Commodores Blog May 2020
Published 18:38 on 28 May 2020
The month of May has brought some cheer with Casual sailing back on the agenda. Providing everyone follows the guidelines things can only further improve. Please thank the COVID Team Leslie Downing / Dave Ashton and Guy Fleming for their efforts in getting the club COVID compliant to enable a return to the water.
This is all conditioned upon members following the framework published by the club. Namely stay 2m apart, use wipes & sanitiser as appropriate, complete the framework declaration and place in the post box at the club and remember to sign in/out on every visit.
The Committee are re-working the calendar and discussing options to re-start racing. However, all training is suspended subject to further advice from the RYA. One upside is the fact that no costs were spent on a printed club calendar that would have been out of date before the season really started.
Two big projects for 2020 that were on our radar at the 2019 AGM were completed in May.
- 1.The purchase of 16 car parking bays along the main security fence for members only use. (Many thanks to Robert Tindall's perseverance)
- 2.The laying of a concrete path from the pedestrian gate to the club house ramp. (Many thanks to Guy Fleming for managing this project)
Reflecting upon our aspirations for 2020, shared at the 2019 AGM, it is clear that some of our ambitions are likely to be impacted by the effects of COVID, particularly the delivery of training and qualification of new instructors. Our aim was to also stabilise membership numbers at 195 where we currently tracking at 183 with the cancellation of our on the water recruitment drive Discover Sailing.
Nonetheless Committee remain focused upon closing these gaps and will shortly be discussing whether to proceed with Phase 2 and 3 of the Dinghy Park security fencing. This was provisioned in our 2020 budget and due to further deterioration of the existing fence it is an investment we now need to consider.
It is nice to report that we appear to be on target with regard on-line payments processed through Stripe. You may recall that in our inaugural year we were hoping for 65% of income to come through this mode. We have also set up via our Banking partners on- line payment of expenses with dual authorisation, like the process used for cheques. A slight modification to the wording in the constitution will be required at the next AGM.
Finally, you may be pleased to learn that we have been successful with an application to Sport England for a COVID related Community Emergency Fund Award. Whilst revenues will be down this year particularly due the cancellation of training courses this award will assist in satisfying outstanding loans to members that were due for payment.
Last updated 20:40 on 23 December 2021
