Hannah

Hannah spent last weekend coaching young girls at Slalom Inspires whose aim is to inspire and empower the girls of canoe slalom by running events across the UK.  So proud of you Hannah! We have loved every minute of following you on your journey since we first supported you in 2014. You are a true inspiration and what a role model for these young girls.  

Incredibly proud of our young Champion Hannah Clements who will be leading these young people to the Amazon with the British Exploring Society.  

We were thrilled to learn back in May this year that Hannah was chosen by the British Exploring Society to take part in their 6 week Trainee Leadership Expedition to the Amazon! This will be an incredible experience for her.  Hannah set off on this once in a lifetime adventure on July 16th, and will be incommunicado for the entire 6 weeks away.  We are so very proud of all her achievements over the years since we began supporting her. She is an exceptional young woman and we can’t wait to hear all about her adventures when she gets back.  Huge thanks to the Brighton and Hove Rotary Club who gave her £500 towards the costs and to the British Exploring Society for offering this incredible opportunity.  

We have teamed up with the British Exploring Society, who work with relatively small groups of young people to deliver transformational youth development in the wilderness. They create unique expeditions to challenge and transform the expectations and future lives of young people. We were thrilled to learn that Hannah was chosen to take part in the 6 week Trainee Leader Expedition to the Amazon. This will be an incredible experience for her. £500 of the funds needed for the trip have been kindly donated by Brighton and Brighton and Hove Soiree Rotary Club. Hannah was thrilled and we are all extremely grateful. Hannah will be raising her own funds to cover equipment costs. We are super excited to hear how she gets on.

Our Champions Outreach Manager Mel and Starr Trust Ambassador Claire were delighted to be invited to Brighton and Hove Soiree Rotary Club’s Youth Festival on 28th April at the Barge on Brighton Marina. Claire and Mel were presented with a cheque for £500 to go towards funding Hannah’s forthcoming leadership expedition to the Amazon. We are extremely grateful to Brighton and Hove Soiree Rotary for their generosity over the last few months.  

Hannah talked to Safety Rocks about being bullied at school, taking up Kayaking and becoming a Starr Trust Champion. Read more here.

Listen to Hannah talking about her time in Dubai at the White Water Rafting Championships. She was competing with Team GB who brought back an incredible 2 Golds, a Silver and 2 Bronzes!  Hannah talked to Allison Ferns live in the studio at BBC Sussex on Tuesday afternoon November 29th.  

Hannah was part of Team GB’s Ladies U23 in the Rafting World Championships in Dubai on November 2nd-5th, and brought home a fantastic 5 medals for Great Britain. Rafting comprises of 4 individual disciplines: Sprint, Head to Head, Slalom and Endurance. The ladies U23 team was only formed in February this year and this was their first international event.  Hannah said “Being part of the World Championships was such an incredible experience. I am so proud of my team mates and our achievements and am extremely grateful to the Starr Trust for their financial support. As there is no national funding available, their help meant we were able to get out to Dubai and compete”.

Hannah has just been selected to be part of the GB Under 23 women’s rafting team. They have qualified to compete at the European Championships in Slovenia in May and the World Championships in October. The team beat many more senior and established teams and are hotly tipped for podium finishes at both events. Congrats and good luck Hannah!  

Hannah and Kayleigh fundraised for us in an 8 hour Ergoathon on Saturday 15th August at Adur Outdoor Activities Centre in Shoreham-by-Sea.  They took up the challenge to paddle alternately on an Ergo machine for a total of 8 hours and they are asking if you, your friends and family would kindly sponsor them in this Challenge. Please go to their fundraising page to find out more.  Hannah says “The reason why we chose to do this challenge was to help repay the Starr Trust with as much as we could. I was honoured to get my grant and from the get go I wanted to help raise a bit of money so they could help other children like me. I found this challenge surprisingly hard considering I kayak, however, it has inspired me to raise more money for such an amazing charity”  Hannah says: “I am really honoured to have been chosen as a Starr Champion. I will do my very best to make you all proud.”  Her mum Claire says: “We can’t believe that you have chosen Hannah. She will get so much from the award, not only the equipment and training but meeting such inspiring, positive people from the Trust. I know that this award will touch many young people, not just Hannah, in the long term and i can’t thank the benefactors enough.”