Dear Aquasports Supporters and Friends,

As we start 2024 we are very aware as to how quickly Aquasports will come around again in August 2024. Planning goes on all year round, of course, and team are now ramping up and becoming more focussed planning for this year.

We value your support in prayer, finances and practical help. Please continue to pray for the young people who were at Aquasports last year and also for those who will be there in 2024.

Last year we made the decision to keep the cost of Aquasports down, conscious of the cost-of-living crisis and wanting to enable young people to come along post covid. We had 48 campers with us in 2023, which was a low number. We also awarded a high number of large bursaries to enable campers to come along. The consequence of these factors is that we ran at a loss. Obviously, we cannot continue in this vein.

Many of you will be aware that the cost of Aquasports this year is much higher (£563.00 for early bird and £613 full price). We have had feedback that this price means that some will not be able to afford to come to Aquasports in 2024.

Following prayer, discussion and some hard work on the part of our treasurer, we have been able to reduce the cost to £526.00 for 2024. We do hope that this will enable more young people from a broad range of backgrounds to come along to hear more about Jesus in 2024. We are also looking at cost savings with our suppliers and considering where we can reduce costs in the running of Aquasports day to day.

We are reaching out to you for some help. Some of you already give regularly to Aquasports, this is so helpful as it enables us to plan our budgeting. If more of you were able to do this, it would further support our financial planning and help us build our Bursary fund, allowing more young people to come and experience Aquasports. It also allows us to invest in equipment when things break or need replacing. Our reserves (which we legally have to keep as part of the Charity Commission rules) have also been depleted due to the loss of 2023. We will be progressing with further fund-raising efforts to increase these. Please note that camper fees only go towards the running of the holiday and and do not go towards our financial reserves, bursary fund or new equipment; we rely on our supporters and team for help here.

For further information about costs for Aquasports please see: https://aquasports.org.uk/where-does-the-money-go/

We also need to promote Aquasports and the best way we have found to do this is through word of mouth. Please do consider and pray about who you could talk to about Aquasports. Do you know a family with teenagers who would love to experience an Adventure Activities Holiday and hear about Jesus?

Like you, we want as many young people as possible to benefit from coming to Aquasports. So many lives have been changed over the years and we have witnessed God’s gracious blessing every year. If you are able to support Aquasports in anyway, we have a page on our website with details on how to give, pray and promote Aquasports: https://aquasports.org.uk/supporting-aquasports

Thank you for your continued support, without which Aquasports could not continue.
Best wishes

Aquasports Trustees