Dunbar Sea Cadets receive grant to provide vital safety equipment

In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic took hold, Community Windpower and BeGreen Dunbar’s joint Covid-19 crisis fund provided Dunbar Sea Cadets with a grant of £1,165.

The money helped the charity group create wellbeing packs for the youngsters, who are dotted around the East Lothian area, to help them keep in touch and occupied.

The pack contained recycled pens, notebooks, highlighters, treats and activity books, and helped ease any suffering the cadets might be feeling because they couldn’t meet up as usual.

Now, as we look forward to leaving lockdowns behind and plan a summer of activities, Dunbar Sea Cadets has once again to Community Windpower for a grant, this time from the community benefit funds linked to the Aikengall Community Wind Farms.

The grant of £2,190 will be used to provide safety equipment that will enable the sea cadets to experience activities on the water again, hopefully from this summer onwards.

The Dunbar Sea Cadets unit has been a thriving youth recreational organisation in the region since 1954, and currently has 35 young people aged from 10-18 registered and 16 volunteers who help run the unit.

Among the vital equipment the fund will purchase are VHF radios, a gazebo and safety barriers.

With some of the youngsters potentially suffering from stress and disorientation that lockdown has created, the unit is looking to prepare for when they’re able to meet up again.

The young people who attend Dunbar Sea Cadets thrive through activities, gaining skills and accredited qualifications such as Royal Yacht Association (RYA), Duke of Edinburgh Award and St Johns Ambulance First Aid.

They learn life skills through practical experience and, by working together, strategy, forethought, camaraderie, and teamwork.

Diane Wood, community benefits director at Community Windpower, which operates the Aikengall Community Wind Farms in East Lothian, said: “Dunbar Sea Cadets is a fantastic group to be part of and provides young people in the area with long-term skills and personal development that they might not otherwise have elsewhere.

“We think it’s so important to support all members of our communities during this Covid-19 pandemic, which is why we didn’t hesitate when Dunbar Sea Cadets approached the community benefit fund.

“Children need something positive to look forward to when restrictions end, to help with their mental health and encourage stimulating activity, and we hope this grant will help the group have safe fun when they can meet up again and enjoy time on the water.”

Community Windpower is also running a joint Covid-19 crisis fund with BeGreen for people and organisations currently suffering due to the pandemic.

For more information please contact Cathleen Anderson at the BeGreen shop in Dunbar by calling 01368 863720 or emailing begreen@communitywindpower.co.uk.

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