Royal Thames Yacht Club Charitable Trust
12 Month Review
The charity has now finished it’s two projects in Sri Lanka, and Thailand. The final details of the activities completed and the visit to Phuket are set out below.
We continue to work on the provision of 11 fishing boats in India, in conjunction with the BISS, and hope to complete that project in May or June. Through a Thames member, Peter Bainbridge, we have recently identified the need for funding, by Trinity House and the Northern Lights, for the repair and replacement of lighthouses and navigation buoys, in the Galle area of Sri Lanka. We have allocated funds to both groups, and the completion of these two remaining projects will result in the charity having disbursed all the funds raised.
The remarkable and noteworthy aspect of our Charity, is the degree to which it’s success has stemmed from personal contact and activity by Royal Thames members. The story of Tsunami Aid has been a mixed one for many, well meaning, organizations who have either struggled to find suitable projects, or become bogged down in the murky world of local graft and corruption. Tales abound of fishing boats being sold on, or abandoned and the engines used to power generator, houses being sold, and local politicians getting rich from their cut of infrastructure spending. It is gratifying to report that, thanks to the participation, on the ground, of Royal Thames members we have been able to avoid these difficulties.
At the outset, the Club decided that we would concentrate on small beach launched fishing boats, and related marine activities. Two of our chosen projects in Galle and
Phuket, were small enough to be under the radar of local governments. We are working with trusted entities on the other two projects, and are satisfied that they are able to navigate the funds directly to the end users without any significant “leakage” en route.
Members of the Royal Thames, and those who supported the Charitable appeal, can feel
a justified sense of pride that our Club was able to quickly raise a significant sum, and
relying mostly on Club contacts, send the money directly to targeted individuals, who are now back fishing and supporting their families and communities without the need of
further aid or support. This is Charity as it ought to be.
Sri Lanka: Galle
Friends of the South - Olivia Richli
As previously reported, We donated at total of £8,000 to Friends of the South, a local charity based in Galle. Olvia Richli, is the daughter of Thames members Philip and Diana Bown, and is the Secretary of the charity set up to provide assistance within the local area. She was instrumental in directing our efforts in the right direction, and we provided two moulds, complete with RTYC logo, to enable
fibreglass boats to be produced.
Philip Bown, was recently in Galle and visited this Royal Thames boat,on the beach.
We paid for a number of boats to be built and purchased a quantity of nets. On Olivia’s advice, we funded building and equipping with machinery, an engine repair facility, as part of Mr. Jayathilaka’s boatyard. In Sri Lanka the boats are powered by outboard engines, which are expensive to buy new, and the nearest repair facility for damaged engines, is in Colombo. This entails considerable expense and delay for the fishermen, so we agreed that as an ongoing project this would be a useful way to assist. Once the engines damaged in the Tsunami have all been repaired, the facility will be run on a commercial basis, but a portion of the profits will be returned to Friends of the South to provide ongoing support for their charitable activities. Olivia informs us that all boats required in the area have now been produced, and the fishermen are back at sea. Her Charity continues to provide funding and support for the ongoing reconstruction and repairs and we would recommend members planning a visit to Galle to contact Olivia, at the Aman Resort. Bernard Fison has been there to visit and was most impressed with all that had been achieved.
Thailand: Phuket & Nai Yang
Barry Cager & Somrudee Amatayakul
In Thailand, Barry Cager provided an invaluable link by finding two very satisfying projects for us to fund. Barry was greatly assisted by an energetic and determined Thai Lady named Somrudee Amatayakul, known to her many western friends as Cookie. Between these two we were able to provide direct assistance without using any middlemen, or suffering ‘management’ costs. Cookie was very generous in providing a welcome Dinner in Phuket for the entire visiting Thames cruise, and a splendid dinner and day out at a fabulous private garden in Chiang Mai, for those Thames tourists who traveled North. Everywhere we went in the Phuket area, the good works of Barry, Cookie and the Royal Thames, were known and appreciated.
In Phuket, we paid for the repair of 15 fishing boats, and provided new engines and nets. Total cost £8,800. The Nai Yang fleet was back on the water in time for a visit by our Commodore in April 2005, and continues to flourish. A group of Thames members led by Vice Commodore Stork and Rear Commodore Gilday, visited them in February 2006 and met with the fishermen who had all stayed ashore for the day, so we could see the entire fleet on the beach, or at anchor. It was a marvellous experience to see them looking slightly weather-beaten, and obviously well used.
A fisherman called Jaroon, who had fallen between the bureaucratic cracks, and was
left boatless on the beach. His plight was discovered by Barry Cager who felt that this
was a worthy cause, and we agreed to fund the boat, total cost £7,500 thus enabling Barry to devote more resources to his activities of funding the education of orphaned schoolchildren on Koh Yo Yai Island, which had been hard hit by the wave.
India Andhra Prakesh
We recently met with the Rev. David Potterton of the British International Sailors
Society, and received an update on our joint project in India. In addition to the damage inflicted by the Tsunami, coastal fishing villages on the Bay of Bengal are regularly beset by tropical storms. The BISS are funding an experimental village, with 30 raised houses built of brick, instead of bamboo and palm thatch. It will be set back from the beach on slightly higher ground and the boats will be firmly tied to the houses.
They have nearly completed building the houses, despite many hair raising encounters with the fabled Indian Bureaucracy. In order to avoid some of the pitfalls encountered by other charities, whose good intentions were undermined by local sharp practices, they have set up a co-operative which will own the houses and, ultimately, the boats. We have agreed to provide fibreglass boats, which are built locally by a commercial boatyard, and, apparently transported sideways, on the back of pickup trucks. BISS have a representative on the ground who is monitoring progress, and so long as they are satisfied that the structure of the project is sound, we have undertaken to provide funding for 11 boats, and outboard engines at a total cost of £16,500. The estimated date for this to take place is May/June. If the BISS are unhappy about the details of the boat ownership and advise us not to proceed, then the earmarked funds will be transferred to the Trinity House project outlined below.
Sri Lanka: Trinity House & Northern Lighthouse Board
In Sri Lanka Trinity House and the Northern Lighthouse board, have undertaken the
repair of two lighthouses, the Great and Little Basses, and replacement and repair
of coastal navigation buoys, in the Galle and Trincomalee areas. We have agreed
to allocate the remaining balance of the funds available to our Charity to assist
with this very worthwhile endeavour. A cheque for £10,000 was presented to
Trinity House at the recent fitting out dinner held at the Royal Thames Club.
That will complete the work of the Royal Thames Yacht Club Charitable Trust
On behalf of all the fishermen, and their families, who we have already assisted, or are about
to assist, thank you very much for your generous support. We will post the Annual Report
of the Charity on the web site, once the final payments have been made.
The Trustees: Rufus Gilday Andrew Collins George Ehlers
