Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust
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| Registered Charity | |
| Industry | Charity |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | East Cowes, United Kingdom |
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Key people
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Ellen MacArthur, Patron Shirley Robertson, Patron Frank Fletcher, Chief Executive Officer Dan Taylor, Operations Manager Tracy Curtis, Young Persons Co-ordinator Ellie Stevens, Summer Operations[1] |
| £387, 330 (30 November 2010)[2] | |
| Slogan | 'Rebuilding young people's confidence.' |
| Website | Official Website |
The Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust is a registered charity[2] set up with its main aim to help children and young adults aged between 8-24 to regain their confidence through sailing. It was founded in 2003 after Ellen MacArthur went sailing with another charity in France with the same aim. It runs a number of various types of trips ranging from residentials to one-day trips. Every year in the summer, the trust takes around 300 young people sailing. The trust also now works with every young person's cancer treatment centre in the United Kingdom.
The trust's head office is in East Cowes. The trust receives no government funding, and relies entirely on public and corporate support to operate. There is no charge made to any of the young people who sail with the trust.
Often the young people that sail with the trust have spent long periods of time in hospital and can be suffering from low self-esteem on top of missing out on large chunks of their childhood. The emphasis of the trips is on teamwork and fun, with sailing as the perfect catalyst. Sailing offers a new experience in a small and intimate environment, which gives the young people the space to assert themselves without the chance of getting lost in the group.
There are many issues for all young people that revolve around body image, but these are magnified for those who have been through treatment, particularly when reaching teenage years. The treatments for cancer can include side effects such as temporary hair loss and weight gain as well as permanent effects like scarring, amputation or brain damage, and the result can often manifest itself in very low self-esteem or confidence. When the young people come on the trips they aren't alone in having no hair, or a scar on their leg, and it becomes much less of an issue. Everyone on their trip will have been through a similar experience and generally understand better than any of their friends from home what it is like to go though such a life-changing experience as cancer, often offering advice and support.
These trips can be a huge step forward in regaining the independence often lost during long periods of hospitalisation. This can be especially significant if the young person was diagnosed having just reached puberty, the time when they were beginning to assert themselves to the world. At that point, to subsequently find yourself having to rely on parents or nurses for everything you need can be incredibly hard to accept, and this is on top of dealing with a life-threatening illness. The highlight of many people's trips is cooking for themselves, and these small steps, along with the larger ones like being in control of a 42-foot (13 m) yacht, help move the young person forward from the feeling of 'institutionalisation' the hospital can sometimes leave on them, helping to establish the attitude that they can actually achieve a lot, and more importantly achieve it by themselves.
After sailing once with the trust the young people are invited back at least once, and often several times to different water-based activities, to strengthen friendships, offer support and learn more about sailing as their recovery continues. Many young people will eventually return as volunteers, becoming aspirational role models for those sailing for the first time who have rarely met anyone now several years off treatment and doing well.
Sailing trips
Four-day trips
The four-day trips are for young people who have finished treatment for cancer and are sailing with the trust for the first time. These trips aim to help rebuild young peoples' confidence after treatment for cancer. The trips for those aged 18–24 are similar to that below, but they may sail further afield and moor for a night in Portsmouth or Southampton during their stay.
Day 1
They vary from trip to trip, depending on the weather, but the general itinerary is that the young people come from different hospitals and meet at the Red Jet passenger ferry terminal. They then travel from there to West Cowes on the high-speed ferry. There, the young people get settled into their cabins and work out some sort of rota for the cooking of meals and other essential skills needed for life at sea. They then settle down for the night after eating a meal together.
Day 2
The day starts with breakfast and a safety brief from the skipper. Then they each have a turn at occupying different tasks on the boat, like pulling in the painters off the mooring ring and starting the engine. They then sail from West Cowes Marina to Yarmouth where they moor the boat at the marina. The young people then go and visit the lifeboat that is stationed in Yarmouth marina. They then have fish and chips on the green next to the marina and spend time socialising and team-building. They then turn in for the night on board the yachts.
Day 3
The day starts off with setting sail for Newtown Creek. Various socialising and team-building exercises happen while the yacht is under sail. They typically range from playing cards with each other to birdwatching and getting alongside other boats in the trust's fleet and playing 'pirates' with water pistols. They also make food and drinks for the feast that awaits them. The young people then set sail into Newtown Creek for the feast, along with a barbecue. They then settle down into their yachts once again for the night.
Day 4
The young people then set sail from Newtown Creek to Cowes and a bit more socialising happens, before they dock in Cowes, have another big feast before sitting down and each young person telling their best and worst parts of the trip. They then vacate their cabins before getting on board the Red Jet and returning on their way home.
One-day trips
The one-day trips are for young people who need extra support or have a life-limiting or terminal illness. The one-day trips vary greatly, but generally include the whole family. They are designed to give the family a memorable experience.
Bradwell Residential Dinghy Week
Bradwell Residential Dingy Week is for those aged 8–17 who have sailed with the trust before, and is held at Bradwell Outdoor Activities Centre. It is a residential week and the young people are encouraged to participate in all the activities, from dinghy sailing to high ropes, canoeing to archery. The trip has been running since 2007.[1]
Waterpark Residential Dinghy Week
Similar to Bradwell, this trip is another return to sail activity for those aged 8–17 and was established to encourage more young people treated at hospitals further north to continue sailing with the trust. Run for the first time in 2011, this week based at Waterpark Lakeland Adventure Centre on Coniston Water in the Lake District was a great success, with activities including dinghy sailing, kayaking, windsurfing and rock climbing.
J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race
For young people who enjoyed the four-day trips and would like to learn more about sailing, there is the chance to return and sail in the spectacular J. P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race. Almost 2,000 yachts took part in the 2011 80th anniversary of the race, and the weather varies greatly also. In 2011, the sea state in the Solent was Beaufort force 4 or 5.[3]
Skandia Round Britain Voyage
Following on from Dame Ellen's voyage around the coast of Britain when she was 18, in May 2009, the trust set off with a yacht, named Scarlet Oyster, around Britain on the route that Ellen took, stopping at 17 key ports and going into the oncology ward at hospitals near the ports that they stopped at to inspire other young people currently going the cancer treatment.[1] They finished back at Cowes on 12 September 2009.[4]
Longer Cruising Week
The Longer Cruising Week is a succession to the one-off Skandia Round Britain Voyage and the general feedback from the four-day trips being that the young people wanted a longer time together. The trust introduced the Longer Cruising Week in 2010, which lasts for six days. The Cruising Week is rather like the Skandia Round Britain Voyage; however, it will start and finish in the same place. The Cruising Week in 2010 stopped at numerous places, including Poole Harbour. In 2011 the Trust used a Deep Sea Smack and Thames Barge to cruise around the East Coast of Essex.
BT Tower Event
On 7 April 2011, the BT Tower Stair Challenge, in association with Barretstown, was a fundraising event where supporters were challenged to climb the 843 stairs up the BT Tower.[1] There was a fundraising buffet-style breakfast at 8:30 with a talk from Ellen MacArthur, Laura (who had been on both a Barretstown and Ellen MacArthur Trust trip) and Jon Sopel. Then the climb began at 10:30, with trust staff photographing some of the participants on their ascent to the rotating restaurant. Upon the competitors' completion, they were given a certificate detailing that they had completed this ascent. There will be a similar event in 2012, where people can enjoy the amazing views at the top of the BT Tower whilst supporting the Trust and Barretstown. This will be held on 26 April 2012.
References
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, Registered Charity no. 1096491 at the Charity Commission
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