The Sports Council for Wales has helped keep ambitions afloat at an Anglesey sailing and watersports club, splashing out National Lottery funding for instructor courses.

A £1,000 Community Chest grant will help Red Wharf Bay Sailing and Watersports Club to send four people on Dinghy Instructor courses and Powerboat Level 2 training, as well as six others on first aid courses.

The Welsh Yachting Association affiliated club, which trains at Traeth Bychan and Plas Menai, currently coaches 12 girls and 12 boys at under 16s level, during twice weekly sessions, as well as a significant number of adult members. They hope the new coaching standards will raise the level of coaching sessions delivered to all their members and increase the number of local people involved in sailing and watersports activities on Anglesey.

Youth Sailing Coordinator, David Griffiths said, "We wish to provide more high quality sail training to juniors, youths and adults. This will enable the club to continue to expand membership and participation in sailing activities.

"We have an urgent need for more trained dinghy instructors so that the training is to recognized Royal Yachting Association standards. We want to fund a number of dinghy instructor courses for competent club sailors and also to support other qualifications."

Since the inception of the Sports Council for Wales’ Community Chest scheme in 1999, communities across the length and breadth of Wales have been investing heavily in sports and physical activity projects.

Chair of the Sports Council for Wales, Philip Carling, said:

"Community Chest has been and continues to be a huge success and is very popular throughout Anglesey. The increase in funding and the greater scope of the scheme will increase its effectiveness.

"Panels based in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales hold the purse strings and have delegated authority to award grants to worthwhile projects. We want to hear of bright ideas and projects that will get more people in Anglesey more active, more often."

As a result of the popularity and undoubted success of the scheme, the Sports Council for Wales is raising the level of grant. Organisations keen to develop sport and physical activity in Wales can now receive up to £1000 for a qualifying project over a 12 month period.

The scope of the scheme has also been widened. Grants have traditionally been awarded to sports clubs and sporting bodies. Now most organisations seeking to develop physical activity and sporting projects will be eligible for an award.

The Community Chest has recently been infiltrating additional areas of work such as the voluntary sector (e.g. Voluntary Youth Clubs, Women’s Institute) and the workplace, as well as continuing to support projects in the health and education arenas. So while funding the local football club might get the younger members of the community moving, backing a walking group will encourage more adults to get active.