BSSC Commodore report following the AGM on 19th October 2019.

Dear BSSC members

As promised, I would like to share with you my report from the AGM that was held on 19 October 2019.

First of all, I want to say how honoured I am to have been serving as commodore of BSSC this year. I absolutely could not have done it without the help and support of the General Committee as well as so many members across the club. So, a massive thank you everyone, especially Bill, who keeps me on the straight and narrow.

2019 has been a great year where we have had some very successful sailing activities on the water and social events in the clubhouse. However, aside from the Hawk and Cockle fleets, the number of dinghy sailors outside the summer period continue to decline with many members understandably having other commitments to focus on.

That being said we had a hugely successful Sail Training Week run by Georgie Child and Charles Vivian, with Tim How as Principle and Nick Williams as Chief Instructor along with their massive team of instructors and helpers. It was also extremely impressive to hear that we passed our RYA inspection during that week too, with zero issues or concerns raised.

Similarly we had an extremely successful Sailing Week run by Karen and Matt Goldbold, Claire and Rich Turner, with Slug and Bruce Kemp, and Ed Medcalf acting as Race officers at sea and in the harbour respectively along with many volunteers supporting in safety boats, the hut, results, managing boat traffic on the hard, and shepherding juniors. The team introduced some novel changes, which made the week run very efficiently.

I am so grateful to Georgie, Charles, the Godbolds and Turners who have all volunteered to run these events again next year – Phew!

Big thanks to Rosie Newport who has run another very successful Swallows and Amazons programme this year. It’s so nice to see them having such fun on the water and she has some great plans for 2020.

We had enormous success with the powerboat training run by Nick Williams as well as dinghy instructor courses. Most recently, Sophie Lambert trialled some supervised sailing sessions in August which were very popular. Bill and Bruce also ran a successful training weekend in May for sailors who wanted to practice race starts, which again was very well received.

Big thank you to all of our safety boat drivers and crew who have supported the sailing throughout the year and congratulations to Charlotte Parfitt for passing her commanders’ test earlier this year, making her the RNLI’s first female hovercraft commander. I am really proud to have someone of her calibre as part of our Safety Boat team!

Big thanks to Clare Duncan and Debs Hargreaves who organised the Ball this year which was fantastic. I am so pleased they have also volunteered for next year and are working on some ideas to make it a bit different - so watch this space!

Dickon Best presented the accounts for the year to 31 December 2018 at the AGM. The accounts show that the Club’s finances remain in a robust position following the Club House rebuild. Whilst we are not yet at the end of 2019, this position has continued, and we have been able to make a number of modest investments at the Club as a result.

Some of the things we have done around the Club House include re-decorating the changing rooms, replacing the web cam/CCTV, and new cupboard storage upstairs making the end room much more popular for small gatherings and meetings. I am very grateful to the Pensioners’ Painting Club for their help with these changes! We have also replaced a number of buoys in the harbour and ensured that our safety boats remain in tip top condition for the seasons ahead.

We are extremely lucky to have our team of Paul, Jana, and Pedro, as well as their support teams to keep us fed and watered throughout the year. It can get extremely stressful over the summer holidays, but they manage to survive with a smile!

Fiona Carter is standing down from the General Committee and I would like to say a big thank you to her for her creativity and hard work on planning our general entertainments such as the Launching and Laying Up suppers, Christmas Lunch, and Party. She will be a hard act to follow!

As many of you will know, we made a number of changes to the articles of association which were approved at the AGM.  I am very grateful to John Ellison and Charlie Bennion in particular for their hard work in this regard.

At the AGM we also passed on our huge thanks to Mike Percival who stood down as trustee, and the late Duncan Marshal Andrew who sadly passed away at the end of last year. Both had been trustees since 1991. I am also delighted to let you know that Ed Medcalf and Adam Anthony were appointed as new trustees to act alongside John Ellison and Charlie Bennion at the AGM.

That’s everything from me for now. Enjoy a relaxing autumn!

With best wishes,

Mary Andrews

BSSC Commodore