Ryde Rowing Club Annual General Meeting. 22/11/18. Secretary’s Report 2018

Ryde Rowing Club Annual General Meeting Thursday 22 November 2018

Secretary’s Report 2018

On behalf of Ryde Rowing Club I extend a warm welcome to you all & thank you for attending this evening.

This is will be my 10th successive report & sadly my last as this year I intend to stand-down as Secretary.  In doing so I should like to thank Committee members both past & present for their invaluable support.

I begin by extending your thanks to all the members of the current committee who work so hard on your behalf, often taking on additional duties for the benefit of the Club.

Special thanks to Dave Redstone for his unstinting efforts in balancing the books & keeping such a tight hold on our finances.

Thanks as always go to Steph, Josie, members of the bar committee and all those who volunteer to staff the bar, the revenue from which goes a long way to maintaining the fabric of the club.  In addition a special thanks to Josie for her organisation of the now infamous Catering Crew.  Money raised at the regatta from refreshments has enabled the Club to this year purchase a new bottle fridge for the bar, provided the initial purchase of Club kit for stock purposes, enabled the Club to contribute to the Hants & Dorset plan for a defibrillator to be available at all regattas and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn in saying that the Club is about to purchase a much needed new Stair Lift at a cost of nearly £2000. None of which would have be possible without the income from catering ... thank you Josie

 A very successful & enjoyable awards evening was once more held at the Club and again thanks are extended to Chris Groves for all her time & effort in the organisation.

Now for our achievements on the water

2018 will again be recorded, perhaps surprisingly, as a very successful year for Ryde Rowing Club. With sadly an absence of senior crews there has still been several notable performances & our young rowers have represented the club in an exemplary manner.

I extend my congratulations to all the crews & their coaches who have competed this season.  The club was represented in seventeen events, thirteen of which were on the mainland, with two cancelled due to adverse weather, plus an indoor competition. This included the South Coast Rowing Championships in Deal, Kent and the GB Junior Inter Regional Championships at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. 

We had wins in pre-season Head Races & Hants & Dorset Regatta’s in – Men’s Novice Fours, Men’s Novice Sculls & J16 Fours.

The Club also maintained its strong record of regional representation with six members of the junior squad selected to represent the Wessex Region and compete in the National Junior Inter-Regional Regatta at the National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham.

Club member Sharon Ayles represented England at the inaugural Commonwealth Beach Sprint Championships coxing the Mixed FISA Coxed Quad.

The Club was also pleased to support Shanklin’s Daisy Faithful in her successful bid to make the GB Junior Squad with the loan of a double, the Club’s Folly Facilities and coaching support during her preparation for her gold medal winning performance

Once again a very successful Ryde Regatta was held both on and off the water with 94 crews & scullers. taking to the water   My thanks as always  goes to Steve & his team for organising such a very successful event,  to all the catering crew, the many volunteers & especial thanks to the sponsors for helping to make this one of the best regattas on the South Coast

 The Club has a growing Junior section & thanks must be extended to Graham & Darrell for giving so much of their time & patient encouragement to this enthusiastic & lively group.

 Our small but enthusiastic, adaptive section continue to enjoy the Club facilities on Friday evenings and they & their families remain strong supporters the Club; enjoying many social events.

 The club maintains strong links with Ryde Harriers who share the clubhouse premises & facilities for their weekly training sessions and as a base for several championship races. The Committee is still reviewing how this link may be strengthened.

 In closing I once again extend sincere thanks to all our sponsors for their invaluable support.  More especially to Andy Tomms & TLM Laser for their generous sponsorship of the regatta and to Wightlink whose support is so vital in maintaining the Club’s ability to continue to compete so successfully on the mainland. 

Over & Out J

Carole Hewison

Hon Secretary

November 2018