Commodore Bulletin 12 - 021024
Published 13:40 on 2 Oct 2024
Can you believe it is now October and we are talking about club shut down for the winter. It has been a fantastic year, with a lot going on at the club and we are already in the planning stages for next year.
Last weekend we held our AGM and many thanks to everyone who attended. I am pleased to announce that once again we have an incredibly strong committee and would like to welcome the new members who join us this year in named roles or as general elected members. It is this great mix of views and knowledge that create a stable platform for the club to safeguard its existence and purpose for the years to come. I am looking forward to fulfilling my second year as your Commodore and hopefully you will get more of the same with a few added tweaks as the year progresses.
The first subject to dive straight into is the club shut down and re-open as the dates are as follows:
Shut down working party - Saturday 26th October 2024
Shut down working party contingency day - Sunday 27th October 2024
All members boats to be removed no later than Sunday 3rd November 2024
Re-open working party - Saturday 8th March 2025
Re-open working party contingency day - Sunday 9th March 2025
Members boats returned to Bala no earlier than Sunday 9th March 2025
Two things to point out on this:
Firstly, if you are free, please put a note in your diary and sign onto Duty Man to register your availably to support with either the Shut Down or Re-Opening working parties. Whilst these do not form part of your duty allocation, by managing it via Duty Man we know how many people to expect for planning the work, duration and most importantly the Bacon Butties!
Secondly, please pay particular attention to the date that ALL boats, trailers and other items have to be removed from the moorings and foreshore and the earliest these can be bought back. We are aware that Pen Y Bont Campsite want boats removed from them by the 24th February which is before our club opening so that may cause issues for members storing their boats there. We cannot accept boats back early as we have the ground work contractor booked for the 1st week in March and we have to delay it to these dates due to the historical pattern of flooding.
Also, if you use tyres as part of your storage, please take them with you. Any left will be disposed of to remove the risk of them entering the lake during flooding.
I would like to welcome Steve Connor to the committee who will be taking over as our Duty Rosta Secretary. We made huge steps forward this year in adherence to duties and whilst we still have a number of members who did not complete any, we also had lot who did more than 3 and some members who were not eligible to do duties also volunteer. A huge thank you to these extras!
As a committee, we will be discussing an approach towards those members who did not complete any by asking then to commit to a minimum of two duties in the first 4 months of the 2025 season prior to their membership packs being issued. These will then be monitored.
We will also be reviewing the 2025 schedule and most likely we will be adding a small number of duties to other membership types. To provide clear communication about this PRIOR to people rejoining in 2025, we will be drafting a new Duty Policy in the next few months.
Another person to welcome to the team is Paul Welsh who has come forward to fill the role of Diversity and Inclusion. This role stood vacant last year but will become a very important aspect of Bala SCs continued development and Paul has been part of the training team and therefore has a great insight into the needs in this area. I hope you will all support Paul as we create a strategy and direction around this subject.
Ewan McHenry who has re-stood as our Paddle Board Fleet rep has also put himself forward to be our Publicity and Social Media Manager. I did this role before becoming Commodore but struggled to keep it going last year. I am looking forward to seeing our Instagram and Facebook pages flooded with exciting news next year, as well as regular bulletins coming from a blend of myself and Ewan next year. We would also like to be more engaging with Bala Town and local media streams so if you have any contacts with either local press, radio etc please let us know.
Sheila Welsh also joins us this year as an elected member and she has been pivotal in sourcing branded Bala SC merchandise (polo shirts etc) for the training team. We would like to expand this to members with a range of Bala SC clothing and would probably aim to fulfil the first order run with pre-orders as opposed to carrying stock so please watch this space in readiness for next season (and maybe Christmas!)
Lisa Butler, who has been our Rear Commodore (running the bar with Dave) stands down after a few years and a HUGE thank you to both of them. This leaves a gap in a key role which we need to look at how we manage next year. Luckily Lisa is not going anywhere and she has put herself forward as our new Social Secretary (another vacant role) so once again watch this space for a lot of energy in that area.
That just gives Jenny Hull to give a mention to, who once again joins us as an Elected Member as our final new person onto the committee this year (I hope I have not missed anyone!). These members give additional balance and viewpoints to the committee as we aim to represent the memberships views as well as maintaining a focus on the clubs core identity and direction. Believe it or not, our committee is made up of 23 people which represents almost 10% of our full membership count.
I want to close this bulletin by going out on a limb and announcing our summer family week! This use to be a HUGE event at the club but has not been ran for a number of years. The aim is to focus on members and provide a week for fun activities both on and off the water. We have chosen Monday 4th to Saturday 9th August 2025 to run this. I want this to reflect the needs and wants of the membership and whilst I have a number of ideas, I would like to pull together a small sub-committee to plan and run this. Even if you are not a committee member as this is a event planning subcommittee you can be co-opted onto is so if you would like to be involved, please let me know. The main reason for announcing it now, it to allow people to plan it into their diaries ready for next years summer break. It would be great to see the club buzzing during this week.
As always, even though the club is shutting down, I am contactable so if there is anything you would like to discuss please just reach out to me otherwise I will close by thanking you all for your support and a fantastic 2024 season.
Rob Sloggett
(Commodore - Bala SC)
Last updated 15:47 on 27 November 2025