Things are now up and running for the new season and the club is expecting some excellent days at Sidney Park as well as the various static shows we have arranged around the area. We would first of all like to extend a warm welcome to our new members who have joined us this year.

The clubs annual prize giving and social evening held on March 1st at Toll Bar Academy proved to be a huge success with over fifty boats on show in different catagories. We enjoyed an excellent buffet with the function managers, Francis and Sian on hand to help in any way to make sure that the evening went as planned.

On Sunday 17th April, we had a full sailing day at the park which started at 9-30am with the Vintage Yacht section taking over the Lake until noon. We then held the inaugural yacht racing event which was keenly watched by many members of the public. Due to the popularity of this event, we intend that it will be a regular item on our calendar. From 2-0pm onwards, the course was shortened so that both sail and powered boats were operating on the Lake independently of each other. It was agreed by all that the day had been a great success.

This is the end of the boating year for 2010 as the water at Sidney Park lake has now been lowered by the Council in readiness for a complete drain off and clean out in January prior to it being refilled in February.

The club is fortunate to have been given permission to sail on the Thorpe Park lake over the winter period if the weather permits. We used this lake twice in 2010 and it proved to be a big success.
Our club has participated in quite a few shows during the past year,e.g. the Rotary Club Hobbies Exhibition, the Sidney Park fun day, Fir Park Wings and Wheels, and the Waltham Windmill Show, and our diary for next year is filling up already.
Our monthly course lay-out also proves to be very popular with our members, guests, and the public alike. We are hoping to finalise plans for a vintage yacht section for early 2011.

We would like to take this opportunity for wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Last year we had started to get a few problems with weed and debris etc. in the lake. These were proving to be hazardous to our model boats, where fouling the props was becoming a problem. Those of us with yachts were also experiencing difficulties. It was decided that our members would try to sort the problem out themselves by donning waders and raking out as much weed as possible. It proved to be an onerous task, but we managed to clear large amounts of growth and debris etc. In actual fact, this really was a job for the council as the lake is part of a local park, so we approached them with a view to them clearing even more of the debris.

At the beginning of January, the council agreed to take over the task and the water level was lowered right down so that heavy machinery could take over and clear the bottom of the lake and have it cleaned up by the end of February. Unfortunately, the work was delayed for various reasons, and not only because of the bad weather conditions. The lake was found to contain hundreds of frogs, frog spawn and various fish which all had to be removed to other council waters.

The work was finally completed by the workmen in March this year. They did an excellent job which has left the lake looking very clean and ready for us to put on some good shows.