A FORMER Borth woman who wants to launch a sailing school in the village is setting up a crowdfunding website aimed at securing backers.

Emma Heathcote, a keen sailor and member of Borth RNLI Lifeboat crew, has said the proposal would create jobs and boost Borth’s economy with support for local shops, pubs, B&Bs and campsites.

The crowdfunding site is aimed at providing the money to develop a suitable site for the school after the site originally identified by Emma as a possible location became unavailable.

However, Emma said that had not altered her ambition of seeing the sailing school launched.

She said: “The Ysgol Hwylio Borth Sailing School will offer both recreational and professional sailing courses to local people and visitors to Borth.

“The plan is to drive forward economic regeneration of Borth, creating jobs for local people and generating increased business for other business owners in Borth.

“The sailing school will provide new jobs in the village and will have a major impact on the prosperity of other local services - shops, pubs, B&Bs, campsites and transport providers will all benefit from an increased number of visitors to Borth each year."

“I believe this is a very real possibility for Borth. It is something we can all be involved with an we can all benefit from," she added.

Emma, who currently lives with her daughter on the Isle of Wight while working at Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, was a long-term Borth resident, living in the village for 15 years before moving for work.

She is hoping that the crowdfunding page on www.crowdfunder.co.uk will go live on 1 May and will be available to be supported after that date.

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now