Whitby Heritage Lifeboat to Offer Lifeline to Disadvantaged Children

A historic vessel operating out of Whitby Harbour is embarking on a new mission, combining maritime heritage preservation with essential mental health support for young disabled and disadvantaged children.

The Helen Wycherley Heritage Association, is planning to use its restored lifeboats, Amity and Helen Wycherley, to provide respite and hands-on therapeutic adventures but needs help funding speciality life jackets to help move the project forwards.

Richard Sworder, of the Helen Wycherley heritage association, explained that the charity's mission is rooted in offering opportunities that vulnerable young people might otherwise miss.

"We are a registered charity predominantly serving the mental health sector giving respite for young disabled children and also the opportunity for disadvantaged families and children to go out and enjoy the holidays and adventures that they would never dream of really.

We've got two boats now, Amity and Helen Wycherley. They're both registered historical lifeboats. Each one of them have saved countless lives over 200 launches.

It's a shame for this historical heritage to get into disrepair. And we have taken on the project to basically restore them and keep them in the former glory."

The association’s vessels, which include the historical lifeboats Amity and Helen Wycherley (built in 1961/1962), are symbolic of resilience and hope, having saved countless lives at sea. Helen is currently undergoing a full restoration after being unused for over 25 years. The effort to restore the vessel is complex, with the mahogany needed for the restoration being particularly expensive.

Mr Sworder emphasised the importance of keeping their history alive in Whitby.

"It's absolutely fantastic that we're actually riding out of Whitby Harbour. We're the only historical vessel registered in Whitby Harbour which is fully operational.

And then by this season, we'll be taking out clients and bookings and showing what Amity is all about."

Transformative Experiences for Mental Health

The core focus of the charity is opening up the sea-going experience to the mental health sector, particularly for children with learning disabilities, ADHD, and autism. The planned historical educational and vocational tours are designed to have a transformative effect on the children's mental health and personal development.

Mr Sworder observed the profound positive changes these trips can bring about.

"To keep this project running. We're opening up to the mental health sector. I feel strong with that. We've got a couple of disabled children ourselves. And the change in attitude and self-awareness from being on the ground to going into the boat is absolutely phenomenal. And that's what has given me the idea of opening up the boat to take out SEN programs, children with learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, and stuff like that to go out and actually get a hands-on experience and Hopefully bring them out the shells. Give them a sense of wanting, being wanted in a team, being listened to."

These maritime experiences will offer unique sensory adventures, sometimes including swimming with dolphins. Richard recalled one such moving experience:

"Taking the kids out swimming with the dolphins is absolutely amazing. We drop the scramble net over the side of the boat and the children go in with wet suits and then they could play around in there.

And I mean last summer we had two dolphins , porpoises, come up to the kids and swam around them within about 3 m away. And one of the clients, the mum says to us, "I've never heard my son speak so much on this boat." And that was absolutely brilliant news of what we hear and that's what we want to continue. with.

And that's what we want to strive to aim towards bringing smiles to kids' faces."

Restoration and Funding Challenges

While the voyages aboard Amity are ready to commence, the restoration of the iconic Helen Wycherley requires substantial funds. Mr Sworder noted that Helen will require potentially £100,000 to £150,000 worth of materials alone.

The charity is focusing on it's "Voyage by Amity" project which takes paying clients on board , with the funds then helping with the restoration of the Helen Wycherley.

"Apart from the children's educational SEN programs that we're going to be undertaking in the week, the weekend activities will be opened up to the general public who will be able to charter the vessel out fully crewed for a weekend or up to a week activity on Amity and undertaking the lifeboat crews drills and obviously sea rescues as well because we've got our own safety vessel which will be undertaking live sea survival and sea rescue. techniques with all the crew on the board."

Despite some successes in gathering support, the charity faces ongoing needs for specialised equipment.

"To undertake the adventurous adrenaline adventures that the lifeboat will be undertaking requires specific and speciality life jackets. To get this equipment, we'll have to raise awareness, ask for donations.

We have been donated a brand new safety vessel rib support vessel from XL Marine. They're in Tamworth and they've donated a £15,000 brand new rib.

We've had a couple of guys donated £3,000 worth of radar equipment for the boat.

We still need the life jackets and we still need the medical packs. We still need solar flares. And with the generous help of the community, we're actually finding and we're actually facilitating our needs."

Mr Sworder acknowledged that although there is great encouragement from the public, financial support remains difficult to secure. He also personally committed significant resources to the cause.

"I think we're going to get a bit more push because the government have just launched the new mental health SEN initiative with a lot more funding in place recognizing young disabled mental health attributes and stuff like that. So I think there's going to be a lot more grants available to help this sort of stuff. But at the moment we're just hitting blank walls.

It's okay. It's all good people say, "Oh yeah, it's really good." But when we come to the financial side, everything has to have a cost.

I've personally myself, I've put over nearly £100,000 into the charity in donations just alone. on my own. I know we need more.

I'm not fussed of how much I've put in. I just want to see the smiles on the kids' faces when when we actually get this project up and running and help all these guys out. That's all I want really."

There is more information about the project at https://www.hwha.co.uk/