The AGM, held at Coldham Hall this year, was very poorly attended, with only 17 members there, 10 of whom were committee members and their partners. This undoubtedly reflects the current difficulty that our club, and many others, are having to attract people to help run them.
Some had come by water, braving the lunchtime gale, but otherwise taking advantage of a mild weekend. 10 and Vixen were joined by Egret, on her maiden cruise with Chris Dowsett and the two dogs. She was duly launched on her voyages with an appropriate small celebration on board before the meeting.
The Commodore, Will Armour, opened the meeting with a minute’s silence for Léonie Dowsett and Pete Ford, both of whom sadly died this year. He then gave his report, as follows:
“Thank you to everyone who voted me in as Commodore. I’ve tried to do my best, but this has only worked because of the hard work by a number of people, in particular Julia and Margaret.
It has been an excellent year both sailing and socialising.
Both the spring and autumn regattas were good, with a large number of boats, which made for great racing. I was very pleased with the turn out for the youth trophy and well done Monty for winning it. We had some interesting discussions on racing starts; however it is the OOD’s decision and if you want to become OOD, then it can be done your way. Why does Frank Sinatra come to mind!
The future needs looking at: we need to fill key posts and need more help on the day for all jobs, not just starts and finishes. The Yare Sailing Club needs more people to become committee members - the committee takes the important decisions and must be fully representative of the membership and needs to up to numerical strength.
Importantly, my thanks go to everyone who has helped, Julia has kindly listed them in her report, but this is my confirmation and thanks.
We have many background needs in the club and I would like to thank Joe Farrow for repairing the flag mast.
Just some highlights which stuck in my mind: socialising with EACC which was very good and enjoyable.
I wasn’t there but I’m told there was good racing on the Waveney weekend (well organised by Kelvin).
Breydon, (what can you say) Socialising 90% Racing 10% due to the gale force conditions; however it does not work without a lot of behind the scenes activity in addition to everything else; thank you Andy, Wiggy and John. A special thank you to Dianne Branscombe, Ruth and Kevin Rhead and all who contributed for their hard work in producing the programme. A huge thank you to Alison Tunwell, our friendly barmaid, who worked very hard all weekend. A lasting memory is of myself standing on Saturday afternoon, alongside others, with a drink in one hand and a rope in the other, holding on to prevent the marquee from taking off and landing in Great Yarmouth.
Margaret has offered to stand as Vice-Commodore and effectively Sailing Secretary for next year.
My thanks go to Christine for all her hard work as Treasurer and I am very pleased to say that Adrian Lincoln has offered to stand as Treasurer for next year. [A presentation was made to Christine].
On closing, I remind all YSC members that we have a great year ahead in 2020, looking forward to celebrating the 35th anniversary of The Yare Sailing Club since reforming in 1985.”
After the rest of the meeting, Margaret handed out a quiz, which those staying for the excellent meal were able to ponder over while eating. Testing knowledge of the Norfolk Broads, it contained a range of questions ranging from the easy to the tricky with a total of 70 points available.
Those present formed themselves into five teams, with all getting chocolate prizes at the end. The winners were the “Senior moments” (the Charltons and Branscombes) with 60 and a half points. Julia and Christine came second, with 58 points, followed by Lesley and Neil in third, with 55 and a half.
Despite the low turnout, a convivial evening was had by all.
