George Reed will be running the Great South Run on 28th October 2012 for the Eric Twiname Trust. The aim is to complete the 10 mile course in 1 hour 20 minutes (last years’ time was 1 hour 31 minutes). George is the son of one of the Trustees, John Reed.

The Trust was set up in an informal way in 1980 by Eric’s father Alec, in order to perpetuate Eric’s memory and to enable his many and diverse sailing interests to continue. At first the Trust responded to calls for funding from many areas, including round the world yachtsmen, disabled sailors and Olympic campaigns, Alec paying the grants out of his own pocket.

However, a more formal approach emerged with the formation in 1991 of a Charitable Trust, with the concentration on youth sailing, and especially on racing. Alec Twiname settled an amount of capital to the Trust, which was invested to provide a steady annual income. Since 1980 the Trust has provided over £750,000 for deserving causes.

Alec died in 1996 and his widow, Hazel, now heads the Trust as its Patron. The finances of the Trust and the designation of funds are run by a small team of Trustees, most of whom are keen sailors, and all good friends of the Twiname family. The Trust’s largest annual outlay is for the on-going provision and maintenance of support RIBs for each of the nine RYA recognised national youth classes (RIB No.ET28 was purchased this year). In addition it also acts as lead sponsor for the RYA Eric Twiname Championship, the premier national event for Juniors in the UK, as also the RYA Eric Twiname Youth and Junior Team Racing Championship – both events being held annually. Another most significant contribution to youth sailing is the Trust’s regular funding of new dinghies and sailboards for club training purposes – some 120 boats having been provided since the Trust was established in 1980.

To sponsor go to: http://www.justgiving.com/George-ReedET