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MOB Pages |
MOB ~ History PageRegistered UK Charity No. 1027432 |
The Beginnings |
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By Richard Hayden (A Founder Member) I took up the post as the first full time manager of the new Bewl Water
Outdoor Education Centre in April 1988. I soon spotted a Mk1 Challenger "Endeavour" sitting on its trolley with
the name Spastic Society (now Scope) emblazoned on its hull. It certainly
did not look abandoned but it did show all the signs of little use. This
was good news – a specialised dinghy – little used – and owned by the then
Spastics Society. Maybe there would be the possibility of borrowing the
boat if anybody who found a mono hull dinghy too unstable.  With a 1001 jobs to be done, not least repairing the majority of
dinghies owned by the Centre following the 1987 storms, developing a
partnership with the Spastic Society at this point in time was not one of
the highest priorities. It also was not that important as the Centre did
not have too many customers in the first place! A couple of months after spotting the Challenger on dry land, I was
working in my office and through the window I spotted the three hulls and
with two people on board. The appearance of the Challenger on the water became a regular feature
(I think on Wednesday mornings). Several weeks later I was afloat teaching
a group sailing when the orange decks of the Challenger appeared and as
she approached my group of Toppers I manoeuvred my safety boat so that I
was close enough to introduce myself to the two men on board. The boat was
being helmed by Robert Soper with his father John kneeling/balancing on
the stern. They always appeared to be having great fun and even when it was a
little breezy John could be seen hanging on as Robert pushed the boat as
hard as he could. Inevitably this did result in John taking a few
duckings. As the number of schools coming to learn to sail through the
Outdoor Centre increased, I was normally on the water at the same time as
Robert and John went for their weekly sail them, and so I could not help
but notice when these duckings took place. John would loose his grip and
would end up in the water but hung on to any bit of the boat that he could
grab whilst shouting to Robert to stop the boat. It then took John quite a
few minutes very hard work to scramble back on board. The more I saw this happen the more concerned I became. John, who was I
guess in his late 60’s at this time began to say that he was finding it
almost impossible to get back on board at times, but he also desperately
wanted to be able to support Robert with his sailing. As a result of this, I offered Robert and John safety boat cover as
long as they sailed in the vicinity of where I was coaching. In this way I
was able to keep an eye on everything, and if and when John slipped into
the water in the middle of the reservoir I was able to pop over to them
and help him back on board. As well as supporting them on the water I also
helped out with minor repairs e.g. replacing a few fittings and re
riveting bits on the mast. At the start of the 1989 season I was still promoting/marketing the
‘new’ Outdoor Education Centre and one of my strategies to encourage more
schools to the centre was to offer free coaching session for teachers and
youth workers on one late afternoon/early evening per week. Those who turned up on one of the first sessions was a lady by the name
of Jennie Humm. From what I recall Jennie was either a complete novice or
at least had done very little sailing. However, she was probably shown a
Topper and under the guidance of an excellent Instructor (David Kirby) she
began to learn the skills of sailing. It was a little time later that I
found out that Jennie was not in fact a teacher and therefore it was very
unlikely that she would be able to bring a group of pupils from the school
where she was working as the School Secretary. However, Jennies enthusiasm soon became apparent and I did not enforce
the ‘only for teachers and youth workers’ criteria. She went on gain her
RYA Level 1 and Level 2. I thought that it might end there, but no, Jennie
was on a mission and had set her targets much higher. She wanted to become
an RYA Instructor. Given that she had little previous experience I advised her that she
needed to do a lot more sailing and to set herself the target of passing
what was then the RYA Level 3 (Seamanship) award. I set her some tough
challenges and I may have even slowed down her progress but I wanted
Jennie to be really confident and competent when it came to her Level 3
assessment and a little later the Instructors pre assessment. The weeks
went by with Jennie putting in many hours sailing in all sorts of weather
conditions and it was not long before she started to nag me to check her
sailing skills so that she could move on and be assessed. I can recall
that I was not totally happy with her depth of experience and felt that
she needed another seasons sailing under her belt. It was then that I
really became aware of how determined she was – it was impossible to slow
her down. During the early days when she was coming to the centre on the
‘Teachers’ evening I talked of my vision of the Centre, one of these being
that it would eventually be a Centre which could accommodate any body with
any disability and that we could all go sailing on equal terms, properly
integrated and not as I had seen elsewhere, as ‘us’(the able bodied
carers) and ‘them’ (the disabled). Chapter Two – The formation of MOB 1989 or was it 1990I don’t recall how my aims and clearly Jennies aims actually turned
from this into the formation of MOB,Jennie had some connection with the
Spastic Society and already knew about the boat and how little it was
used) but somehow the Spastic Society Challenger was moved from the
Sailing Club dinghy park to the Outdoor Education Centre slipway and I
became the guardian of the boat. I think that Robert and John Soper sailed
it a few times during 1989. Sadly Johns health deteriorated, and I recall
that Robert did not want to sail with anybody other than his father.
