Dear members
As your new Chairman I have a couple of things to address, but firstly I’d like to thank Tony in particular for the success he’s had growing our youth section. We now have large numbers turning out on a Saturday morning which is a great achievement.
The increase of the youth sections however does bring with it added work for our adult club members. It takes a lot of time to get our enthusiastic young paddlers down to the launch jetty at the bottom of the long winding path. I also have some concerns about young people carrying heavy boats and equipment unassisted and/or adult members doing all of the carrying and not having the
chance to improve their own skills and enjoy the session. I therefore am setting out new rules for the young/youth paddlers and parents for all club sessions with immediate effect:
- All paddlers must come with appropriate footwear, this means a soled wetsuit boot, water shoes or trainers but no crocs. Please ask if you need any advice on suitable equipment, we are more than happy to help.
Parents please:
- Don’t leave young paddlers at the club before signing them in (we now have a
signing in register)
Assist helping your young paddler carry boats and any other required equipment to the jetty before they join the instructing team. - Be at the jetty for 1130 (Saturday sessions finish at 12 noon but often finish earlier in the winter due to the cold weather) to assist your young paddlers getting off the water and returning boats and equipment to the club storage.
As the colder weather draws in please ensure that you:
- Stay in the vicinity of Blandford and are contactable, younger paddlers tend
to get cold quickly and may need to end their session early and we may not
have sufficient older members to look after them on both water and land.
(In the past older members have had to forgo their time on the water). - Leave your young paddler dry, warm clothing.
- Any required medication or information on medical conditions must be handed over to the lead instructor that day.
- We will be enforcing the minimum age of 10 years from now on, of course all of our current young paddlers are welcome to attend but we will not be accepting any new members under 10 years of age unless a parent accompanied them on the water for the duration of the session.
We will be looking at having a couple of river trips for members wanting to develop their skills. These will be run according to ability to ensure maximum benefit to each group.
Thank you very much in advance for your understanding. Why don’t you give it a go? It’s how most of the older members started ;-).
I hope to see you all on the water soon!
If you have any queries please feel free to contact me on 07748403995.
Thanks again, Matt