Ocean Youth Trust South is enormously sad to announce the death of one of our Honorary Life Members, Brian Eyres, on Friday 16th January 2026, at the age of 80.
Brian retired as a Trustee of the charity in November 2023 after 22 years during which he served as our Treasurer, shepherding the charity through the difficult early years after OYT South was born from the ashes of the Ocean Youth Club, when money was so tight that our survival was sometimes in doubt. But his time as Treasurer saw things turn around dramatically, setting the charity on the path to the sound finances we enjoy today – and including the successful fundraising campaign to buy Prolific – before he handed over to Martyn Powe in 2020.
Brian first got involved in the Ocean Youth Club back in 1990 when, as part-time Youth Leader in Poole, he drove a busload of young people to join our previous boat John Laing for the vessel’s very first proper voyage after her launch. Soon afterwards, Brian became a volunteer second mate. From there he progressed to First Mate, then a paid position, and then to Relief Skipper for OYC’s national fleet of 12 boats. In this capacity he skippered John Laing’s sister ketch, James Cook, from Panama onwards on the OYC’s round-the-world voyage in 1995-7. He was then Fleet Manager for the national fleet; but this concluded his time in paid employment with the charity – all subsequent involvement was as a volunteer. He continued as a volunteer relief skipper until 2009.
He didn’t just look after our finances – for many years he was our resident IT expert, invaluable in dealing with recalcitrant office hardware of all kinds, and it was not unknown for Brian to be found under an OYT South desk speaking kindly to the wiring. Our former Office Manager Sally Croly recalls often arriving to find only his feet sticking out! He was also key to designing and setting up a voyage bookings system and a members’ database; developing our volunteer base; and founding our Dorset Support Group.
In 2011 when the charity won The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, Brian was everyone’s choice to be part of the group representing us at a Buckingham Palace Garden Party.
In 2015, Brian was awarded a Lifetime Commitment Award from the Royal Yachting Association for his work with OYT South. In the same year, when the charity was invited to attend the first-ever Poole Harbour Boat Show, we held a 70th birthday party for him on board John Laing.
It is a testament to the affection in which Brian was held that when the news came last year that Brian was unwell and being cared for in a hospice, he enjoyed a stream of OYC and OYT visitors. The charity was a huge part of his life, and he was a huge part of all our successes. Many young people who have sailed with us in the last thirty five years owe a lot to Brian’s untiring work. He will be very much missed.
OYT South CEO Mark Todd said: “There are some people in life who you meet, to whom you owe everything, and for me Brian was one of those people. Brian was the person who accepted my application to volunteer with the Ocean Youth Club over 25 years ago and everything from then on (from starting as a Bosun, to becoming a Staff Skipper and now CEO, to meeting my wife and having our children!) can all be traced back to him saying yes. As a trustee of OYT South and Skipper himself he was always incredibly supportive of my career – particularly helping and guiding me along when I was just starting out. Likewise, he was key to OYT South’s success and helped build the foundations of where we are today. When they say sail training changes lives, Brian Eyres certainly changed mine and many others for the better. Thank you, Brian, we will miss you.”
Many people will remember Brian’s standard response if you every asked him how he was: “Fair to middling!” Staff engineer Josh Caudery once asked him about this and was told “Well, I’d say I’m well enough for you not to be too worried, but not so good you can give me a job. Means I can come down and be social. But get away without having to get my hands dirty!” Ironic given that for so many years Brian was always ready to get stuck in if there was anything which needed to be done.
Our sincere condolences to his family. If you have a memory or a photo of Brian which you would like to share, please send it to us and we can add more to this page.