The Isle of Wight Youth Trust has been selected as the official charity partner for the upcoming Wight Wave Beach Fest sports tournament, taking place on 29th and 30th July at Appley Beach in Ryde.
This partnership highlights the vital importance of sport and physical activity for physical and mental wellbeing. Building on the excitement of the Women’s World Cup, the England Women’s Beach Soccer Team will be dropping by, as will some very special guests from Sky One.
As the official charity partner, The Youth Trust will be utilising the event to raise awareness of their work, promoting the importance of supporting mental wellbeing among children and young people on the Island as well as raising much needed funds.
With 217 teams across 4 sports, 420 medals to present, 25 trophies to be won and over 2000 competitors it is set to be a fantastic weekend of competition and family fun. Adding to the competition, the Youth Trust will be running a “Sonic Strike Out” challenge – to see who can score the fastest goal! The challenge will be helping to raise vital funds for the Trust, at a time when demand for their services has reached unprecedented levels.
Meghann Ayres, Youth Trust Clinical Lead reveals the heart-wrenching truth of the work the Youth Trust undertakes on a daily basis:
“We continue to witness the devastating impact of the pandemic on children and young people’s mental wellbeing every single day. Now more than ever before young Islanders and their families are reaching out to us for support, their needs are more multifaceted, with overwhelming anxiety and anger dominating reasons for referral.”
“It is of profound concern that we find ourselves increasingly supporting children and young people resorting to self-harm to manage their emotions. Perhaps most worryingly we are seeing young primary school children who have voiced the unimaginable pain of not wanting to continue to live. Our work is critical.”
In 2023, the Youth Trust has experienced a significant surge in demand, with a total of 880 referrals received to date. This sharp increase stands in stark contrast to 2022 when they received 867 referrals in the span of 12 months. The magnitude of this rise highlights the immense and growing challenges that children and young people are facing in their mental health and well-being.
Michelle Moorman, Youth Trust Fundraising and Communications Manager emphasises the indispensable role of the Island community for the Island based independent charity:
“With unprecedented demand for our services, comes unprecedented demand on our resources, we are extremely grateful to Luke Kerr and the WightWave team for choosing to support the Trust, helping us to raise both awareness of the significance of our work and vital funds for the Trust.”
Luke Kerr, WightWave Tournament Director explains why the team chose the Youth Trust as their official charity partner:
“We believe in the power of collaboration, and by partnering with The Youth Trust, we aim to raise vital awareness of the importance of mental health and wellbeing, working to remove the stigma of talking about mental health and asking for help.”
“We are grateful to our all our Sponsors, whose generous support has made this event and charity partnership possible. Their commitment to community engagement and promoting sports is much needed. Together, we can make a significant difference in the lives of the youth and foster a brighter future for our Island.”
WightWave BeachFest takes place this coming weekend (28th -30th August) at Appley Beach in Ryde.
The family friendly event brings together a whole host of adrenaline-charged beach sports, locally sourced food and drink and an eclectic and laid-back mix of quality music.
