Rebuilding Carwinion Boathouse - A Community Effort on the Helford River
If you follow the Helford River down to Porth Sawson beach, you’ll find a modest boat shed sitting quietly above the sand.
To many, it’s just part of the landscape but to us at Children’s Sailing Trust, Carwinion Boathouse is something far more important.
From here, hundreds of children and young people step into sailing boats each year, often for the first time, discovering confidence, independence and joy on the water. The boathouse may be small, but its role in our charitable sailing programme is mighty.
The lovely landowners allow us to use Porth Sawsen beach and the boathouse is leased from the National Trust – as part of that agreement, we are responsible for maintaining the building. In 2025, it became clear that maintenance alone was no longer enough. The structure needed significant renovation to remain safe, usable and fit for the future.
The problem was stark: the work would cost many thousands of pounds that we simply didn’t have.
Carwinion Boathouse is not an easy project – there is no vehicle access, no on-site facilities and the building sits directly on a public footpath on an exposed beach. Materials can only reach it by sea or on foot and every stage of work is dictated by tides, weather and beach use. It’s the kind of job most contractors sensibly run away from.
Help came through Cornwall Community Foundation, where the Tanner Phoenix Trust chose to fund the project by committing £9,500 to make the renovation possible, a generous act of belief in both our work and the children who benefit from it but even with funding secured, the figures were tight. Then another piece of good fortune fell into place.
Shield Marine Services were not new to Children’s Sailing Trust. In 2024 they supported us on a complex project at Trevassack Lake and, since then, had consistently stepped up with support, resources and practical help.
When our CEO, Jakie Jewell, approached Martin Emmett (left) at Shield Marine Services with the challenge of Carwinion, his response was simple: “Yes, let’s see what we can do.”
What followed was an extraordinary example of problem-solving, generosity and determination. Martin worked tirelessly to reduce costs, absorb materials where possible and navigate the logistical maze of transporting supplies by sea, working around tides, weather windows and our own operational use of the site throughout the sailing season. There were days of careful planning, debate and delay, and days of driving rain and gale-force winds.
And yet, piece by piece, the boathouse was rebuilt:
Today, Carwinion Boathouse is transformed. It is secure, weatherproof and ready to support our charitable programmes for years to come. More than that, it stands as a reminder of what can happen when funders, charities and local businesses pull in the same direction.
Our heartfelt thanks go to the Tanner Phoenix Trust for making this project possible, to Cornwall Community Foundation for facilitating the support, and ultimately to Martin Emmett and the entire team at Shield Marine Services for delivering one of the most challenging projects we’ve ever undertaken with skill, resilience and good humour.
This shed may sit quietly on the edge of the Helford River, but the impact it enables will ripple far beyond the beach.
A word from our CEO, Jakie Jewell:
Renovating Carwinion Boathouse was always going to be a huge challenge. Sourcing an organisation willing and able to take on a project with no vehicle access, no on-site facilities and a location directly on a public footpath on a beach felt almost impossible.
However, Shield Marine Services were not new to us. They had previously supported Children’s Sailing Trust with another complex and demanding project at Trevassack Lake in 2024 and since then have always been there when we have needed support, resource or equipment. Quite simply, Shield have become our guardian angels!
So, when I contacted Martin at Shield and explained the scale of this next challenge, his response was “Yes, let’s see what we can do.” I don’t think, at that stage, Martin fully appreciated quite what lay ahead until he made the 30-minute walk to the Boathouse to assess the building and its location! As ever, though, no challenge was too much for Shield.
Once funding was secured from the Tanner Phoenix Trust, the complexity only increased. The programme of works was sea-transport dependent (for the materials), weather dependent, tide dependent and beach-use dependent, all while fitting around our own operational use of the beach and facility between April and the end of October. It was a logistical jigsaw of the highest order.
At that point, I placed the project entirely in Martin’s exceptionally capable hands. From scheduling and delivery through to documentation and on-site management, everything was handled with total professionalism, calm assurance and meticulous attention to detail.
And after many weeks of careful planning, debate, delay and determination, the boathouse is complete and utterly transformed.
I genuinely doubt that any other contractors would have taken this project on, let alone delivered it to such a high standard. Shield did so with craftsmanship, resilience, precision and good humour throughout – even when faced with gale-force winds and driving rain (although I suspect there were moments when the smiles were tested).
My huge thanks go to Martin and the entire team at Shield Marine Services. This was, without question, one of the most challenging projects we have undertaken and Shield delivered it with integrity, expertise and unwavering commitment.
I suspect Martin may pause briefly when the next request for support lands on his desk but I also know that we can rely on Shield, a truly outstanding organisation introduced to us by APCL A&P Falmouth back in early 2024.
Thank you Martin. Thank you Shield Marine Services.
