A restaurant has donated £5,000 to allow a sailing club to purchase a dinghy to join the fleet.

The donation from Rockfish has allowed the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust to purchase the latest RS Quest sailing dinghy to join the fleet.

Thanks to the huge amount of support it has received, the Trust makes it possible for children who live locally to the River Dart and wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to try sailing to get out on the water.

Over the last two years, the Trust has given 64 primary and 24 secondary school children from Kingswear, Galmpton, Stoke Fleming, St Johns, Totnes, East Allington Primary and Dartmouth Academy the chance to sail.

Children from Kingswear Primary and Dartmouth Academy spent two days achieving the RYA level one and children from the other schools had a ‘learning to sail’ taster day.

For most of these children it was their first sailing experience.

The Trust has said thanks to Savills who sponsored t-shirts for every child taking part from the local schools.

Owner of Rockfish and chef, Mitch Tonks said: “We love what the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust does in giving children from all different walks of life the chance to sail.

“Sailing has always been something I’ve enjoyed doing with my family and I am delighted that, through the Trust and through our customers’ generous support, we are helping them fund a new RS Quest dinghy and are encouraging more young would be sailors to take to the water.”

Mitch named the RS Quest sailing dinghy ‘Stella Maris’ which means ‘star of the sea’.

Each of the restaurants in the Rockfish group supports a local charity. An optional £1 table donation is included on the menus which many customers choose to give to the named charitable organisation.

The Dartmouth Rockfish chose the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust to be one of its charities.

Chairman of the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust, Ian McClelland said: “We hugely appreciate the support by the customers of Rockfish whose enormously generous donation and all the support Mitch Tonks himself has given to the Trust, along with the many other sponsors who have helped to make this happen and the Royal Dart Yacht Club who make its facilities available for use.

“For the children who are getting the chance to sail, it really is a life changing opportunity.”

The Trust was established in June 2016 as a legacy of, but as a separate entity to, the Royal Dart Yacht Club’s 150th anniversary celebrations. In addition to giving a broader group of children the chance to sail it also supports the Royal Dart Yacht Club junior sailing.