A huge thank you goes to all 13 EDF Helping Hands, organised by Janaan Hussain from EDF, who redecorated the main club room for RHSC Sailability (the sailing Club’s charity to help people with disabilities to get on to the water) on Tuesday September 5.
EDF Helping Hands supplied the materials and labour to redecorate the main club room at Rye Harbour Sailing Club, The Point, Rye Harbour. EDF Helping Hands is part of a scheme which allows staff at energy firm EDF to take two paid days off a year to help out in the local community or for an environmental cause.
The day started early with many keen EDF Helping Hands setting to with paint brushes and rollers. Mid-morning David and Jen Tomkinson produced bacon rolls which went down a treat, followed by chili-con-carne for lunch. A big thank you to David and Jen for all their hard work that day in the galley. Many thanks to the RHSC team, organised by Glenda Wilson, which prepared the club room on the Sunday by removing wall hangings and making good in preparation for EDF Helping Hands. The team consisted of Ros Culver, Aidie Weston, David and Jen Tomkinson, John Chapman, David Townsley, Rick Elliott, Andrew Wilson and Jake Wade.
Special thanks go to Noel Bannon, EDF Helping Hands, who carried on with the redecoration until the end of the week doing a splendid job making sure everything was finished to perfection. RHSC Sailability is very grateful to EDF Helping Hands for their support of our charity. We are holding our next Sailability session on Friday September 22 where we can proudly show off our newly decorated club room. Thank you EDF Helping Hands for making this possible.
Janaan Hussain said “On Tuesday September 5 Dungeness B’s Helping Hands scheme, headed by Noel from Workplace Solutions (a division of EDF), had the pleasure of volunteering for RHSC Sailability. After some refreshments provided by the club we got started painting the room. We made short work of the first couple of applications of paint and transformed the room to a lovely pale blue, as chosen by RHSC. We then made a start on filling some of the imperfections that were still visible on the wall. As the filler had to dry before it could be sanded, work had to be finished for the day. Especial thanks needs to be given to Noel for returning on the following days to add the finishing touches to the clubhouse and making sure everything was perfect.
“Thank you to Jen and Dave Tomkinson for providing us with a lovely lunch and keeping us well fed throughout the day, we all appreciated your hard work. All in all, thank you RHSC for working with us and we wish you all the best for your Sailability scheme. I hope EDF will continue to maintain good relations with the club and that we might be able to organise another volunteering day together in the future.”
RHSC Sailability is a charity set up to get less able people out on the water sailing. We do need help running the monthly sessions, not only on the river but also ashore in the club house, if you would like to volunteer please contact carolinewylson@btinternet.com or call 01797 223112 for a chat.
Photos: RHSC