Bromley Canoe Club
First Aid Course Now Available For
Club Members To Book
Club members are encouraged to take up the BCU 16 hour First
Aid course, which is now running on Saturday 13th and Sunday
14th June. There are 12 spaces available on this course and priority will be given to club coaches and river leaders who are required to maintain their First Aid qualification every three years.
The venue for the course is very likely to be in the Bromley area
and all club members are encouraged to take up this course. As
part of an active paddler, basic first aid skills are essential both
on the water and in every day life. Throughout the course, the
latest CRP procedures will be demonstrated and practiced and
everyone will have a go using mannequins as demonstration dummies.
To book onto this course, please follow the links on the BCC website and book your place on WebCollect. For any further details,
please speak to Graham who is available at the pool most Monday
nights or email [email protected]
Course fees are £50 for two full days of first aid training and
certification.
Club Members Gain New Qualifications!
A massive well done to the following club members who have
gained new qualifications over the last few mouths:
Nicky Wade is now a qualified BCU Level 1 Coach gaining her
qualifications to coach paddling in both opens and kayaks
Nicky King has now completed her Level 2 training qualifications
Rich Innes has passed his 3 Star Open award
Continuous personal development is essential to all active
paddlers as a way to develop their personal skills and maintain
progression within the sport. Club members are encouraged to
approach Graham who is the Training Lead for any training
requests.
Issue 5—May 2015
2nd Monday Of The
Month
Duties For The Next
Four Weeks
4th
May
Bank Holiday—No
Session!
11th
May
Reception—Bridget H
1st Yellow—Dave H
2nd Yellow—The Stig
18th
May
Reception—Ali W
1st Yellow—Ed S
2nd Yellow—Roger H
25th Bank Holiday—No
May Session!
Chipstead BBQ is
now confirmed
for Saturday
11th July.
Book now on
WebCollect to
secure your
place!
Monday night
pool fees are now
£4 for club
members and £6
for non club
members! Please
bring the correct
change to help
out the person on
Sea Kayaking Trip (Second May Bank Holiday)
Sat 23rd to Mon 25th May
Organised by Cat and
Book now on WebCollect to secure your place on
this trip!
Graham, this years Sea Kayaking Trip is taking
participants must
place
in
South
be at a Two Star or
Devon, near Kingsabove ability.
bridge. The south
Devon coast is varHowever, if you
ied
with
small
have any doubts,
coves,
sandy
please speak
beaches,
boulder Sea Kayaking With The Sun
directly to Cat or
Out!
gardens to practice
Graham. For this
rock hopping skills,
trip, everyone will need a sea
challenging headlands with
kayak (with some boats availtidal races and sheltered
able to borrow from the Den)
estuaries.
Therefore, it
and the usual paddling kit
makes the location a great
(such as helmet, deck and
place to build on existing
waterproofs). Also, the
kayaking skills.
accommodation will be camping
Due to the nature of the trip,
for this trip and everyone will
need to bring basic camping
equipment such as tents,
sleeping bags, mugs etc. The
location for the campsite will
be confirmed shortly. This
camp site will be the base for
the entire trip. If you would
like to book up on this trip,
please sign up on WebCollect
so we know who is going.
If you have any further
questions, please email
G
r
a
h
a
m
a
[email protected]
Chipstead Club BBQ
Saturday 11th July
On Saturday 11th July, the
newly established annual
club BBQ at
Chipstead Sailing Club has
been
moved
from a Friday
to Saturday to
allow members
and
their
friends
and
family the opportunity to
come down for a paddle and
social evening. Club members and their family are
encouraged to come down
Page 2
Book for the BBQ on WebCollect so we know who
is coming and how much BBQ food to prepare!
and take
part in the
pre-BBQ
paddle and
on-water
activities
followed
by a fantastic feast from the BBQ
and beer from the bar. Phil
and “The Stig” are leading
the way with the BBQ, but
club members are needed
to assist with cooking so
please put yourself forwards to help out!
There is also an opportunity
to paddle in both open
boats and kayaks before
the BBQ takes place. If
you can assist with moving
boats to the Lake, please
come forwards so we can
organise the movement of
boats and equipment!
May 2015
t
BCC Facilities and Equipment Officer Rob Harris—aka “The Stig”
Last month, we found out about Chairman Phil. This week, it is the turn of Rob or as he is
more widely known “The Stig”. Rob has been the Facilities and Equipment officer for a number of years and has been an active committee member. As an experienced and accomplished paddler, Rob is an expert kayaker and open boater taking on most river features at
ease and never managing to leave his boat (well nearly never!).
More recently, Rob is working on a project to re-organize and
modernize the storage within The Den to make boats and kit
more accessible and useable. With new racking systems soon
to be installed, Rob will be keen for all club members to play
an active role in keeping The Den clean, tidy and in a useable
condition.
When not watching Crystal Palace FC play on a weekend, Rob
is a regular on club trips both in the UK and abroad and can
be seen leading groups of club members down the river.
When asking around for information about “The Stig”, some say that is favorite river is The
Dee in North Wales. However, most who know him doubt this quote as we all know Rob
would rather be in Scotland or France!
London Youth Games Training Sessions at
Chipstead Sailing Club
Preparations are being made for
this years London Youth Games
kayak sprint and slalom events.
The event is taking place on Saturday 6th June at The Regatta
Centre in East London.
