50th anniversary celebrations

Ocean Youth Club - Ocean Youth Trust 1960-2010

15th April: Please note that there has been a tremendous level of interest in attending our 50th anniversary event and we have already had more enquiries than there are places. However, we expect that not all provisional bookings will be confirmed, so we have established a reserve list. If you wish to book tickets, please email webmaster1@oytsouth.org, stating the number of tickets required, and also making clear if you are part of a group which will have included you in any places already reserved.

Ocean Youth Trust South is delighted to invite you to our 50th anniversary celebrations on Saturday 16th October 2010.

OYC This will be a fabulous opportunity to catch up with old friends, celebrating 50 years of Adventure Under Sail.

OYT South is very pleased to announce that our 50th anniversary celebrations will take place in the fantastic surroundings of Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, in the heart of Portsmouth Harbour and in the shadow of HMS Victory and HMS Warrior.

Duet Our vessel John Laing will be berthed nearby and open to visitors, alongside one of the original Ocean Youth Club vessels, Duet, as her owner and OYC founder Chris Courtauld has very kindly agreed to arrange for her to join the celebrations. The other OYC founder, the late Chris Ellis, will be represented at the event by his daughter, Emma, who is working hard as event manager for the 50th anniversary.

With Duet and John Laing, we hope to have other vessels from among our friends in the sail training world, including the Island Trust's Pegasus.

Silver jubilee During the day, there will be displays on Ocean Youth Club and Ocean Youth Trust history in the superb maritime atmosphere of Boathouse No.7. Emma is collecting material for this exhibition - if you have photos, documents, film or anything else which might be of interest, please contact Emma.

Boathouse No. 7 will also serve as a meeting point and registration centre, to help people catch up with others who may have been involved with the Club in the same era, or perhaps sailed the same vessels.

There will also be a chance to enjoy the Dockyard's other attractions, if you wish: explore the historic ships HMS Victory and HMS Warrior, as well as the Mary Rose museum; fly a helicopter simulator in Action Stations, which brings the modern Royal Navy alive for visitors; or take a trip into Britain's naval past with the Royal Naval Museum. There is also Spinnaker Tower and Gunwharf Quays nearby.

In the evening, Boathouse No.7 will host a drinks reception for the 50th anniversary, followed by a hot buffet dinner. There will be presentations on the past and present Ocean Youth Club and Ocean Youth Trust, and we hope shortly to be able to announce a guest speaker and some live music.

OYC Many thousands of people have sailed with or supported the Ocean Youth Club and Ocean Youth Trust over the last 50 years. All of you are welcome to the daytime events, but places for the drinks reception and dinner are limited - book early to avoid disappointment!

Tickets - for the displays, presentations, welcome drink and dinner - are available for just £37.50 each. This all goes towards the costs of the event. We would ask anyone who can afford it to consider making an additional voluntary donation (at any level you can afford), to ensure that the event makes a profit to support our work with young people. If you wish to make a donation and are a taxpayer, please complete and return this Gift Aid form. Your generosity will be enormously appreciated.

OYC Please complete the following form to order your tickets. We are asking for a little background information, partly to tell us about the people who are coming but also to help us create opportunities to put people from the same eras in touch.

The form allows you to book for additional guests at the same time. If your form lists guests who are also present or former OYC / OYT members, we will contact you separately to ask for more background information on them. If people are booking separately but wish to be seated together (there will be tables of ten), please email Emma Laird with names of everyone in your party.

We are posting names and background information (NOT contact details) for those who have booked on this website so that others can see who is coming - check here to see if you can find the names of any old friends. Please state at the bottom of the form if you are happy for us to post your details there. We won't give out any contact details without permission, but do ask us if you would like to be put in touch with others from the list in order to organise your table of 10 people.

Dress code: Smart casual - though there will be a prize for the person turning up in the oldest and/or most impressive piece of OYC / OYT branded clothing!

Hotels and accommodation: A list of hotels in the area can be found here. Some offer discounts for group bookings: there is one option of a group booking rate of £60 for a double, twin or family room - it will all depend on the numbers of people interested. There are also many B & Bs in the area that would be less expensive. Again depending on the numbers of people interested, we might be able to arrange an even cheaper option, such as camping mattresses on the floor of the Gosport Sea Cadet Unit. If you tick the group bookings and / or cheap floor space box on the form above, we will keep you informed about whether the numbers involved make these options look viable.

Travel information: Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is located within very easy walking distance of Portsmouth Harbour Station and the Gosport ferry. There is a taxi rank there as well for ease of returning to hotels. We can investigate the possibility of laying on transport between hotels and the Dockyard if enough people are staying at the same location.