Fairwinds Art Exhibition update;

What a fantastic event. We are so grateful to everyone who came along, or supported remotely, whether pre-bids for the auction or even the many apologising, gutted to be away and unable to come. It all meant so much, and a huge thank you to the late John Garlick of East Cowes Sailing Club who inspired the whole thing, by having private meetings with myself (Matt) only 3 weeks before passing at the end of 2021, and with Peter Allen right until the end which showed how much John wanted it to happen.

A special thank you to the entire Garlick family, but especially Sue (John’s wife) and Caroline (Daughter) who trusted us with his dream event, and also Grand Daughter Beth for the fantastic logo – including a T-shirt design which can be purchased via the link at the bottom of this article.

Biggest thank you is to the Artists who attend, and mostly Peter Allen who pulled them all together to enable this to be such a diverse exhibition. Each of the 9 Artists donated a painting to the Auction where 100% income came to ACF, and also 10% of any other paintings sold over the weekend.

The key supporter was our neighbour Spinlock, who not only gave us the initial donation to get the ball rolling, they stepped up with their team and supported us within their office, building the brochure and posters along with much more, including bringing in further supporters such as the Isle of Wight Garlick festival and Spence Willard, who we loved seeing helping spread the word. Not to mention all the amazing prizes that were donated for the prize draw by various local businesses.

We must also mention our home, CCYC as without their support with the venue, all its charter, plus trust and support, we would not have had the capacity to make it happen, and to top it off, putting on a BBQ for the members regatta at the end made a lovely finish for all, so a special thanks to the social team and Rear Commodore of House, Sarah Tarby.

The most exciting thing to tell you is that it wasn’t just about the weekend, but the impact it made for the charity, we re-raised the profile of ACF within Cowes and the Island but also through additional donations made by individuals, business and the local community that brought in an impressive total of £4,481.68 for the charity.

Thank you again to all who attended our fundraising event, Fairwinds Art Exhibition, between the Friday to Sunday and got to see the amazing art, and a huge thank you to the individual volunteers of ACF, whom without, this would not have been possible.

Our aim was to create a potential yearly event, and once we have completed our wrap up and gone over everything we have learnt, we will keep you all posted as to what may happen next.

In the mean time for those who want to look back over what we created, the Fairwinds Art website pages is staying live, and we will tweak in time to keep as a memory of what we created through our features section, and also as a thank you to the artists, the links to them will remain, but for now it can still be found via www.acfsailing.org/artshow/

We look forward to seeing many of you on the water over the year or on the shore for a good catch up.

Yours sincerely,

Matt and the ACF Sailing Team

Fairwinds 2022 – T-shirt – https://acfsailing.teemill.com/product/fairwinds-art-exhibition-2022-t-shirt/

Location

Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club, 39 Birmingham Rd, Cowes PO31 7BH, UK