The club's Annual General Meeting is on Wednesday 11 November at the Gaff Rigger, Mercury Marina.
It is not only a meeting. Both boats are going out for a fun sail during the day, skippered by Melanie and Chas, and there are berths aboard afterwards for anyone travelling from further afield who would rather not drive home in the dark. Places on the sail and the berths are limited, so the Commodore is allocating them. Ask any director for a place on the sail or a berth, and he will fit in as many people as he can.
Be warned that there is no lie-in the following morning. Speedbird is sailing and Concorde is booked for an early lift-out.
The board changes this year
Nominations for election as a director closed at midnight on 14 October, and the Commodore, Andrew Williams, is retiring from the board at this AGM after eleven years.
Over those eleven years the board has drawn on whatever the membership happened to have. Doctors guided the club through first aid and medicines aboard. A solicitor saw it through the separation from BA Clubs and rewrote the Articles of Association. Engineers sorted out assorted issues on the boats, members with financial backgrounds kept the books, and health and safety professionals steered the club through COVID. The booking system was built, and is still maintained, by members who work in IT. Senior instructors run the training programme and keep the manual compliant with the RYA. Behind all of them is a long list of members who turn up for maintenance days or help with publicity.
Standing for the board sounds more daunting than it is. The skills are much the same as those of an active committee member at a PTA or a Scout group, and enthusiasm and effort count for more than any of them. Without members willing to stand, the club cannot continue, legally or practically.
If you are a member and have not had the AGM papers, they go out by email through the booking system. Questions about the meeting, the sail or a berth go to the Commodore, or to any director.