RORY SUPPORTS ULLSWATER YACHT CLUB REBUILD PLANS

Rory Stewart MP was invited to visit the Ullswater Yacht Club at Howtown, to meet with the club’s Commodore Peter Lewis and staff, and to look at plans for the club’s restoration following damage sustained during Storm Desmond in 2015 when the water level rose at a rate of 58 gallons per inch.

Established in 1958, the Club is one of Ullswater’s great assets, offering a wide range of activities for the amateur and professional sailor. Treasurer Marion Marshall and Sailing Development Officer Edmund Clarke joined the meeting, to tell Rory about the Club’s membership structure, its sailing school activities, and its moorings policies. The Club was named ‘Club of the Year’ 2017 by the Royal Yachting Association, and by the Yachts and Yachting Club.

The new refurbished clubhouse is expected to cost in the region of £1.2m, and Rory has pledged to support the initiative as local MP.

Rory said “Ullswater Yacht Club is an amazing place, staffed by really impressive officers and volunteers, whose passion for sailing – and encouraging people to discover sailing as a hobby – is really fantastic. The damage sustained during Storm Desmond was clearly extensive and devastating to the Club, which relies on social events and memberships to keep it going. It is vital that this restoration work is done to not only keep this Club going, but to enhance it and help it to become one of Eden’s finest examples of how the outdoors industry can be a major driver in our local economy.”

Commodore Peter Lewis said: “We’re really grateful for Rory’s interest and for using this visit to help raise awareness about the Club and our plans for the Club. The restoration work is absolutely vital, and in a location where we can ensure we are not faced with the same problem again. We will also expand facilities and create a real resource for the wider community and visitors as well as our Club members.”