NEWS 21
This year has, of course, been a bit unusual - I was going to say quiet but this is not really so.
Income has been a bit slow - the Christmas Fayre, a major source of income latterly, did not happen and neither did our Pursuit Race. However, funds for Frank continue to roll in, we have one very generous standing order which comes in every month and various other donations. In fact, one gentleman from Dorset was inquiring about making a donation - Frank was on hand to fix the starter motor on the cruiser of his 80yr old Aunt.
At the beginning of July, the funeral of Valerie Catchpole was held at the Oaks. Valerie, an ex-Commodore was, with Roger Palmer, one of the instigators of HISTT in 1996. She was the Treasure dealing, then, with thousands of pounds, but eventually handed over to me when the new club building and funding thereof was completed. HISTT has been nominated by the Catchpole family as a charity for donations in memory of Valerie instead of flowers. The family flowers were beautiful - they were bought back to the Club for others to enjoy during the lunch afterwards. Valerie's daughter, Ann Brand was in charge of organising all of this.
We have one exceedingly generous member who donates a very large sum when it is most needed. His donation plus Gift Aid will more than cover the grant Application made by the Thursday Club.
The Application from the Thursday Club is for part payment of over £1000 for a new club cabin - the old Bosun's shed has finally been condemned as unsafe - although moves are afoot to conserve parts of it. So the new cabin will be situated under the balcony next to the Red X room and nearer the boats and launching. It should have been completed in April but has now been installed in July.
Meanwhile, we continue to support Frank, or rather his aging rib. Various jobs have had to be done since January and we have funded him with monies amounting to £3285.
The Youth fleets this year started off hopefully but after Christmas everything had to be cancelled so no applications were received from them.
However, benefits from previous years of Red Ribbon and Tera training were observed in the Feva Nationals held earlier this year. Holly Mitchell with Ella Jones in their elderly Feva did very well in a fleet of 80, coming 7th overall but being 3rd all-lady boat, first all-HISC boat and 1st Junior.
Being the new Junior National Champions, they are now the proud possessors, for this year, of a quite large trophy,
Following on from this, they won the Winter Championships at Weymouth - by one point!
Coincidentally, this Feva was bought off Ann Brand, Valerie Catchpole’s daughter and Holly is of course my Granddaughter. The boat has been very well maintained but I believe it still has the original Rudder and Cunningham system.
Mentioned in the News 18, Sophie Blaydes - another Tera trainee - qualified for the World Championships in Lake Guarda this year with her Techno board. She finished a very creditable 21st in her class of 70 girls of 15 and under in very trying conditions.
Frank ,of course, continues to be indispensable which is reflected in the donations that arrive for him. His rib has needed several repairs recently for the which we have provided over £500.
The Thursday Club also applied for and was awarded a grant of £370 to pay for an RYA course for one of their pupils. Former pupils, having now passed their Instructor courses, are working regularly for the Thursday Club and also for HISC, running various classes.
The expense of running this website i.e. the domain name has doubled this year to nearly £20 ! There are no other costs