BUDDING young sailors have been given a helping hand on the waves after a £1,500 grant was awarded to a Gosport club.

Alverstoke Junior School's Swallows and Amazon Club will splash out on two new 'Oppie' sailing boats which are so safe that kids can go solo within hours.

The club will share the boats, bought with a New Opportunities Fund grant, with St Mary's Junior Sailing Club for the benefit of the whole local community.

Vice-chairman of the school's governors Richard Baker-Jones said: "We will be able to offer many more children sailing lessons. In the past we have only been able to offer twenty children an opportunity and we have 50 children enrolled."

The club has been running for five years.