Your amazing generosity has taken us over our £500k target and set us on the way to raising the next £700k by the end of September 2022.

Your support has enabled us to pay our devoted Ship’s crew and shore-based staff who worked without salary to help get the JST through its urgent cash flow crisis and ensure that our wonderful tall ship SV Tenacious continued with her 2022 voyage sailing programme.

Tenacious has just completed a fantastic voyage to Jersey to connect with our great long-standing friends in the Jersey branch and the wider community. Currently, we are sailing on our Portsmouth-to-Portsmouth voyage and experiencing glorious sunshine along the South Coast.

Apart from donating vital cash, financial pledges and gifts in kind, you have also contributed in so many other ways. 

Over one thousand people who donated are new supporters of our mission, while existing donors have given generously and persuaded their friends and family to support our cause.

You have also voiced your thoughts with a wide range of suggested changes we could make to ensure we move forward toward a sustainable future. 

Reaching this huge milestone is truly wonderful, however we cannot lose sight of the overall picture.

We launched the Covid Recovery Campaign last month in order to raise funds to prevent us ceasing operations ending a forty-four-year history. We did so because JST has been deeply affected during the Covid-19 pandemic.

JST has battled hard through the last two years but, as a specialist charity providing life-changing tall ship experiences for people with mixed abilities, the harsh and negative impact of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis has seen an increase in costs and a decrease in income which reached a critical point.

Despite great effort, we have been unable to secure financial support through the Government Covid Recovery Loan scheme and other institutional sources.

To deliver our mission, we rely entirely on fundraising and subsidised berths for voyages to fund our operations. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, we have had very limited opportunities to sail, only recently restarting our hugely popular voyage programme.

However, our trustees, crew, staff and supporters remain united in fighting to save the JST.

JST Chair Charles Humpleby, who also acts as Chair of the Jersey branch said:

” The trustees and I wish to offer our sincere thanks to everyone who has donated so far.

” We are committed to supporting the executive, shore-based staff and crew of Tenacious and of course our supporters.

“We will push on to maintain the current momentum to keep raising emergency cash. We are now at over £520k with a number of pending applications to trusts and foundations to the tune of £65k. 

“Furthermore, we are in discussions with a number of larger institutions to take us forward to the £1.2m mark. That being said, we continue to seek support from our Watchkeepers, volunteer Branches, and our supporters to continue to donate and seek out new funding ideas. 

Charles continued: “We are positive in our continued discussions regarding the sale of Lord Nelson. We are delivering our hugely popular voyage programme and we are looking for opportunities to charter Tenacious with the right partner at an appropriate time to fit in with this.

“We will simplify the charity’s two-company organisational structure and support a working group to evaluate whether it is a viable idea to enable crowdfunding to buy into Tenacious, and as such be involved in the ownership and running of the business that supports her. We are particularly keen to get your ideas and input on this.

“Above all we must change, develop and future proof our business model to be sustainable where we only commit to activities when we have the money and are confident the money will be forthcoming. We have ambitions to create an endowment fund and a share giving scheme that will enable us to establish reserves.

“Finally, thank you for all the support you have given this most worthy charity that will continue to give people of mixed abilities and circumstances the freedom to explore their ability, potential and place in the world through inclusive adventures at sea on SV Tenacious – the only tall ship in the world designed and built by disabled and non-disabled volunteers to accommodate such needs.”

Please help JST continue their mission by donating here: https://jst.org.uk/crc-donation/