Andrew Bengey Memorial Trip for Young Carers

The Lundy trip with young carers is one of the highlights in the Seaful charity calendar. What started back in 2022 with funding from the National Lottery and Dryrobe®, we couldn’t imagine the impact the trip would have on not only the young carers, but also those involved in making the trip happen, especially Lundy Diving. 

Lundy Diving was the dream turned passion of Andrew Bengey, who set up the business in 2001. Andrew skippered the boat for us in 2022, the trip leaving a marked impact on him. Sadly in 2023 Andrew passed away unexpectedly and suddenly. 

Part of Andrew’s ongoing legacy has been that the family donate both the Lundy Diving boats, Obsession II and Barbara B, including fuel, snacks, hot drinks and fully crewed to Seaful. Meaning we can take even more local young carers and those who need it to Lundy for this special trip. 

The crew who joined us this year, in addition to Andrew’s children, Gemma and Ben, were Leigh and Carl, friends and crewmates of Andrew. It was very special to share this with them.  

 

“A special day it was and just so magical seeing the kids enjoying a day off and was so worth it and special.” 

 

We had with us young carers from North Devon, along with some specially selected pupils from Great Torrington School. As we have done in previous years, we held pool sessions with all of them so they could get used to wearing wetsuits and using snorkels. 

Despite living in a coastal location,  many of these young people have yet to create their own connection with the ocean, let alone worn a wetsuit before. Some arrive quite nervous and mostly not knowing each other. The pool sessions are invaluable in starting to build community connections between peers, as well as providing confidence in what would otherwise be unknown and quite daunting circumstances. 

A fun activity we do in the pool sessions is a guessing game for the young people as to what wildlife they may meet on the trip. We had the usual fish, birds, jellyfish and of course SHARK…. imagine the young people’s surprise when we reply YES! We have dogfish in the water around Lundy and it is part of the shark family! 

The day of the trip we had blazing sunshine, with a bit of wind, thank you to Dryrobe® who provided everyone with sun hats, and we had plenty of fluids onboard. The sea conditions were calm, and the trip across from Ilfracombe to Lundy was a dream.  

We moored up next to the landing jetty for dive number one. There was no hesitation, everyone was straight in the water, even one or two of the more nervous kids launched themselves from the boats with joy. With my hand gripped firmly by one young person, in small groups, we made our way over kelp and seaweed, seeing fish, jellyfish and the odd head of the resident grey seals pop up to greet us. 

We all enjoyed snorkelling around the cliff edge and Landing beach, exploring what the beautiful marine conservation zone of Lundy had to show us. Soon we made our way back to the boats, with a babble of excitement and awe about what we had seen and the first experience for many of these young people of snorkelling. 

We enjoyed our packed lunches and made our way around to Gannets Bay for our second snorkel of the day. Once again, there was no hesitation from anyone; we were all soon snorkelling around, heads down, looking for the wonders in the sea.  

In this snorkel, it was joyous for us to see the confidence from each and every one of the young people, many of whom had needed support in the first snorkel session, now confidently and independently floating around, faces in the water, eagerly looking for kelp, jellyfish and of course a curious seal. 

The trip didn’t end with the snorkelling, with a little time spare we took the boats to look for puffins and other birds. A couple of puffins were spotted as well as many other birds who call Lundy home. On the return journey we were heading into a bit of swell, this causing a bump on the bow, much to the delight of the young people who enjoyed jumping with the boats and receiving a refreshing dose of sea spray! 

Once back on land, a yummy ice cream for all – a good day spent, on and in the ocean, sharing space and creating ocean connections with each other and the creatures who live in the ocean around the Lundy Island Marine Conservation Zone. 

 

“I can’t believe how calming the ocean can be” – Maise- Young Carer 

 

“This is the best experience of my life so far” – Maddison – Young Carer & GTS Pupil

 

The longer-term impact of this trip for these young people will be followed, but for now, we have a fabulous new group of Ocean Advocates.  

 

This trip wouldn’t have been made possible without the generous community donating time and equipment in support of Seaful: 

Lundy Diving – Donating Boats, crew, hot drinks and yummy snacks 

Easy Divers –  Donating a pool session, snorkel kit for the day and providing Simon, Padi Dive Master Trainer 

Ilfracombe Sub Aqua Club – Donating snorkel kit for the day 

Steph Barnicott – BSAC Snorkel Leader/Guide

Maddie Meddings – Videographer/Photographer 

Dylan Tweedale  – Dryrobe® – Warmth Project 

Katherine Lewis – Water Safety & Seaful volunteer

Nancy Hickson – Seaful volunteer 

 

Special thanks to: 

Fiona and Amanda, Devon Young Carers

Imogen and Fiona, Great Torrington School 

Ben, Gemma, Carl, Leigh and Dawn from Lundy Diving for making this trip so special. 

 

We have our next trip planned for September, hoping for much of the same.  

Written by Lorna Evans – Seaful COO, who attended the trip.