News From Committee March 2007

Posted Monday 2nd April 07

  •  The date for Supermarket bag packing at Asda has been changed to 28th April from 10am till 2pm. Contact    Kathy Mayberry to put your name down for a stint. Could turn out to be a big fundraiser, but need to have all tills covered for the 4 hr slot, so even if you can only do an hour let Kathy Mayberry know ASAP.
  •  The new fenders for the gigs are currently on order.
  •  Club membership stands at 107, but we need to attract some younger male rowers as the figures show that    we are low on this age/gender group.
  •  The giggler has been sold and the debate continues as to what type of replacement we need, a sub committee still looking at all options.
  •  The gig trailers are going in for their annual check up/maintainance before the towing season starts.
  •  Lyme Regis has had it`s first meeting to form a committee to start a Rowing club, so all looking even more promising there.
  •  We are looking at getting shirt sponsorship by selling the chance to be in a draw with other companys. They will be able to buy a place in the draw for a small fee and then if they are drawn out their company gets the advertising, this is still in the early stages of planning but could be a good fundraiser.
  •  We will have to allow one of our gigs to be used for the championships this year, we hope that the CPGA will allow us to lend a gig for the Mixed/Vets champs as getting a gig to Newquay twice in September for the whole weekend is not very practical for us, If they want to borrow a Gig, Penny will be offered.
  •  Swanage have cancelled their Regatta, which means we can now attend Appledore again, this has been amended on the website fixtures list.
  •  It has been suggested that on trawler race day instead of our crews racing in the harbour that a challenge race is to to be set up between the Coastguards and the Lifeboat crews, The sub committee who are in contact with the trawler race committee will help organize this event. An experienced Cox and stroke rower will need to be in each boat for Safety
  •  We will need to look into fire regulations for the boat shed and Bob Cove is investigating what the requirements are.
  •  A regatta committee needs to formed to help organize our annual event, Adrian Love is to head the committee and he has called a meeting for the 26th March at flat 3, 28 Chickerell Rd, time to be confirmed, contact Adrian on wey 783144 if you are able to go. An e-mail has already gone out about this and it is on the club website.
  •  Our annual Ball is to be on 29th September 2007 at the Pavillion, plenty of time to sort your glad rags out!

News From Committee February 2007

  •  Safety, The cox is to wear the radio around neck using a lanyard, these will soon be supplied
  •  Hopefully the 3rd gig will be ready early 2008, no guarantees but that is the time scale we are looking at
  •  Membership fees are to stay the same this year, almost certainly will need to increase next year as we will have to pay a fee per rower to the CPGA and our fees will need to go up anyway, so make the most of no increase this year and expect a rise next year
  •  To stop large amounts of money accumulating in the shed, rowing fees will need to be paid monthly, See your captains for details of how this will work and what you need to do. This is for a trial period to see how it works
  •  The fundraising evening at Sharkeys raised £240, a great start to the new gig fund
  •  A sub committee is to be formed to help us play a part in the trawler race weekend, We have a huge amount on anyway that weekend with our own regatta to organize but we will have to try to get involved as much as we can sensibly, we did benefit financially last year after all. The Sub committee so far is Kathy, Su, Ade and Christine, others will be welcome to join them so let them know if you can help. On the day of the trawler race the organizers are hoping we can help with selling programs, some gig racing in the harbour as last year and collecting donations
  •  Fundraising for a 3rd gig trailer has been put on the back burner for the moment, we have so many other things to fundraise for like a 3rd gig!  And new safety boat that the luxury of a third gig trailer will have to wait
  •  Kathy Maybery needs to know how many voluntary hours are given to the club each month to help with funding bids, so if you volunteer hours each month be it, sitting through three hour committee meetings, coxing the boats, assisting new rowers etc etc.   Can you let Kathy know so she can collate this info for her fundraising crusade!
  •  Kathy also is try to put together a skills register for the club and on the membership renewal forms there is a space for you to fill in any skills you have that may be helpful to the club i.e  Builders, Carpenters, Solicitors, chefs any skills you have put them down
  •  We have been given the chance to go bag packing at Asda, this can be a really good fundraiser and Kathy will be looking for volunteers to make sure we make the most of it and have all the checkouts covered during our allotted time we are given, Watch the website and notice boards for details, it wont cost you anything to participate in the fundraising just a couple of hours of your time!
  •  The under 16s championship will be held on the same weekend as the Ladies championship at  Newquay this year (Sunday) (great joy for all those rowing mums who like to leave their U16 rowers, husbands etc for a weekend away with the girls concentrating on some serious drinking/rowing/partying in Newquay!)
  •  The CPGA is to change the boundaries of regions and it is hoped we will be grouped in with Devon/Dorset which will keep us in the same region as Teignmouth, Paignton etc
  •  The club has been informed that a committee has been formed in Lyme Regis to start a rowing club. Great news for us as this could mean a regatta closer to home each season and some competition to get together with and we wish them well
  •  Safety boat is still under debate and many options are being looked onto with regards to what sort we should choose that will meet our needs well into the future
  •  Junior rowers, under 16s will be allowed out to sea weather conditions permitting without a safety boat in attendance providing the cox and another adult (so two responsible adults to decide) is happy they are competent to do so, they are as always wearing a life jacket, that their parents have given consent for them to do so and a lookout is around to watch them out at sea. This has been agreed as it could be some time before a new safety boat is available and the juniors get frustrated at being constantly confined to the harbour for rowing, also during the summer the traffic in the harbour can mean that it is not the best place for a gig full of kids to be and they are going to be less at risk out in the bay with more room
  •  Steve Barsky is to start some rowing on a Thursday Afternoon for anyone who can manage a weekday daytime row – Further Information on the WRC Website
  •  Peter Revell is kindly going to take on the recreational rowing and is hoping to restart this at the beginning of March – Further information on the WRC Website
  •  New fenders are going to be bought for both gigs, the ones we have are all odd sizes, some to big, others to small and it is hoped that with new correct size ones less damage will occur to the paint work on the gigs
  •  The gigs look lovely with their new coats of paint and all repairs done, but they are later than usual going back into the water, the drying out process took much longer this year due to the dampness of the boatshed caused by new concrete and blocks and a new roof to the extension being put on. The club will try to take the boats out of the water earlier this year which will hopefully mean they go back in earlier next year which will assist with earlier crew selections