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STOP PRESS: Crowdfunding — The Rescue of Clarion of Wight

Clarion of Wight was destined for the chain saw but thanks to the intervention of a benefactor it can be saved. However, we urgently need to fund some costs and bring it back to the UK from France - details here

BNYA enters the next phase - some serious fundraising

After 10 years of operating on a voluntary basis, BNYA now needs to build its capacity. Mindful that there are several important collections awaiting to be deposited we need space and resources for our volunteers to work - to catalogue, digitise and index the material. This move has been postponed long enough and we need the support of the sailing community to preserve our sailing history. If you have enjoyed/are still enjoying your sailing career then please help us establish this facility.

The original driver for establishing BNYA was the recognition that material is being lost - it can be disposed of by family, landlords, etc once there is no-one to take responsibility for it - and much is still at risk. We also recognise that there are limited places to deposit material - we have worked closely with the National Maritime Museum for whom sailing is a minority interest. Having said that - our aim is for access to be totally digital to facilitate access to the content in our proposed reading room. Note: too much of the material is still in copyright, but in order to preserve it for the future we need to conserve it now, especially on-line material which has a short life; and, due to the extensive cross-indexing some training is involved in navigating the system.

Whilst BNYA has been operating now for several years, its work has focussed on developing the underlying database and tools to manage what is potentially a huge data set and to populate it with information that can be readily researched in order to test everything. The database now includes some 45,000 boats, 5,000 organisations, 30,000 references, 250,000 images, archived web material as well as extensive classification data and cross-indexing and this provides the structure for moving forward - several terabytes of data. While nominally a "British" archive, Britain has operated world-wide - designed and built boats, organised and participated in events, set the rules, etc. - so the archive reflects that scope and is quite encyclopaedic in its nature. We already have some equipment, such as a selection of scanners, and need to set it up so that more volunteers can participate.

How can you help

• Just Giving

  A well known charity fundraising site - we have set an initial target of £35,000 to establish premises and add to our equipment. Donations can be Gift-aided (effortlessly) so that we can benefit from a Government top-up. Donations may be one-off or regular.
  
      or view details   

• Give as you Live

  Pays us a commission on purchases you make through qualifying on-line purchases. Although the individual amounts may be small if enough people sign up and use it regularly the contribution can be quite substantial at zero cost to themselves.
  

• Gift Aid It

  

  Do please gift aid any contribution since that will enable us to increase resources through the tax benefits. Please then notify the British National Yachting Archive if you:

  • Want to cancel the declaration.
  • Change your name or home address.
  • No longer pay sufficient tax on your income and/or capital gains.

  Tax claimed by the British National Yachting Archive:

  • The British National Yachting Archive will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 you give.
  • If you pay income tax at the higher rate, you must include all your Gift Aid donations on your Self Assessment tax return if you want to receive the additional tax relief due to you.

• Donations by bank transfer

  Transfer funds to: BNYA, Sort code: 60-20-35, Account number: 41588428
  using your name as reference and notify us that you have done so - thanks

• Donations of Equipment

  Should you have redundant office equipment such as bookshelves, desks, etc please contact us to see if we still have a need for what you have - thanks

• Volunteering

  Our volunteers serve several functions. Ambassadors are our eyes and ears in the sailing community identifying material available or at risk. Data entry adding data to the system - some automated processes have been developed and some technical experience helps as well as domain knowledge. Indexing to the extent that we are able, we try to cross index the content of material to boats, events, people, etc - requires training and domain knowledge. Material processing - in particular slaving over a hot scanner. The more people that get involved with the project, the better it will be.

• Benefactors

  Once we go down this route we will need funding for the future as well. Should you be in a position to make a substantial contribution please contact us to discuss how your help can be recognised - thanks.

Getting in touch: several requests have been made above to get back to us - in the first instance, please contact and we'll take it from there.