So this meant that I had use of a Challenger – but nobody to sail it.
That was until Jennie stepped in. Its all rather vague but I think that
Jennie began to invite some people to come and sail the Challenger. It was
not long before we decided that we wanted to develop these opportunities
and so the idea of creating a group and raising some money to purchase
another boats was formalised – and the group became MOB. Sailing from the Outdoor Education Centre slipway was a long way from
being satisfactory but we managed. Everybody mucked in, worked together,
sailed together and had fun together – MOB was going from strength to
strength under the direction of an enthusiastic Committee led by Jennie
MOB becomes a registered charity in 1993. M.O.B.'s aims are simply to
provide integrated sailing opportunities for all (able-bodied and
disabled) through the mutual enjoyment of sailing. Soon a second Mk I ("Triumph") was discovered in Gillingham, Kent
(where?) desperately in need of repair, recovered to Bewl and put on the
water, MOB was founded and on the way with two Challengers.  1991 MOB purchased a second hand Drascombe Lugger which was re named
"Sandpiper" This was jointly funded by Kent PHAB and Scope.  1993 MOB was well established and now a registered charity in it's own
right. With funding from it's own efforts and a contribution from BVSC
(name of person who made this money available) a brand new Challenger Mk I
was purchased and named "Strident".  1994 saw the arrival of yet another new boat, this time a Challenger Mk
II. A two seater with foresail and conventional mainsail. The money to
purchase this boat was raised by a local girl's school. It was suitably
named "Bedgebury Bluebird" and the launch attended by many of the girls
and staff.  In 1995 we said good-bye to "Triumph" which was given to Chipstead
Sailing Club and hello to "Pegasus" another Mk I Challenger which was
loaned to MOB from Tonbridge Sailing Club where is was not being used. Was
it 1995 when we moved to the Sailing Club area? During the start of winter 1996 we had a small disaster, our Lugger
"Sandpiper" was torn from her mooring during a storm and dashed against
the dam wall. Repairs and renewals were undertaken by the insurance but
the Committee decided that now was the opportune time to look for a
replacement. In 1997 MOB successfully applied to the Foundation for Sports and the
Arts for a grant to purchase a brand new Lugger. Following many trials and
tribulations, (like the supplier going into receivership) MOB eventually
received the new Lugger in September. The new Lugger was suitably launched
and named "Shearwater", MOB's original Lugger was then sold to local
interests and still resides at Bewl.  1998 was a year of improvement of facilities, we attained a grant from
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council that allowed MOB to purchase VHF radios
for improved safety and more lifejackets 1999 Loan of Windrider (red) from Topper International 2001 New Windrider purchased – named David Windsong in memory of David
Wakefield  2006 New Patron - Many thanks to Lee for finding, contacting and
getting Hilary to agree to be our Patron. Thanks and welcome
Hilary.  Hilary and Lee |
2008 - The Duchenne Family Support Group join us for thier annual day's sail at Bewl
A short article written by one of the Duchenne members about the MOB/DFSG
sailing day held in September.
This year our trip to Bewl Water in Kent took place almost at the end of
September. The weather was warm and the sun came out adding to the pleasant
temperature by the water's edge. This was my first visit to this outstanding
venue for outdoor activity. Bewl is in the heart of Kent, an area of exceptional
beauty and offers sailing, boat ride, canoeing, picnic, cycling, nature walks,
adventure playground and rock climbing.
I arrived late to fined Stephen
hard at work marshalling children on and off the boats with great efficiency,
ensuring that each child had the right safety gear on. Stephen also ensured that
mums and dads had a go too. Nine families enjoyed different rides
Children enjoyed sailing the Triad. The seating within the Triad
provides good support allowing those willing to transfer from their wheelchairs
to enjoy sailing in the company of an experienced adult.
Children of
different ages were having fun by the water edge, some enjoyed getting wet and
others were trying to skip stones over the water surface. For me it was just
nice to see them having fun.
The Mariners of Bewl members were
magnificent in helping the children and even mums and dads getting on and off
the different aquatic vessels ensuring their safety and comfort. They were very
accommodating, I even got to pilot the big ship, boat really.
This was a
great day out which was made possible by those who organised it especially
Stephen with his hard work throughout the day. The families who turned out and
made the day enjoyable without whom all the hard work would have been wasted.
The children for just being the children and for whom the day meant a lot. But I
just would like to thank Mariners of Bewl for their continuing support and
making all of us feel very welcome - without their help and kind offer this
marvellous day out would not have been possible.
This was a truly
enjoyable family day out; can't wait for Bewl Water 2008 see you there.
Omar Ismail .
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