Support All-Aboard by making a Donation

Supporting All-Aboard – where does your money go?

All Aboard is a registered charity (1151374).

We are a watersports and water-based therapy charity in Bristol harbour. We are open to all in the community, but our focus is on reaching those with physical or mental disabilities, long term conditions, from deprived areas, or suffering loneliness or isolation. Our activities include sailing, paddlesports, boat trips, rowing and more. We are fully inclusive, with adaptive equipment allowing wheelchair users and those with limited mobility to access both our Centre and the water in a variety of craft.  All instructors and volunteers are trained in Disability Awareness. We are accredited with the RYA, British Rowing, British Canoeing, Adventure Activities Licensing Service, and Ofsted.

The aim of our sessions is to positively impact health and well-being, particularly for those who may have limited opportunity to participate in more traditional physical activities, or who may have come across barriers to accessing the water in other watersport settings. Our sessions also develop life skills such as confidence, respect, organisation, teamwork, and responsibility. They encourage friendships to develop, and in appropriate situations, allow the participant to experience the freedom of complete independence and control of their actions while out on the water.

In 2022 we delivered watersport sessions to around 9,500 participants from the Bristol area.  Of these over 20% had some form of disability or medical condition.   Without us, many of these participants would never have experienced watersports, or the associated benefits of learning new skills, making friends, working as a team, overcoming challenges and feeling fresh air on their faces. We also enabled over 1000 participants from disadvantaged areas and ethnic minority groups to access watersports, many for the first time.

Over 50% of our participants are aged 8-18 years.  We had 800 attendances at our after-school sailing and paddling clubs in 2022, and nearly 1400 for our popular holiday clubs.  Many more young people attended sessions here with their school or community group – we had visits from 22 schools (including 10 SEN schools) and 20 youth community/support groups.   Over 100 children gained an RYA sailing qualification through us last year, as did over 60 adults.

And as a reminder that watersports are for all ages, our weekly over 50s sessions remain consistently popular – with over 500 attendances in 2022.

We also had visits from over 20 adult community/support groups, many of whom came on a regular basis.

Inevitably, running All-Aboard costs money.  We rely heavily on the support of our dedicated group of qualified volunteers – who between them volunteered almost 8,000 hours of their time in 2022.  However, we have no guaranteed income, nor do we receive any support from central or local government. Along with most charities, in 2022 we are facing rapid price increases for all our costs, and finding donations and grants are becoming harder and harder to find.

So please support us by using our facilities.  Every watersport session that you book with us, whether as an individual through our website, or as a group on a bespoke session, will generate a valuable contribution towards paying for the Centre’s overheads.

However, since we keep our prices as low as possible to encourage everyone to access what we offer, we still have a deficit after our activity contribution, that needs to be met by fundraising, donations and other activities.

If you can also support us financially, please do so.  You can make a donation by clicking on the button below, or email [email protected] to find out more about corporate sponsorship and donations, legacies and other donation opportunities.

What does it cost to run All Aboard each year?