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Sir Ben and Lady Ainslie named as Ocean Ambassadors for the National Marine Aquarium
25th October 2018
The most successful Olympic sailor of all time, Sir Ben Ainslie and his wife Lady Ainslie were announced as Ocean Ambassadors of the National Marine Aquarium last night at a fundraising dinner in Plymouth. The funds raised will go towards the NMA’s national school outreach programme, which aims to bring the ocean into school classrooms across the UK, helping school children to connect with the ocean wherever they live.
Ben and Georgie join the NMA in its concern that in the UK, and many other countries across the world, young people can go through their school life without learning about topics relating to the ocean, despite the ocean representing the largest living space on the planet.
The NMA hopes to see marine elements added to the National Curriculum in the future and encourages the Department for Education and other statutory bodies to look at ways of supporting teachers to deliver these. Ben and Georgie agree there is an urgent need to educate future generations on our marine environment to protect ocean health.
Roger Maslin, CEO of the NMA said: “It’s great that Ben and his family have joined our growing team of Ocean Ambassadors and are passionate about helping us on our journey to support teachers to include marine topics in their teaching of the curriculum. In the future, our ultimate goal is to see the Ocean added as a core topic across a variety of subjects within the National Curriculum. As a charity we have set a target of reaching one million school children and families per year, within the next five years, and with Ben and Georgie’s strong connection with sport and the Oceans, they will play an important role in helping us to achieve this.”
Ben added: “As a family, we are excited to be supporting the National Marine Aquarium. We spend much of our time out on the water, so really understand the importance of looking after the Oceans and are passionate about inspiring future generations to develop pro-Ocean habits.”