Blundellsands Sailing Club

I am glad to tell you that Chris Berks has taken over the web site and he has made some changes. There is now a forum for your comments and points that you may wish to discuss. The address is unchanged.

I am also pleased that I have received an e-mail from Claire Meadows telling about her journey to Mombassa and what she has found there, it is very interesting and you can read it further down the page.

The RNLI day was a great success thanks to help from a number of good people who gave up their Sunday for it. There is no total yet but it will equal last year’s. There is a report on another page.

The previous weekend we had a visit of boats from Hoylake Sailing Club. They were entertained to lunch and then a disco and Barbecue in the evening, which was great fun and very well, supported. The weather was good but windy, one man slept on his boat, the others either pitched tents or slept inside the clubhouse. After breakfast cooked by Trevor Meyers they set off for home on the tide. It is 29 years since that sort of thing has happened and they would like to come again. It is good to interact with members of other clubs, the only contact with kindred clubs recently has been between club officers.

THE COMMODORE reported that he has written to Kathrine Hogarth and sent her some flowers with thanks for the time that she has spent in the club. She has also been invited to Prizegiving night.

Rex Flynn has left the club. He used to come on Sunday for opening up and to stay with the stewardess until members started to arrive. He has done this for many years.

Mark is grateful to Liverpool Yacht club for all their help on the day of the Altmouth Cup Race. He has also asked them to put the Altmouth Cup Race back on their calendar of events.

The visit from Hoylake Sailing Club was a great success and he was pleased that they presented him with a plaque to remember the day. It will be displayed in the clubhouse. Another success was the RNLI Day. It was very windy and the race had to be cancelled but many Hightown people. Mark is very grateful that Southport Rescue boat came to visit BSC as the Liverpool boats were not in attendance.

The date of the Commodore’s Cruise had to be changed and will now take place on Sunday 19th July. See last page.

THE VICE COMMODORE was not at the meeting so Ian Cowell,Hon Sailing Secretary gave the Sailing notes.

Visit of Hoylake Sailing Club – P Wright said the visit had been a resounding success and thanked all the Members of the Sailing Committee for the hard work.
Results of Altmouth Cup: The results of the Altmouth Cup are now available. The Commodore was complimented on his handling of the event. The only issue that had arisen was the early start as all the participants were present. John Myerscough had raised the question of the PY – 1033 - carried by Cyril Porter’s Beneteau First Class 7 yacht during the course of the Altmouth Cup. Though the Beneteau was obviously sailed well it and had achieved an elapsed time of 18619 seconds and was only 108 seconds behind Quattro a Sigma 33 which had achieved an elapsed time of 18511 on a course of over 21 miles it was significant that the PY Handicap for a Sigma 33 was only 927 whereas the PY carried by the Beneteau was 1033. I Cowell had inquired of the RYA and the only figure they could come up with was the one provided by the Blundellsands Sailing Club! Likewise C Loughran had made inquiries of the IRC and had reservations about the Beneteau PY. P Wright had also inquired into the matter and recommended that the results for this years Altmouth Cup stand as published but inquiry would be made into getting a generally accepted PY for the Beneteau. It was noted the Club has allocated a PY of 1028 but the declaration on the application form for the Altmouth Cup was 1033 which is what the boat sails under on Windermere.
Albert Dock Mini Cruise: I Cowell reported that the cruise went well and was judged a success. D Forsyth had a problem with the outboard engine on his boat and was obliged to stay in the Dock for a further two weeks. David has now sorted out the problem.
Commodore’s Cruise: It has been agreed the Commodore’s Cruise will now be held on Sunday 19th July, 2009, because of the problem with tides for the original date of 2nd August. Consideration will also be given to making a slight alteration to the course. Hoylake, Dee and the Cheshire Sailing Clubs are also likely to be on the banks that day as it is also their Commodores’ Cruises.
Club Insurance: P Wright said David Griffiths would make a presentation at the next General Committee Meeting on the Club’s Insurance.
Emergency Mooring: C Loughran has arranged for a team to join him on 8th July, 2009 at 7.30pm to search for the ends of the chain of the Emergency Moorings on the landward bank.
Race Officer’s Buoy: This matter is still ongoing.

      General Committee that mooring N24 (John Hall’s old mooring be allocated
      to Steve Quinn. Mark Cornes has bought new chain and is to re-lay his
      mooring. Bill Hammond is also to re-lay his mooring. C Loughran noted that
      the owner of Amelia had only seven days to accord to the undertaking. Cedric
      also considered that Cups previously given as prizes should be again awarded
      for various categories of sailing.

(The moorings suggested were allocated at the General Committee Meeting. David Griffith attended the General Committee Meeting and all insurances were discussed. David still has some enquiries to make and others to check but all should be in place soon.)

