More About Trinity

bellboy The Trinity Sailing Trust is based in Brixham, at the southern end of Torbay in South Devon. It is an ideal base from which to go sailing - along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall and down to the Isles of Scilly, or across the Channel to Brittany, Normandy and the Channel Islands. A small shorebased team and the ships' crews are backed by a network of other helpers - volunteers, trustees, patrons and other supporters.

In its early years the organisation proved to be extremely successful and established itself as a highly respected sail training organisation, one of the leading ones in the country, as well as being the home of a small but important fleet of historic sailing vessels. The ethos that has developed at Trinity, the attention to detail and a constant desire for improvement and excellence are important factors in the development of the Trust's work, and the Trustees owe much to a close-knit team of people, paid and unpaid, who have been responsible for that.

In its early years Trinity acted as a provider of sea training for other bodies. Whilst it received the endorsement and support of many statutory and governmental bodies as well as youth organisations, the Trustees were aware that as a relatively new organisation its funding base was not sufficiently robust to enable it to be confident of continuing to meet all the demands it faces.

It also needed to develop its own fund-raising capabilities, so that it could support deserving young people who did not have access to funding elsewhere, or bodies that could manage to cover part but not all of the cost. It also needs to raise funds for periodic major restoration and preservation projects. That led to the launching, in 2004, of a new fundraising initiative, with the support of a strong Support Group whose encouragement and advice have proved extremely valuable. As a result Trinity is now able to provide bursary support for the 500-plus young people who come to us each year. That money has to be raised every year, so the fundraising effort is a continuous one. As numbers grow, so too does the amount required. We also receive very welcome support from a growing band of Friends of Trinity, both individual and corporate.