I WENT sailing for the first time on the weekend and loved it.

I was visiting the Barry Community Water Activity Centre on the Waterfront for their open day on Saturday, and may have caught the bug for watersports. It’s very easy to see how the open day, which attracted hundreds of young people from across Barry, will have inspired many to participate in sailing, power boating and kayaking.

The Ocean Watersports Trust, who operate the activity centre, play a hugely important role in the local community. Barry is very lucky to have large and active scout groups, cadets and lifeguard clubs.

These groups help to prepare young people for life, building their social skills and confidence as well as giving them an opportunity for adventure. The role of the Community Water Activity Centre should not be underestimated in ensuring their popularity, as it provides these groups, particularly sea scouts and cadets the ability to undertake water-borne activities locally.

Although the centre already does a fantastic job of facilitating the activities of these membership groups, including the Barry Intersensory group who have a wheelchair adapted boat, they want to expand further to boost community engagement.

If the OWT can secure enough investment, their plans to build new facilities will allow centre to take on regular school and college groups, further disabled societies and open to the general public.

As well as being a boost for the clubs and those who will be introduced to watersports, the ambitious OWT plans will be great news for the Waterfront area. The initial design for the new facility shows an impressive new building with the positive architectural feature of a large sail bisecting the middle of the building, as well and room for a cafe and community space.

Along with numerous local groups, I am proud to have written in support of the OWTs application for funding.

In order to bring the project together however, the new building will likely need to be constructed in one go. This necessitates the OWT bringing numerous funding streams together at the same time, with the benefits of each part of the funding felt only if all others are available.

This is a hugely important facility to Barry, with so many potential benefits for young people and for the Waterfront area. I encourage everyone to get behind the development plans.