In this week’s blog:

• Commodore's Award
• Winter Working Party
• Committee Meeting Outcomes
• Trailers
• Boat Park Developents
• Over the Winter

COMMODORE’S AWARD

This year, as those of you at the dinner dance will know, I initiated a new award to mark my time as Commodore.  The Commodore’s Award is available for current and future commodores to award for whatever reason they wish at their sole discretion, no consultation with the committee necessary.  The current emphasis by the RYA is on rewarding our volunteers and this fits exactly with my own thoughts, so whilst there are many deserving possibilities for this award in its inaugural year, I decided to award this to a deserving volunteer. This year I am therefore very pleased to announce that Jo and Mike Collins are joint recipients of the first Commodore’s Award and very much deserved too.  Last year when Mike Collins was successfully nominated for an RYA volunteer award I wrote in the nomination that it seemed unjust that I could not award both Mike and Jo jointly.  I am pleased to be able to remedy this with the Commodore’s Award.

WORKING PARTY

This weekend saw the last programmed diary event of the year with the winter working party – many thanks to those of you that helped.  Keeping the club in good repair and cleanliness helps reduce our overall maintenance costs and makes the club a better environment in which to sail. The weekend was marked by one mishap – in trying to install partitions in the men’s showers your Commodore managed to drill through a water pipe! Many thanks to Ernie for helping rescue the day. There will be some additional work over the winter: removal of the Jetty when the water level rises; painting of ceilings; painting of some of the barrel buoys; some small reorganisation of the boat park (see below); and of course the start of season working party will involve more jobs to get us ready for next year. I will, of course, keep you updated on this nearer the time.

COMMITTEE MEETING OUTCOMES

Your new Committee met for a long day session on Saturday 8^th December. Apart from the ‘usual’ business we discussed several important subjects.  In brief these are listed below – if you want to know more please do not hesitate to contact me:

• Boat Park and Trailer Management (see below);
• Feasibility Study into a Wind Turbine provision (we could potentially generate electricity for sale to the grid for 5 of every 7 days minimum);
• A review of the Galley provision;
• A review of training;
• Provision of additional containers and change of use of the garage;
• Provision of tractor for moving the jetty in and out and for the movement of patrol boats;
• Management of annual budget and long term budget provision;
• Next years sailing programme. We will continue supporting cruising, there will be two cruising away days next year. We intend to support Newbiggin Sailing Club’s winter open as in previous years and have added Sunderland’s August Regatta to our calendar.

Most importantly for me however, was our discussion on Junior Sailing.  Over the next 3-5 years my aim is to get many more Junior sailors involved in racing the club and to progress these sailors towards regional and national squad levels. Our emphasis next year will be to encourage more Junior sailing at the club. I will write to you all about this in more detail nearer to the start of next season. In addition we will be setting up the framework for a Junior Council over the winter and the start of the season will see nominations and elections for that Council. 

TRAILERS

In order to facilitate the next stage of development (emptying of the garage and installation of containers) the smaller trailer park next to the existing container on the foreshore has been emptied.  All of these trailers have been removed to the grassed area near to the main trailer park.  Pictures of these trailers (many of which seem to be abandoned or in dis-repair) will appear shortly on the letmein picture site (contact me if you do not know how to access this site) and a note will be posted on the forum. We are in the process of marking all trailers to enable them to be clearly identifiable.  Any unidentified or abandoned trailers may be removed from the club next season – please make an effort to identify your trailer and label it clearly before next season starts.

BOAT PARK DEVELOPMENTS

Viola, Julie and Tom are now in charge of the boat park.  Over the winter we are making some minor changes to the layout of the top part of the boat park to enable more spaces – thus accommodating our continued expansion. Before next season we are introducing some changes to the management of the boat park.  In essence you will need a tag for your boat and a duplicate tag for your trailer in order to be allocated a position in the boat park.  Changes will be made to the membership form to assist us in this and we will be strictly managing the allocation of tags and spaces. If you do not have an allocated space at the beginning of the season you must contact one of Viola, Julie or Tom to obtain this.  We will be numbering spaces in the boat park to help with this.  Unidentified boats and trailers will be moved or removed following processes set out in the Constitution. Space is short and it is important we continue to manage our boat park properly and keep it tidy and in good order and I ask that you help us in this.

OVER THE WINTER

If you use the club over the winter please ensure lights are switched off after use and doors and gates are locked behind you. The heating system is on unoccupied frost settings now so heaters are managed automatically on thermostats.  Please do not change any thermostat settings. Of course, make use of the wood burning stove to keep warm – ensuring the vent and door are closed when you leave the premises.

We are looking at potentially arranging some winter coaching for the hardy amongst you. Details will be promulgated in due course.  We may also be arranging a winter (non-sailing) social – again details later. The forum and this Blog will be used to keep you informed and news will also reach you with the membership renewal forms in January.  The 2008 programme will reach you with the membership renewal – please reply promptly, and in particular respond quickly with your choice of duty type and preferred dates so we can finalise the programme in detail before the season starts. We are looking to possibly arrange a bus to the Dinghy Show on either Sat 1^st or Sunday 2^nd March – again watch the forum for details.

Many thanks for the continued support and enthusiasm you all continue to show at the club – it makes Kielder a truly inspirational club to belong to.

Many thanks and Happy Christmas to you all, Steve