Southampton charity Jubilee Sailing Trust faces closure once more

A sailing charity that offers tall ship experiences to disabled people is facing closure, unless it can raise £500,000 in a week.

Southampton-based Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST) said the pandemic and cost of living crisis were responsible for the latest cash flow problems.

The charity, which began 44 years ago, has to raise £1.2m by the end of September 2022.

Patrick Fleming, from the trust, called it a "desperately difficult situation".

The Jubilee Sailing Trust last faced closure in 2019. It managed to raise £1m in five days following an emergency fundraising effort.

JST's chief executive, Mr Fleming, said the charity had noticed a recent decline in donations.

"All charitable giving is quite rightly going to Ukraine at the moment and before that it was going to the NHS during the pandemic," he said.

Mr Fleming added that the trust had also lost some loyal donors to Covid.

The charity, which was unable to benefit from the government's Covid Recovery Loan scheme, relies on fundraising and monies from its voyages to fund its operations.

It had only recently restarted sailing following the outbreak of the pandemic and said it had an "unprecedented level of bookings and interest".

Mr Fleming said: "We are in a desperately difficult situation and have to face the harsh reality that we may not be able to continue.

The charity owns Sailing Tenacious which it said was now the only tall ship in the world that allowed disabled and non-disabled people to sail alongside each other.

Mr Fleming said: "Our historic journey started with the generous support of the Queen's Jubilee Fund and the Royal Household.

"It is incredibly sad that we face closure, particularly in this, the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year."

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