Princess Anne visits sailing club to mark milestone achievements

Princess Anne hailed the achievements of an ‘unusual’ Westbury sailing club marking several milestones with a royal visit.

The Princess Royal visited West Wilts Youth Sailing Association on Friday, January 17 to celebrate its 58th birthday, the RYA Green Award, and the transfer of land and water from Linden Wates (Westbury) Ltd, to the association.

West Wilts Youth Sailing Association is a charitable organisation based in the town that is dedicated to introducing young people between the ages of eight and 18 to sailing.

Princess Anne arrived at 2pm, and was welcomed by the Mayor of Westbury, Cllr Jane Russ; High Sheriff of Wiltshire, Dr Olivia Chapple; and Dame Sarah Troughton, Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire.

READ MORE: Princess Anne visiting Swindon and Wiltshire today

(Image: Trevor Porter) HRH The Princess Royal was then given a tour of the sailing club, which began with an on-shore demonstration on tacking and gybing by a group of youth instructors, given on a pair of the club’s dinghies.

The tour then moved onto an inspection of a number of model boats, and a look at the sailing club’s new electric motorboat.

She then passed along a line of attendees that included a group of primary school pupils from nearby Dilton Marsh, as well as members of the sailing club, and received a bouquet of flowers from nine-year-old Bella Sturdy, a young member of the sailing association.

The Princess Royal was then invited inside the clubhouse, where she met and spoke to a number of senior members of the club, as well as a group of dinghy instructors.

She then listened to a few short speeches from the club commodore Juley Simmonds, principal David Long, and Vistry Homes’s regional customer service director, Sarah Sperring.

Princess Anne unveiled two plaques commemorating her visit and the special occasion.

In a short speech, the Princess Royal said: “Thank you to all those who have been involved in this creation, and thank you for your efforts, and for rising to the challenge.

“I don’t underestimate for a second how difficult that has been."

She added: “My congratulations and thanks to everyone that has been involved here. It’s an unusual piece of water in an unusual part of the country.

“To do what you’ve been doing so well for so long and to be able to look forward with quite such certainty must be a real bonus for you all.”

Juley Simmonds said it was a “fantastic” day, and was thrilled that a visit so long in the making was a success.

She added: “Lots of work went into this. We had over 20 members on Sunday last week helping us to set up, we had various other members between Christmas and New Year cleaning the club, cleaning it up and tidying it up. It was a real team effort, a great collaboration.

“I don’t know how I’m feeling. I’m a bit relieved it went so well, and a bit excited for the next few things we’ve got to do. There’s a lot of work that goes on in the background, and we’re looking forward to what’s to come.”

Prior to her visit to the sailing club, the Princess Royal was in Swindon, where she was officially opening a state-of-the-art Clinical Excellence Centre at Improve Veterinary Education in Delta Business Park.