The Leila Sailing Trust

The Leila Sailing Trust is a registered charity (registered charity number 1126165) and has been established to restore and bring back into sustainable use as a sail training vessel, the Leila, a 40ft gaff cutter rigged sailing yacht.

The Trust’s ultimate objective is to provide education opportunities through sail training on the Leila for teenagers from Norfolk and Suffolk and particularly Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. The Trust focuses particularly in providing opportunities for those young people who might not otherwise obtain them.

There are increasingly fewer traditional wooden sailing boats that are accessible to the community on the East Coast. Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft are areas of significant economic and social deprivation and this project will provide young people, especially those with limited incomes, with opportunities for social and personal development, to learn about their marine heritage and to develop practical skills in sailing. When not in use it is planned to keep her on the Heritage Quay in Lowestoft to allow managed public access for all of the community.

Leila is a rare example of a gentleman’s sailing yacht from the late Victorian era, built in 1892 by F Wilkinson of Charlton for a barrister who sailed with the Royal Temple Yacht Club at Ramsgate. She is one of the five oldest sailing yachts still sailing in the UK, and is included on the National Register of Historic Vessels. See: http://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/ships_register.php?action=ship&;id=759

The Leila Sailing Trust was set up in July 2008 leilasail

The Trust has five trustees as follows:

Colin Worboys – chairman.

Colin is a semi-retired businessman from Cambridge with a long association with sailing and the East Coast.

Rob Bull – Secretary.

Rob is a Southwold architect who discovered the boat on Yarmouth quay in 2008.

John Alison – trustee.

John is an engineer and business owner from Great Yarmouth.

Pam Alison – trustee.

Pam, also from Great Yarmouth, is the former owner of the Leila and gifted her to the Trust in 2008.

Andrew Newland – trustee.

Andrew is a surveyor and business consultant from Maldon.

The Trust is run by a board which comprises the five trustees plus four honorary members as follows:

David Beavan, of Southwold, is the skipper; John Blades, an accountant, is the treasurer; Debbie Gillatt,, a former civil servant at DEFRA is the Trust’s youth, education and community liaison officer and Tony Botten a lecturer in opthalmics and keen student of marine history is the Trust’s volunteer coordinator and record keeper.

The Trust meets at least six times a year and oversees the programme of restoration and the establishment of a sail training operation in line with the Trust objectives. The Trustees are responsible for making sure that the Trust:

Is clear about its purposes and direction
Has a strong board with the right balance of skills and experience that acts in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries, understands its responsibilities and has systems in place to exercise them properly.
Is fit for purpose and has the structure, policies and procedures of an effective charity to enable it to achieve its purposes and mission and deliver its services efficiently.
Is learning and improving and always seeking to improve its performance and efficiency.
Is financially sound and prudent.
Is accountable and transparent.

The Trust is always keen to welcome additional volunteers, in particular those with sailing experience; boat building or shipwright skills, engineering skills and business and financial management are particularly welcome.

If you would like to find out more about the work of the Trust or wish to become involved in any way please e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .