New EAST Waterside Centre

If ever a picture could say a thousand words, this one certainly does! You might not be able to read the amount on the cheque, but it says £50,000.  This is the amount East Anglian Sailing Trust won in the final of the Big Lottery - Peoples Millions competition last Autumn. The money will be put towards the cost of converting a redundant building at Suffolk Yacht Harbour (SYH) into a new Waterside Community Centre for EAST.

Work to transform the building into the new centre commenced in January 2011 and will be finished in time for the grand opening ceremony and party on 23 April, Easter Saturday.

EAST‘s current training room and workshop was opened in 2001 by HRH Princess Royal and at that time provided adequate space for training and boat maintenance. Over the last few years however, EAST has grown significantly both in terms of disabled sailors, members and boats. When the opportunity arose to acquire the lease of a larger disused building at SYH the Trustees were initially concerned about the high cost of transforming it into a multi-purpose building that would meet our needs for the foreseeable future.

Never daunted by such a challenge Bill Smith of EAST realised there was a possibility of winning sufficient funds in the Big Lottery-Peoples Millions which would go a long way towards the cost of the transformation and he submitted an application in May 2010. There then followed a long wait until, in early August, they heard that they had been shortlisted for the final, though a fully detailed project plan had to be submitted by early September. Again there was a long wait until the end of October when EAST were notified by the Big Lottery that they had reached the final eight which would be filmed by Anglia TV.

In order to win the £50,000 on offer they had to gain sufficient votes in a head-to-head televised competition with Barnham Broom Village Hall in Norfolk who were bidding for money to improve their recreation and play facilities. EAST embarked on two major campaigns; the first was to plan the filming day so they could get a wide range of their sailors, both adults and children, to SYH in order for the film to show the significance of their work and the difference the new centre would make to disabled adults, children and their families in this area.

The second campaign was to drum up the thousands of telephone votes needed to win. While the television audience would hopefully vote for the project on the night it was broadcast they could not rely solely on their votes so a huge publicity campaign was planned using local radio, newspapers, facebook and twitter. Thousands of friends, relatives and contacts in related organisations were also contacted with the voting phone number on the day of the broadcast. The next day revealed that EAST had won receiving 7,980 votes and Barnham Broom 2,295.

To raise further funds for this worthy cause, EAST has set up the ‘The Buy-A-Brick’ Campaign, which aims to help complete the New EAST Waterside Centre by Easter 2011. Donations may be used during the refurbishment or to equip the building when completed. All ‘Buy a Brick’ Donors’ names will be displayed on a board within the building. The minimum donation is £25. Other suggested donations are: £50, £100, £250 and £500, but any amount over £25 would be most acceptable. Find out more at 'Buy A Brick Campaign'. and www.e-a-s-t.org.uk.