THE REAR COMMODORE was not at the meeting but he sent his notes by e mail, as follows.
The Hoylake weekend was a great success, a special thanks to Trevor and Mike for their catering, Lunch, BBQ and a truly magnificent breakfast.
A few lessons to be learnt with regards to the awning. It essential to have enough fit guys to avoid "take off"
The new path and drains performed very well during recent down pours with negligible surface water.
Main gates have been painted and the further painting will be done during July August.
Grass cutting rota is in place, MGD has loaned the club a strimmer for the summer ( my excuse for doing little at home!)
Kieron Riley will be rendering the seaward porch.
The new till - well I have had a go and have to say its functionality is way beyond what we need but it will certainly be a great asset. I need more time to decide what we want it to do and set it up properly otherwise it will be a waste of time.

Patio doors can now be opened.

John Newton will be installing the weather station in the next few weeks.

The bench outside is to be moved left onto the grass on 3 3'x2' flags

The council will be starting to collect our waste very soon. David Flynn has sent the forms off (he is the named person as he will be paying the bills)

I have got quotes for fencing the dinghy park and also for setting posts at the edge of the green. I would like to propose these in person at the next meeting

Julie has settled in but please do give me feed back if there are any concerns. I will have her job description/duties ready for her, as she will have done three months by mid August.

I would like to mention George LesBierel's 70th. There appears to be some concern on the format of the evening. He asked me could he lay on food for members at his expense as a gesture of friendship. I was more than happy for him to do this and did suggest he left it until after 9:30 on the Friday. He bought every body a drink, and provided food yet I was told some members were unhappy about the whole event and walked out. If there is anybody who would like to comment on this please do as I personally think it is something we should encourage, but not if it upsets members.

(As requested this was brought up in the General Committee Meeting. Stan Warren (who was not at the meeting) sent notes to say that he had received three telephone complaints and he pointed out that it was an unwritten rule in the club that Friday and Sunday evenings were normal club nights for all members and should not be used by individuals for celebrations.)

THE HON TREASURER reported that at present funds are healthy. Stan Warren is chasing up the remainder of the subs unpaid. Stan also represents BSC at the Sports Council meetings, which we have rejoined. The Rates have been paid but Mike Kennan is looking into sorting out the new Rateable Values.

THE HON SECRETARY reported that the Marine Police had been in touch with him regarding a special lookout by our members. The policeman concerned will meet the Hon Sec. Tonight Wednesday and he will be asked to come and give a talk and an explanation to members on a Wednesday in the future.
Bob has dealt with all other correspondence.

THE Y.B.M. Cedric said that the Hoylake people were very happy about their visit and the food was great. It was a very good thing to have involvement with members of other clubs.

Cedric thanks all the team who worked on the Emergency Moorings.
The mooring changes that he suggested and the General Committee agreed meant that John Holland can now have a mooring.

Bill Hammond who is now well, will be laying a mooring and will launch when it is done. Geoff Welch intends to launch in August.

It is intended to re-fence the dinghy park. Cedric said that care must be taken to make sure that all the dinghies are safe and will not become waterlogged if sand is removed.

1st Prize of £30.00 – Number 42, Mr Ken Broadhurst

2nd Prize of £20.00 – Number 118, Mr John Lorentz

1st Prize of £30.00 – Number 11, Mr Harry Conalty

2nd Prize of £20.00 – Number 93, Mr Alan Roe

A LETTER FROM CLAIRE MEADOWS

Hi Pat
I just thought I'd give you an update on how I'm getting on here. Hope you're well. I'm in Mombassa now, spent three days in Nairobi before getting on a 13 hour train journey to here, some 3 weeks ago now. I say thirteen hours; it was more like 15 what with the train having to stop on numerous occasions on the way to let herds of elephants and lions cross the tracks. Other than that the journey was pretty uneventful.
It's great to be in Mombassa now. I wasn't overly keen on Nairobi, considering it's the capital city there wasn't much to do there and it wasn't safe to go wandering around upon nightfall so we didn't get to see much of the 'sights'. The children's home I'm based in is in one of the poorest areas of Mombassa, called Mogongo and the place is called 'Mama Anne's Children's Home'. There are eight boys based there, ranging from 11 years old to 3, their names are Aladin, Funzo, James, Peter, Finas, Joseph, Kevin and Juma. I thought I'd given myself a pretty open mind with respect to what I was to see here but it's impossible to imagine until you're able to see it with your own eyes.
The 'home' is a stone building with four rooms, a bedroom for the boys (consisting only of a bed), a kitchen, toilet and a lounge area. The lounge has nothing in it but a dirty rug on the floor for when visitors come. The boys have no toys, and all share the same clothes because if they buy anything to wear they don't eat. Ann, the lady who opened up the place struggles to pay the 10,000 shillings, a month, rent...that's the equivalent of about 70 pounds. Many of the boys have either been orphaned or abandoned on the streets.

