Pudsey to visit Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy

Pudsey to have golden sailing experience with Children in Need at WPNSA

The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), the 2012 sailing event venue, will welcome Pudsey Bear, the face of BBC Children in Need on Friday, November 7th. Sailing stars from Qingdao including golden boy, Andrew Simpson as well as windsurfing sensation Bryony Shaw and Paralympic inspiration, Helena Lucas will be on hand to show Pudsey round the internationally renowned venue. Over 100 local children are entered for the, ‘Indoor WPNSA Rowathon’, where teams of 18 will raise funds for the charity and win prizes donated by the Royal Yachting Association and Musto Clothing. Children will be invited to try dry dinghy sailing in the events hall and have fun in the VSail Access Simulator.

A silent auction for Olympian signed sailing kit is currently available on site; everyone is welcome to enter the auction for prizes including a signed piece of sailing legend and triple medallist, Ben Ainslie’s medal race clothing, results to be announced on November 7th. BBC Children in Need collection buckets will be on site at the Academy throughout October for anyone choosing to donate to the worthy charity.

Mark Stubbings, Chief Executive of WPNSA, explains why the Academy is involved with fundraising efforts, ‘ BBC Children in Need is a nationally recognised charity that really assists children across the UK, we have a legacy programme in place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy ‘Sail for a Fiver’ which has already introduced over 2,000 children to the world of water sports, but we wanted to extend our support of children to a national scale and we chose to do this through an active fund raising activity whereby the children can try indoor rowing at our venue and compete in a safe and fun atmosphere with support from the current sailing medal heroes’.