29th April
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7 May 2008
Hilary's Blog - 29 April 2008
Some of you visiting this web site may have read the article about me in The Sunday Telegraph Stella magazine on 20th April. Although the article is truthful, it was unfortunate that the writer chose to dwell on what life was like several years ago. Whilst my family and Clifford have always been there for me, there was a time when I was lonely and trapped, like thousands of other disabled people in this country. It was a life with no choices and no control. A life where you get up because a carer comes in to get you up and then puts you back to bed when it suits them. A life where you are reliant on others for absolutely everything is not a life at all, it is simply existence.
But then I got lucky. Somebody did something for me that was so remarkable that it gave me back my life. In my case, I was taken to Westbere Sailing Opportunities and taken out in a Wayfarer, sitting in a garden chair with a board under my legs and another down my back to support my head. Being able to take control again, even for a brief time, saved my life. From these beginnings I have taken on increasingly more difficult (some may even say foolhardy) challenges. I have sailed across the Channel and around the Isle of Wight. I long to be on the water, it is the one place where I am truly free to be myself.
I have always been a goal orientated person. Once I had sailed across the Channel I had the salt in my blood. My next aim was always to sail around the UK. Given my physical condition, it’s not entirely straightforward! I can’t just jump in a boat, stock up and go.
Thankfully I have found people who share my dream. Thanks to my many sponsors and supporters I have found ways to live my life my way. I now have a team of people around me. 
On March 25th, two weeks after he came along to talk to me about driving a RIB, Toby May started as Project Manager. Toby has spent the last six months honing his skills on yachts in the Solent and around the Caribbean. He is now doing battle with a 6 metre keel boat, which he didn’t believe was uncapsizable. Thanks to him we now have a route plan and a boat which is almost ready to sail.
Stuart Leppard is “on loan” one day a week from Kent County Council’s Sports Development Unit. His enthusiasm for the project is entirely infectious and he is helped every step of the way by Paul Panton and Mike Bishop from the Sports Development Unit.
Helen Finn has bravely volunteered to come along as carer and driver. She has never sailed so, along with Stuart, we are shipping her off to the UK Sailing Academy in Cowes to spend two days on board a yacht. They will get to know the sort of conditions I will be facing on a daily basis, but they will at least be able to make themselves hot drinks during the day!
We are also extremely lucky as Mike Stillingfleet, another UKSA ocean graduate, has agreed to join us next month as our principal RIB driver. I have been truly overwhelmed by the number and quality of people who want to become part of my Round Britain Dream. To say that I feel under qualified to be in charge of my own boat is a huge understatement. I know that all sailors learn something every time they go on the water. I have learned more in the last 3 weeks than I thought was possible
This weekend I am travelling to Aberdeen to talk to the Lions' National Convention, which is a huge honour. Their support will be essential as we travel around the coast. We want to get “Hilary’s Dream Trust” on a firm financial footing. As a disabled child I found that people were always offering me opportunities to do this or that, whether it was an outdoor pursuits course or a trip to Disney world. Once you reach 18, however, everything stops. All you are left with is a set of skills and dreams of what you want to do with them. This same is true for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The idea is that the Dream Trust will help fill that gap by offering advice, access to skills or money to get a particular sailing project off the ground. I know that we are all bombarded by requests from charities to give money, but please give us anything you can afford; it could change someone’s life the way mine was changed.
Page last updated on 22 June 2008 at 17:18