over  2,000 children to the world of water sports, but we wanted to extend our support of children to a national scale and we chose to do this through an active fund raising activity whereby the children tried indoor rowing at our venue competing in a safe and fun atmosphere with support from the current sailing stars.”

PICTURE: Mark Stubbings, Chief Executive of WPNSA supporting BBC Children in Need with local Weymouth and Portland children, windsurfing medallist Bryony Shaw, Paralympic inspiration Helena Lucas (sponsored by Charles Russell lawyers) and guest of honour Pudsey Bear at the WPNSA indoor rowathon

© WPNSA 2008