Category: Funding update

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Funding request Funding update News

You really helped Luke get to the Euros! Thank you!

We had great pleasure, on your behalf, in helping Luke Haynes get to the Euros in Antalya once he had been selected.

This is what he had to say to you afterwards 🙂

Luke frankly didn’t want to ask for funding, but we encouraged him, as we noticed he was really quite worried about how he was ever going to afford to go. Not surprising given the costs involved and which we mentioned in an earlier update post.

On the back of his performance in Antalya, both as an individual and as a valued team member, Luke will be off to Cairo for the World Championships. Again with a little help from your good selves.

We’d also like to thank Luke for making this video and letting us into his thoughts and emotions.

Why should you be helping fund GBR teams at major championships?

All the fencers still have to pay a large amount to represent their country and this is definitely not a good state of affairs. But that is the situation at present due both to the funds available and to the way in which those funds are allocated by British Fencing. So some fencers really need our help after they have put in so much effort and made sacrifices to be the best they can be. We try to help boost morale via The Sabre Club and financially via the charity.

Please donate more so we can help these and future young fencers to be the best they can be and to inspire others as well.

Thank you.

How can you contribute?

Sign up to smile.amazon and choose The Sabre Club Charitable Foundation if you use Amazon.

If you are selling stuff on Ebay or could be, when you list an item choose the charity ribbon and select The Sabre Club Charitable Foundation – the variable fees are reduced by the same percentage as your percentage contribution to the charity.

Make a direct donation via PayPal on the website. Plenty of buttons everywhere you look – sorry.

Make a direct bank transfer if you like – bank details on the website too.

Maybe you have time or expertise? If you might be able to help please get in touch.

So please do pay us a visit if you haven’t before or come back again if you have.

On behalf of the fencers and the trustees, thank you very much for your support.

Peter

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Funding request Funding update News

Fencing at European Championships to cost each fencer over Â£600.

We have very recently learned that the cost to the athlete, of being selected and having the privilege to represent GBR at the Senior European Championships is about £640 per athlete, not taking into account the cost of any personal coach – probably about £70 – £100 per athlete on top – so potentially a whopping £710 or more!

Some athletes are in distress! So we are letting you know and asking for your help.

Please donate

You can see the detail from British Fencing here

SENIOR EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022

What the athletes see when they are accepting their places is this:

Fencer costs for the Euros

Add to that flight costs of about £200 and you have £640 plus some food not included in the half board accommodation.

Add to that a personal coach if you have one, and you have all their costs potentially split across between 4 or 8 fencers, depending on the weapon. So, let’s assume the coach has a £200 flight, £300 accommodation as they could stay for the team event, transfers of £40 and food. So that’s at least £540 ignoring any coaching fee. Split between the maximum of 8 fencers gives you a minimum of £67 per fencer. Let’s round to £70.

So the minimum is £640 and this can grow to £710 or more.

Some athletes and their parents simply can not afford this without help.

We were recently asked by one already very generous donor, how we were for funds and we thought we were ok for now, but we were wrong. With the Europeans now, and the Worlds to come, we would be very grateful for some more donations so we can help athletes who are really struggling financially.

Who for?

Only for those who really need it, and even then not the full amount but up to 50% of the estimated basic costs levied by British Fencing. We are very pleased to say we have committed to one payment of £320 in response to a request for help.

How much?

Please let us have as much or as little as you can afford.

Don’t you have any money left from previous donations?

We have £1056 in the bank, of which £735 is earmarked for paying for the Euros800 purchased by Peter Howes, trustee on behalf of the foundation to pay for the last two team entry fees. However he is deliberately not taking payment at the moment so the charity has some cash in the bank. That basically only leaves £321 of actual funds.

Can I gift aid it?

Yes you certainly can.

Please donate

Are there other ways to donate?

Yes, the best way is really to set up a standing order or single contribution direct to the charity’s bank account onthe donations page. Sorry the gift aid for that needs a separate form at the moment. We’re working on making it easier in the future.

Please also explore the other ways to support and get in touch with any offers of non financial help too.

Thank you very much for reading this and for all your support. The fencers all really appreciate what you are doing for them.

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Funding update News

Funding News

Thank you very much for all your contributions so far.

We have updated the funding page so you can see what is happening. But you probably want to see the effort and emotion of the young men and women striving to be the best they can be, which is why we do this in the first place. This is what Maria Chart had to say after the team’s disappointment in Istanbul.


What we don’t necessarily see is all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes and how the older fencers train with the younger ones to bring them on and develop them, many taking on unofficial mentor roles and helping out whenever they can while they all train extremely hard.

We’re very pleased to say we can now make the commitment for the final 2 Senior World Cups of the season and will also have some funds available to help younger fencers who need help to get to the British Youth Championships. You may have seen that we announced that fencers successful in getting their entry fee waived by British Fencing can also apply to us for help with other costs like travel and accommodation. We don’t have much at the moment but we feel everyone should be allowed their chance and this is a good opportunity to help.

So if you want to support, please go to the funding page and donate just £10 or more, of course, and we’ll put it to good use helping young people in our sport. Or just use the donate button.

If you don’t want to give directly, how about making use of your spending on Amazon, if you use them, and use Smile instead. It costs the same but your chose charity gets a little bit of money for most transactions. That can add up to a lot and at no cost to you.

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Funding update

Update on funding

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

With the women’s and men’s senior sabre teams both in action next week we are delighted that we can continue to support them through paying their team entry fees thanks to generous donations received.

In order to keep you up to date with where your money is going and, of course with what is still needed, we have updated the Funding page with outline management accounts for the the first 2 months of the year and an update to 12 March 2022.

Please donate even a small amount as, added together, we believe it will make a big difference to your sport and, most importantly, to the opportunities to available to the young fencers coming through and trying to develop.

Our main focus is on providing help for those who need it most but we need to take into account the fact that they also need a proper framework and examples to follow. That is why we are specifically raising funds for the ‘senior’ teams to provide opportunities for young fencers to compete for their country whatever their background. This is in the absence of any funding for these teams at these important events from UK Sport or any other sources via British Fencing.