2020 AGM Commodore's Report

SCALING DAM SAILING CLUB

Commodore's AGM Report 2020

This year has been unusual to say the least. A pandemic that closed not only SDSC but everything with the exception of essential services for three months. The decision to close the club was taken for us by Northumbrian Water who following government guidance closed all their sites to any leisure activities at the end of March.

The Committee continued to hold monthly meeting using the medium "Zoom" where we discussed how best to steer the club through this difficult time. We closely followed the guidance given by the government and RYA .The government's introduction of the furlough scheme and a grant from our local authority massively helped with our reduced income and staff wages. Thank you to Ian Holden for all the work he put in ensuring that the club was able to tap into these two schemes. Ian has put a massive amount of work not only in achieving this financial benefit, but also in forward planning the club finances for the future and looking at how best we can increase our reserves so that we will be able to match fund any future developments.

Once we were given an indication that some water sports would be held we had to come up with a plan on how to operate safely and within the government guidelines. We also had to seek approval from NWL as our landlords. NWL requested a risk assessment on how we would operate. They would only let us reuse the club if they felt our procedures made it safe to do so. Thank you Phil Dickinson our club development officer for all the effort he put into this. Following RYA guidance he started in May to create the staged Wave opening system which saw the first boats on the water in early June. This enabled single handers or members of the same family in a two man boat, paddle-boarders and canoes to take to the water. Subsequently we have seen the introduction of Wave 2 and 3 which enables a lot more activity at the club.

One of the activities was a family week inspired by Nick and Clare Hunt, which saw a number of our member camp over for the week. The adults organised loads of activities for our junior sailors and great fun was had by everyone. I'd also like to thank Andy Young for his advice on how best to ensure everyone was in a safe environment for the week.

During this very restrictive time we have still been able to run some of our RYA courses thanks to the initiative from Tony Johnston and his helpers who used the clubs sailability dinghies to run them, thereby eliminating the risk of capsize by inexperienced sailors and therefore the need to rescue them. This worked extremely well which meant we have been able to offer far more training than we had anticipated. I'd also like to thank Tony for the introduction of 'Discord' which is open to all members and allows messages and communications for such things as; organising informal racing or a buddy sailing partner. This has all been particularly helpful this year.

One of the reasons that we have not been able to run our normal racing programme is because of safety cover. It was not possible to have a rescue boat assistant as this would breach the social distancing measures. For the same reason we have not been able to roster race office duties. Members did find a way of running races using the pursuit method with staggered start times for different classes of boats. Thank you, to those members who took it upon themselves to organise this.

There are a number member some having only recently joined who have really got involved in club life and brought a lot of positive energy. In particularly Deborah Hodgson and Nicky Bamford who this year both became paddleboard instructors. This has helped massively to boost and maintain paddleboarding; a newish activity at Scaling.

Michelle Bullock has put a tremendous amount of effort into ensuring that open water swimming (OWS) got underway again. OWS has a real future at Scaling thanks to Michelle and her team of helpers.

A big thank you is due to Alex Robinson has volunteered for rescue boat so many times this year going above and beyond what's expected. Thank you also to Carole Blades who has worked hard to keep the junior section active through lockdown as well as being involved in the online virtual racing. Then there are those members that always support Scaling. Individuals like Norman Cockburn who I awarded the Commodores Trophy to last year. He continues to do so much for us as does Ian Thompson who is employed by the club, but he also does so much more behind the scenes in his own time. We have a pool of instructors who give up their time in order that we attract new members and retain existing ones. Thank you to all the members who have been hugely supportive of the club during this difficult time. Thank you for all your support and for continuing to remain members with so many restrictions this year. This really has been greatly appreciated. Finally I'd like to thank all the members of the committee who give up their time to ensure the future success of Scaling Dam and supported me. I am sorry if I've missed anyone out!

I have done four years as commodore and it has been a real honour and privilege to be able to represent this club. However it is time for me to stand down and allow someone else the honour of carrying out this role. I will of course remain on the committee and help in any way I can and particularly on work towards improving our club house to bring it in line with other leisure facilities. A task that is well overdue!

Thank you