Isle Of Wight Youth Trust Announced Wight Wave Beach Fest 2023 Official Charity Partner

The Isle of Wight Youth Trust has been selected as the official charity partner for the upcoming Wight Wave Beach Fest sports tournament, taking place on 29th and 30th July at Appley Beach in Ryde.

The partnership highlights the importance of sport and physical activity with both physical and mental wellbeing.

Building on the excitement of the Women’s World Cup, the England Women’s Beach Soccer Team will be dropping by, as will some very special guests from Sky One.

As the official charity partner, The Youth Trust will be utilising the event to raise awareness of their work, promoting the importance of supporting mental wellbeing among children and young people on the Island as well as raising much needed funds.

With 217 teams across four sports, 420 medals to present, 25 trophies to be won and over 2000 competitors it is set to be a fantastic weekend of competition and family fun.

Adding to the competition, the Youth Trust will be running a “Sonic Strike Out” challenge – to see who can score the fastest goal!

The challenge will be helping to raise vital funds for the Trust, at a time when demand for their services has reached unprecedented levels.

Meghann Ayres, Youth Trust Clinical Lead, said:

“We continue to witness the devastating impact of the pandemic on children and young people’s mental wellbeing every single day.

"It is of profound concern that we find ourselves increasingly supporting children and young people resorting to self-harm to manage their emotions.

"Perhaps most worryingly we are seeing young primary school children who have voiced the unimaginable pain of not wanting to continue to live. Our work is critical.”

In 2023, the Youth Trust has experienced a significant surge in demand, with a total of 880 referrals received to date.

This sharp increase stands in stark contrast to 2022 when they received 867 referrals in the span of 12 months.

The magnitude of this rise highlights the immense and growing challenges that our children and young people are facing in their mental health and well-being. 

WightWave BeachFest takes place this coming weekend (July 28-30) at Appley Beach in Ryde.

The family friendly event brings together a whole host of adrenaline-charged beach sports, locally sourced food and drink and an eclectic and laid-back mix of quality music.