Ron Tough Yachting Foundation celebrates 30 years

by Yachting WA on 24 Aug 2010 Last week Alan Tough and his sisters Diane Airey and June Stevens joined the Trustees and special guests at a celebratory dinner to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of The Ron Tough Yachting Foundation.

Established by the late Ron Tough in 1980, The Ron Tough Yachting Foundation provides generous financial assistance to many sailors and clubs annually.

The late Ron Tough donated a substantial founding donation and engineered a group of prominent WA yachtsmen to establish the RTYF, acting as its trustees administering the funds for the benefit of the sport of yachting in Western Australia. By prudently managing and protecting its capital, the fund is able to distribute its income to assist young yachtsmen and women to improve their sailing and thereby assist them to achieve their maximum potential.

The Foundation held its first meeting in Ron’s home in June 1980 chaired by Syd Corser with Trevor Betts, Jim Granger, Peter Fogarty, John Baron-Hay, David Paris and Peter Hosking in attendance and has since that time donated in excess of three quarters of a million dollars to the sailing fraternity in Western Australia..

The Foundation’s policy is 'to encourage excellence in yachting by people of all ages, but with an emphasis on youth; to assist people rather than Classes; to educate rather than provide travel assistance, and to help those who do not have access to assistance from other sources'. The aim is to help sailors at all levels of sailing to improve their skills and participate in club, interstate and international sailing as the opportunities arise.

The Foundation operates independently under a Deed of Trust, only income from the Foundation can be distributed, not the capital which is derived purely from donations and bequests. In this way the capital can never be eroded. However, to keep pace with inflation and the devaluation of currency it is obviously necessary to gain a level of new donations annually. Most clubs collect your donation in the form of a small RTYF donation levied on your membership account – your investment for your return.

The grants and scholarships along with the RTYF Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are presented annually at Yachting WA’s prestigious Meet The Champions award night.

The Trustees; Chairman Cliff Lawrence, Syd Corser (founding Chairman), David Paris, Trevor Betts and Dr John Baron-Hay (all founding trustees), Dr Andrew Kingsbury, Tony Finch, Kevin Owens and Phil Grove hosted the evening for a small group of invited guests at Royal Perth Yacht Club.

Commodores from Fremantle Sailing Club, Hillarys Yacht Club, Royal Perth Yacht Club, Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and Royal Perth Yacht Club were this year invited to join the guests. Guest speaker, former Olympian and current WAIS Head Coach, Belinda Stowell spoke about the beneficial impact of funding to grant recipients illustrating the importance of the Foundations’ work.

The evening culminated with the acknowledgement and presentation by the Chairman Cliff Lawrence to special guest, Enid Schoonraad of Yachting WA who, this year, marked 25 years of dedicated contribution to Yachting WA and The Ron Tough Foundation.

Apologies for the evening were received from Trevor and Sue Tough and YWA President John McQueen who were away travelling.

For more information, please go to: www.wa.yachting.org.au