The club building and surrounding area must be maintained in a serviceable condition in order to cope with winter social events, summer activities, and providing dining and other facilities for club members and outside bodies, all of which bring an income to the club and help to pay our bills. The Club does not have surplus resources. In order to keep subs at a reasonable level it is essential that all members, where possible, play their part in carrying out necessary maintenance in order to avoid the cost of employing outside contractors. Maintenance work required each year is identified, and much of it can be carried out by work parties. These usually take place on Saturdays or Sundays. Members usually enjoy taking part, the company is good and a free pint follows in the bar afterwards. Many jobs do not require special skills, only willingness. If you would like to join in then keep an eye on the website, your emails and the notice boards, as work parties are regularly advertised. If you do happen to have any special skills, please also let Club Captain Pete Sweeney know.

WORK PARTIES/MUD FLUSHING WEEKENDS DATES MUD FLUSHING ONLY  Saturday 3rd /Sunday 4th March Saturday 17th /Sunday 18th March   TIMES Start Time - 0900 Finish Time – No later than 1500   Meet in the restaurant at the start of each day for briefing and job allocation. Teas and coffees supplied.   Break about 1130 – bacon butties etc Courtesy of our stewards Chris & Lyn   All tools, equipment and materials supplied.   Mud Flushers to wear suitable waterproof over-clothing, gloves and boots Everyone else - suitable clothing for working outdoors that may get stained or damaged, and bring along gardening type gloves, in case you get a clearing/lifting job.   Gloves for cleaning or painting will be supplied   If you have not already done so, please volunteer to help with the work required by putting your name on the list below or contact me directly   Thanks   Pete   Pete Sweeney – Captain Tel  07841 076286   Work Party 2nd Weekend An excellent turnout of members on Saturday and reasonable weather this time started the day well.   The non-arrival of any additional water pumps meant that I had a number of volunteers spare, initially. However, those members were soon employed on other jobs meant for later in the work party calendar.   A single pump resulted in only two operational hoses to start the large job we had before us, but the work led by Moreno Riva, with Mike Stokoe and Don Shepperdson on the pump, got underway, after a slow start, due to the tide staying in longer than predicted, so the flushing did not really get going until about 11am.   Kate Phillips, Ro Mason and a team of willing helpers got out the buckets, brooms and brushes and scrubbed down the decking areas at the entrance and north side of the clubhouse.   Sarah Berryman led on the clear up and the start of rearranging the dinghy park. Requiring, at one point, a dozen people to lift and move an extremely heavy rib belonging to a certain Police Officer!   The north slipway was hosed down with pressure washers by Andy Evans and Jerry Monk. They also cleaned the walkways at the top of the slip.   Richard Lavington and son Ben filled the lap panel gaps around the locker shed with mastic, to hopefully solve the leak problem, and Malcolm Jolly continued painting the fencing around the club.   General cleaning of the bar and restaurant was carried out by Rebecca (Ug-Sitt-Zquq) Goodchild and her daughter Shona.   As always Linda, our steward, and her kitchen assistant Kathy fed and watered the volunteers with teas and coffees all day along with bacon butties during their break.   With a free drink in the bar courtesy of the club.   On Sunday our intentions were to continue with the mud flushing operation. The hoses had been left out overnight to facilitate a quick start as soon as the mud was starting to be exposed on the ebb tide. But then things did not go quite to plan. High water was due at 1000, and we anticipated that by 1130 we should be able to start. Wrong!. First we had a half metre plus surge tide, as well as a northeasterly wind that slowed the ebb. So we waited, and waited. 1130 came and went, no mud, 1230 no mud, by 1330 we decided to call it a day and rolled up the hoses and went home. Watching from the bar the mud started to show at around 1430, by which time I had a pint in my hand and would not be distrubing that for anything!   Thank you to everyone who volunteered over this weekend.   Pete Sweeney - Captain Saturday 18th February 2012   Work Party Weekend Our first Work Party day of the year started with temperatures hovering around the zero mark. At 0900 – the advertised start time – only four individuals had arrived at the clubhouse. It was not looking good. But slowly more arrived so that by about 0930 our numbers had increased to about a dozen.   Because of the temperature and low turn out, it was felt that the mud flushing would have to be postponed until a later date.   The priority was given to relining the north quay, which had its mooring posts and wood panelling removed late last year. This party was led by Chris Brooke, with the help of John Day. Geoff Parker, of Parker Nurseries, arranged for one of his heavy duty lifting machines to be on site to assist with the lifting and planting of the new posts along with an operator – a New Zealander called Mark.   The other main job on the day was the cutting back of the greenery around the club. Anna Brooke took charge of this side of things.   Each of these teams ended up with about 6 to 8 members helping out.   I and David Evans used The Dave Trim support boat to move a couple of dinghies off the Featherstone Pontoon, to clear the area for the mud flushing. The outboard did not like the cold weather and kept cutting out. And being on an ebb tide we were running out of water fairly rapidly. By the time the second dinghy had been moved the prop of the Trim was churning up the mud pretty efficiently.   Smaller jobs where carried out by other members by themselves – Moreno Riva – various electrical jobs, Simon Hipkin – new cellar door, and John Robinson started to fit new handrails along the east quay.   Teas and coffee were supplied all day by Linda, our Steward, and she also fed the volunteers with a load of bacon butties.   At the end of the day everyone relaxed with a free drink in the bar.   Due to worse weather forecast  for overnight it was decided that the Sunday (5th) event would be cancelled and the work resumed in two weeks time. By which time, hopefully, the weather would have improved.   Thank you to all those who showed up and helped with this necessary work.   Pete Sweeney Captain Saturday - 4th February 2012