Joe Littler, a promising young fencer from Broomfield, Sheffield, has been provided with a grant of £1,000 by the JWCT. Joe has been selected to be part of the national under-17 fencing squad, despite only being 14, but needs funding to help with the costs of fencing blades, travel and entry fees to domestic and international events, and training costs.

He is working towards qualifying for the World Championships 2009. To do this he needs to achieve ranking points by fencing at a minimum of three home and three international competitions. He trains three times a week, swims and does circuit training to improve his fitness.

Joe is a pupil at King Edwards Secondary School and a member of Sheffield Buccaneers Fencing Club. Find out more about him at www.fencing.joelittler.co.uk.

Luke Smallwood, an athlete at Jeremy’s former running club Medway & Maidstone Athletics Club, has been given a grant of £1,000.

Luke, from Bearsted in Kent has previously competed for Great Britain in the European Under 20 Championships and in the future aims to compete in the European Under 23 Championships, the Commonwealth Games 2010, World Championships 2011 and the Olympics 2012. He specialises in the 400m and 400m Hurdles. As a full-time athlete Luke requires funds to cover training, equipment and travel costs to enable him to achieve his ambitions.

As part of the funding he will continue to coach young talented sprinters aged 11-15 years old at the Hoo Running Track where he trains.

The JWCT has awarded further funding of £1,000 to Martin Brockman, a promising young decathlete with Medway & Maidstone Athletics Club.

Martin said “since receiving funding from the JWCT a year ago, I have had great success in both competition and in coaching. The money has allowed me to purchase essential equipment necessary for my training. So far I have used the money to purchase a number of event specific shoes, including sprinting, jumping, high jumping, throws and middle distance shoes, as well as two pairs of trainers. As well as this I have also purchased my own discus and shot to practise with.” Martin added that his performance this year following second places at the South of England Championships held in Bedford and the Kent Multi-Event Championships held at Erith Stadium “has given me great confidence for the forthcoming 2008 season and I hope to go back to the Kent Championships and not only win but break the championship record which stands at over 6800pts.”

Disabled multi-eventist receives grant
May 2008

Michael Pope, 13, from Bricket Wood, has received a £750 grant from the JWCT via Sports Aid, a partner organisation of the JWCT. Michael is in the top-five in multi-eventing in the UK, and a member of the British team.

Michael has a form of dwarfism however he does not let this stop him from competing in a range of sports including shot putt, discus, javelin, basketball, football, hockey, cricket and badminton. He also plays boccia, a sport for athletes with a disability. Similar to bocce, it is designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy and other locomotor disabilities affecting motor skills. It is a Paralympic sport, played in over forty countries worldwide.

He started playing sport when he was just six after he joined the Dwarf Athletic Association and was encouraged to discover his hidden talent, taking part in the 2005 World Dwarf Games in Paris for the first time.

Michael’s mother Maria said “Sport has given Michael a real purpose and a sense of self-belief, a sense of achievement despite his disability. It is very character-building but he thoroughly enjoys participating and has met so many people and made great friendships. He has made great progress this year and has the determination and enthusiasm to succeed.”

Geological research in the Neuquén Basin, Argentina
April 2008

Aisha Al-Sawaidi, a postgraduate student at the University of Oxford, has been provided with a grant of £1,000 towards her research project fieldwork in Argentina. The funding has been provided through the JWCT’s partner, the Geological Society of London. Aisha’s research project entitled 'Geochemical and Sedimentological Characterisation of the Early Toarcian (Jurassic) Ocean Anoxic Event in the Neuquén Basin, Argentina' will take her to a remote part of northern Patagonia, Argentina, an area characterised by sandstones, mudstones, and limestones laced with marine fossils. The funds will contribute to travel, accommodation, food and supplies costs. Aisha hopes to publish peer-reviewed papers describing her work.

Grant for young gymnast Nicole Watson
April 2008

12-year old gymnast Nicole Watson has received £1,000 from the JWCT to help with the costs of equipment, training, travel and accommodation in relation to training and competitions.

Nicole receives training from the World Class Start Scheme however does not receive any financial assistance. Nicole said the funding would “help me greatly not having financial pressure on top of the 20 hours a week it takes for me to train” and added “I love my sport . . . the money will help me carry on competing for my country and hopefully I'll be able to get to the Olympics.”

Nicole’s coach Christine Still said “Nicole is a very talented and dedicated young gymnast; she has already represented GB in junior international competitions and shows a great temperament for high pressure competition”.

Specialist sailing dinghy for the disabled
April 2008

Stubbers Adventure Centre, an outdoor adventure centre in Upminster, Essex, received £3,305 in April 2008 from the JWCT to pay for the full costs of an Access 303 Wide sailing dinghy.

The dinghy is specifically designed for use by disabled sailors who are unable to use standard fit sailing dinghies. It has a ballast centerboard, is steered with a joystick, and has a self tacking jib. The ease of operation brings the thrills and pleasures of sailing to those with a broad spectrum of disabilities. The ballast means it cannot capsize, and is self righting if knocked down in a violent gust.

The dinghy is able to be sailed by two people thus making them ideal for volunteers to co-sail with sailors requiring support. Stubbers Adventure Centre is a charitable organisation.

Cave expedition research funded, Austria
March 2008

The Cambridge Cave Science Expedition 2008 has been given a grant of £1,000 from the Royal Geographical Society’s Jeremy Willson Award, funded by the JWCT. This project aims to maintain and expand a microclimate research system established in 2007, to record microclimatic conditions in Steinbrückenhöhle, Austria.

The team will retrieve a year-long dataset recorded by thermistors which were left in the cave at the end of last summer, recording once every hour. This dataset will allow the extension of understanding gained regarding the dynamics of temperature cyclicities in Steinbrückenhöhle to longer periodicities, and observe seasonal effects.

A documentary exploring the planning and execution of a major expedition is planned to paint a picture of expedition life and trials and triumphs of venturing into the unknown. The film will be an accessible introduction to modern cave exploration and techniques, as well as a depiction of the social landscape of a caving expedition.

Young explorers to Norway and USA
February 2008

Stuart Lansdale, a 17 year-old from Dorset has been provided with a grant of £400 to participate in an unsupported expedition to circumnavigate and then climb Mt Rainier (14,411ft) via the Emmons Winthrop Glacier, the largest glacier by area in the USA. Mount Rainier is an active Cascade volcano encased in over 35 square miles of snow and glacial ice. Stuart also plans to canoe for seven days through the wilderness of Bowron National Park, during which time he should see plenty of wildlife from black bears to moose.

John Francis, a Scout from Maidstone in Kent, has received £250 from the JWCT to cover his flight and in-country travel costs for an expedition to a remote area of Norway. The expedition is to help John achieve his Explorer Belt. The Explorer Belt is the challenge of a lifetime, which is open to Explorer Scouts aged over 16 and members of the Scout Network. It is a chance to take part in a ten-day expedition that brings a real understanding of a different country, its people and way of life.