To prepare for the event, youth
members are encourage to take
part in
t h e
training
s e s sions
t h a t
a r e
London Youth Game
Team!
taking place both at the pool on
Monday nights and at Chipstead
Sailing Club. Training at Chipstead Lake will take place on the
following dates and times:
Friday 8th May—6pm onwards
Sunday 17th May—3:30pm
onwards
Friday 22nd
onwards
May—6pm
Friday 29th
onwards
May—6pm
Sunday 31st
onwards
May—3pm
All youth members are welcome
to come down and take part in
the training sessions. Also, we
are looking for volunteer coaches
and drivers who are available to
assist with the coaching and moving boats to and from the lake.
When the training sessions are
taking place, club members are
also welcome to come down to
Chipstead Sailing Club for general paddling on the lake.
If you have never paddled at
Chipstead lake, it is a fantastic
venue for practicing skills and
exploring the different areas of
the lake. Also, at the end of the
evening, the local pub serves a
fantastic pint of Harveys Best
bitter and a great pub dinner!
Page 3
BCC and Chipstead Sailing Club “Vision”
Bromley Canoe
Club
Meet at West Wickham
Pools every Monday from
8 to 10pm (except Bank
Holidays)
For more information,
check out the website and
Facebook pages to keep
update!
www.bromleycanoe
club.org.uk
As part of the development of the relationship between Bromley Canoe Club and Chipstead Sailing Club, the Executive Committee has put together a “Vision” to identify what we as a club want
to get out of the annual agreement with Chipstead SC. Tony Manning and other committee
members have been the active link between the two clubs. However, as a club the following
Vision has been proposed:
BCC has aspirations for the use of Chipstead Lake and the facilities of Chipstead Sailing Club to
increase the opportunities for training and social paddling to club members and new participants
to the sport of canoeing and kayaking.
BCC also has desire to have long term access to the lake, primarily on Friday evenings and weekends, but also with the option for the use throughout Friday’s especially during summer (June
to September) for youth training and development opportunities.
This is to further the usage of the lake as the Clubs base for Paddlepower, British Canoeing
(BC) 1* and 2* training, Foundation Safety Rescue Training and assessment of each in both
canoe and kayak disciplines.
The use of the lake would also present opportunity to promote and develop Club Coaches in the
provision of training courses and the personal development of Club Coaches.
For experienced youth paddlers, the use of the lake would allow the personal development and
improvement through training and assessment of kayak sprint and slalom teams for the London Youth Games event on behalf of the
London Borough of Bromley.
To facilitate BCC increase use of the Lake, the club has the wish to have adequate and appropriate storage for canoes and kayaks,
together with ancillary equipment to meet with demand of foregoing objectives. Also, the club would see Chipstead Lake as a base
that would provide alternative meeting point in event of the long term closure of West Wickham pools, which would necessitate the
re-location of club activities.
Also, the venue would serve as a possible alternative storage location in event of having to vacate Sparrows Den and/or the closure
of West Wickham pool.
In its present day, BCC is a vibrant paddle sports club that has both an active adult and youth membership. The clubs direction is
now a multi-displine of white-water kayaking, open boat touring and continuous personal development of club coaches, river leaders
and volunteers. Going forwards, BCC must support its volunteer coaches and river leaders and promote new qualifications to sustain
its membership growth adult and youth membership and the safe development of the sport.
North Wales Trip Report—By Ben Satchell
On the 10th of April Bromley Canoe Club
headed for North Wales. The majority
of those going would be traveling in the
evening after work however a small
group decided to go up on the Friday
morning to get an extra days paddling in.
Michael and myself would form one section of this advance party with Roger,
Caroline and Brian forming the rest. We
set off early in the morning stopping
only to pick up a guy named Alex who
wanted to do some wild camping in
Wales, and to get some breakfast of
course.
A check of Rainchaises showed that
there was no water to be had anywhere
but we were not deterred. Once we
arrived in Wales we headed for the
Tryweryn. Once we had all paid our fees
(wink!) we got on the river.
This was Michael’s first time down the
Upper and I think it caught him a bit by
surprise, possibly due to my vague
description! However, the run went well
and we all made it too the bottom in one
piece. We had one more run and then
headed to the pub for some excellent
burgers. The next day the full group
had joined us, however the water had
still not turned up, so back to the
Tryweryn. We decided to split the
group according to what people wanted
to do. Some of us would run the upper
repeatedly the others would travel all
the way down the Upper and the Lower.
I was in the group that did the whole
river. It was a pleasant paddle and we
got to the bottom with no major
incidents, though there may have been
one or two OBE's. However, when we
got to Balla —disaster—I received a
message on my phone from Alex to say
that his tent had collapsed in the night
and all of his kit was wet he was therefore retreating to "the pub in Balla" a
rescue mission was undertaken and Alex
was found.
The next day and the water was still
conspicuous by its absence. Once again
the group split, one group would head to
the Tryweryn once more, the othe
group at the insistence of “The Stig”
would paddle the mighty Dee—his
favorite river. When we got to the
Chain Bridge car park there was a small
amount of wind. In fact, some of the
boats went for a tour of the car park!
It was not the day to be in an open boat
that's for sure! So, three people got in
their opens while the rest of us used
kayaks. The river was very low, so low
that instead of stoppers there where
rocks in serpents tail. They still
managed to stop Nikki meaning that
Tim Hampton had too do a David
Hasselhoff style diving rescue! Alan
also had a small bit of trouble on this
feature so after two attempts we
paddled on. The rest of the river was
negotiated with no problems however at
the end there wasn't enough water to
run town falls - much to my
disappointment. Once we were off the
river, in true Bromley Canoe Club
fashion, the rain finally came. We
quickly changed and went to the cafe
where we met up with Mr. and Mrs.
Penguin, Alan's parents. We had some
tea and cheese chips then headed for
home.