A very short report this month, mainly due to my lack of time at the Club rather than a lack of activity!

The clocks went forward during the last month, so more activity on the water is starting to occur, Juniors and Seniors continue to train hard for the upcoming regatta season. Hopefully the potential shown will translate into wins on the water early in the season. Kenny Holmes has looked at the new status system to see what crews could be put out in competition.

We have a new single sculling boat on the racks. The WinTech Competitor was purchased thanks to a grant from East Staffordshire Youth Council which was applied for by Gemma Barker. Two way radios have been purchased by Rob Arnold for communication between coaches and coxes, I have not yet heard how successful they are, I hope they will prove to be useful. John Oram has arranged for the supply and fitting of the remote steering to the safety launch, this should be completed very soon. Richard Gipson has logged and numbered all the Club boats as per the ARA requirements.

Club members attended the “Comic Relief” fund raiser at Sainsbury’s in Burton, Kenny Holmes arranged the session, transported Ergos to and from Sainsbury’s and made sure collecting tins were rattled correctly. We should try to follow this up with a fund raiser of our own at the supermarket.

John Oram, Mike Gipson and I attended a regional club development meeting in Nottingham, some useful information came out of the meeting which has been discussed by the Committee and will be passed on to members.

Finally, congratulations to Robbie ‘Pidge’ Williams and Nick Edge who both achieved the ripe old age of 21 this month, I think their hangovers have just about subsided by now.

Peter Gipson

Captain