On Saturday 26th May, Adventure Wales won a Superlambanana* from Sailing International for their work with the environment, curious to find out more, I asked Kerry the youth development officer about the work they are doing, this is what she told me.

Challenge Wales, Adventure Wales sponsor, have been working with Keep Wales tidy, youth Cymry and Agored Cymru to produce an accredited unit of leaning with an Environmental project. As part of the unit, the participants look at plastics on board Adventure Wales, look out for flotsam in the water and take part in a litter pick along one of the beaches that the yacht visits.

The environmental project, works well with the adventure they call "Island Discovery", as this is a three day excursion that includes a sail down the Bristol Channel to Lunday Island where the yacht anchors off for the night, followed by a day spent exploring the island with the assistance of the Lunday Island Warden learning about the environment and conservation issues. During the visit, the participants, help pick up any litter washed up on the shores, as this is a real threat, to the huge variety of wildlife that lives on the island. After another night on anchor, the adventure continues with a sail back up the Bristol channel, where the participants look out for flotsam, as well as dolphins and other wildlife.

The unit is to be launched by Dee Caffari, who is the skipper of the Volvo Yacht "Turn The tide on Plastc". Dee Caffari is the only female skipper in the Volvo race, while the team are a 50/50 mix of female to male.

On Sunday 27th May, I met Ben one of the vulnerable adults that Challenge Wales sponsor as part of their charity work. So, as I took him and other members of the crew to see HMS Somerset and the Lord Nelson, I found out his story

Ben started to have issues with drugs from the age of twelve, at first just experimenting, but over time the habit developed with him taking other substances and eventually crack cocaine. Then after an eight year habit, he just had a moment of truth and realised that enough was enough, so he went to rehab. Now one year later, he is part of an alternative learning program, so he will be learning team building skills, during the trip from Liverpool to Dublin.

Find out more

If you want to find out more about Challenge Wales and the work they do with young people throughout Wales to experience sailing, helping to broaden their horizons, develop their personal and social skills and improve their future employability then visit their web-site

http://challengewales.org/

* What is a Superlambanana?

It is a gift to the city which serves as a warning about what genetic engineering as well as a recognition that the local universities are pioneering some of the work in this field. It also recognises the fact that Alfred Lewis Jones, from Wales, whose memorial stands on the pier head invented refrigerated shipping and was responsible for bringing bananas from the west Indies and Frozen Lamb from New Zealand which is why the lamb and the banana are used within the design

Alfred Lewis Jones was also the fonder of the first school of tropical medicine and he established the British bank of West Africa and an agricultural college in Colwyn Bay to train poor African farmers