Compassion Magazine Winter 2022

Winter 2022 - Compassion | www.tcf.org.uk 20 In his slipstream Shortly after losing my son Laury at the age of 21, I decided to do something to honour his memory. Many of us do this, whether it’s a memorial garden, planting trees, holding a festival or setting up a charity or campaign organisation. It can be a way of trying to make something positive arise from the death of our precious child, or to keep their memory alive, or to give ourselves a sense of purpose in life. Of course, no matter how successful or fulfilling these projects are, I’m sure most of us would rather not be doing them, because the only reason we are is that the worst possible thing has happened. My ‘positive thing’ has been to set up a bursary fund to enable young people aged 16-25 to experience sailing, and my reasons for doing so were all of the above – as well as the more concrete aim of helping enhance the mental wellbeing of struggling young people. It’s been in operation for just over a year, and even in these early days I have found that the project brings me genuine joy. For example when I see the smiles on the faces of young people as they take to the waves, or when they tell me they have had a life-changing sailing experience it brings meaning to and helps me value the life that I find myself having to live, rather than just waiting for it to end. I needed to take it a step further though. Laury was always happiest when he was on the water, and had often said to me “mum, you should learn to sail”. I never seriously considered it because I was ‘too busy’, and found the prospect daunting. I love the sea, swimming in it, looking at it and even travelling by boat, but I knew sailing was complicated and would demand a lot of commitment – not to mention money! (Laury was lucky in that he grew up near the sea in Brittany and the local sailing club offered subsidies to local children which is how he found his passion.) However, through the work that I had begun doing with Sail Boat Project (SBP) – one of our sailing partners – I suddenly had the opportunity to do just that. SBP runs trips across the channel and sailing in Brittany every summer, Laury and his mum