At night time if we go out into Mombassa town we are swarmed by kids as young as five or six coming up to us, barefoot and asking for money for food. They just sleep on the streets. There's no such thing as 'street girls'...I was curious as to why all the homeless children that sleep rough are boys and was told that girls found on the streets don't stay there for very long. I mistakenly thought this was because the government took them into care. However I was corrected with the hard fact that they're picked up by men, nine times out of ten, and they're never seen again. I don't want to imagine.
Anyway, on a brighter note, we've been going to see the boys every day and have been buying them toys, drinks, food and teaching them etc. They were quite shy at first but have opened up considerably as time goes by. We treated them yesterday and took them out and bought them all a new pair of school shoes each (they go barefoot normally). You should have seen their faces. They were made up. It was so lovely to watch them smiling over getting their feet measured and standing in front of the mirrors and seeing their reflection. Afterwards we took them all for a meal and took them to a playcentre for kids with a big ball pool. It was only 100 shillings per child to go in (that's 80p) but they've never been before because they can't afford it. I was told by Ann afterwards that one of the boys, Finas,7, is looking likely to be sent back to Nairobi next week. He was originally trafficked from there and is not seen as 'Mombassa’s problem' in effect. The kids all have their medical care paid for by the Catholic Church so they go regularly for check ups. Finas' checkups have confirmed that he was sodomised as a young boy and has bowel problems he has correlated with this. He's been in Ann's for over a year, having been six when he came to her so I can't imagine how old he was at the time. Needless to say hearing that really really upset me. Despite this, however, he's always full of smiles and is one of the happiest kids I've ever seen.
We're going to the home on Wednesday to spend the day with the boys so Rehema, the house girl who is the same age as us, can go and visit her father. Due to the fact that she looks after the boys, she hasn't seen him for over a year. Despite seeing some sights, I'm having a great time and never want to leave. I know I'll cry my eyes out when I have to leave the boys. We're going to buy them some skateboards before we go, they play with bits of wood and plastic tubes outside with nails in to mimic a car so we think they'll love them.

I’d better go, I got really badly sunburnt today so feeling a bit sorry for myself and am going to go and get an ice cream to cool myself down. Give my love to everyone in the club. I'm looking forward to coming back and seeing everyone.

A LOCAL BOOK, The following is synopsis by the author of the book.

“YNISWOOD by Pauline Potts has recently been published, is a Lancashire village where these stories take place between 1910 and 1939. They consist of an exciting blend of truth and imagination; creating the perfect tale, without indulging in the use of over sentimentality.

The story begins with the foster child who is left on the doorstep, and the reader is kept wondering throughout, whether she will ever discover who her father is. The stories weave around the lives of two families, centring mainly on the children; through childhood, and their emergence into adult life

Anyone who is interested in history will be fascinated by the little snippets of historical facts, representing the ordinary, rural inhabitants of a typical village, in the early part of the twentieth century.

The characters emerge as warm human beings, blessed with all the human frailties and faults that beset all of mankind. However the cruelty of humanity is portrayed alongside the good, sheer kindness of the majority of the community.

Laugh and cry at the antics of these families and the extended communities; discover a family secret that remains so for over seventy years. Most of all enjoy the real warmth of the characters that emerge as the stories unfold. Enjoy, but remember that this is a work of fiction”. P.P.

I have not yet read this book so cannot express an opinion on it. I put it in here because the village concerned is based upon Little Crosby. Ed.

The day started badly with awful rain and winds but the forecast was an improving one and it was possible to get the awnings up and to hold the barbecue on the other side of the clubhouse where the team did stalwart work. The race was cancelled and as reported the only lifeboat to turn up was the Southport Rescue Boat, many thanks to them.

I have been asked to thank all who helped in any way, the team who put up the awnings and the tables during the morning worked hard. The kitchen was kept busy, as were most of the games and stalls. Dave Flynn asked me not to name people as it would be too easy miss out somebody’s name thus inadvertently giving offence, but please be assured that all help was vital to the success of the day.

The total takings have not yet been finalised but I am told that the final total will be excellent.
Andrew Thompson, Chairman of the North Mersey Branch of the RNLI also adds his thanks.

COMMENT

THE HON TREASURER reported that at present funds are healthy. Stan Warren is chasing up the remainder of the subs unpaid. Stan also represents BSC at the Sports Council meetings, which we have rejoined. The Rates have been paid but Mike Kennan is looking into sorting out the new Rateable Values.

A LETTER FROM CLAIRE MEADOWS

A LOCAL BOOK, The following is synopsis by the author of the book.