Dear all,
Welcome to the first newsletter for a while there is so much info to give you that the Whats New page on the website is almost bursting!
Gala our annual gala is being held at Hartsdown Pool on Saturday 16 May, 6.15pm warm up for 6.30pm start.
Tickets are already on sale from our reps out the front - £2 adult, child (under 16) or Senior Citizen £1.
Remember to keep your ticket and bring it to the AGM to claim your free drink!
Following a suggestion from a parent, the swimmers will be wearing their Bays hats during the races. We will then be giving the hats to the swimmers to keep wed really like them to wear to their school galas, if theyre allowed, or swimming lessons, or Scout/Guide galas, too!
****Remember that NO PHOTOGRAPY OR VIDEOING is allowed at the pool during the gala. Anyone breaking this instruction will be asked to leave. Please make sure that everyone who comes with you to the gala is aware of this. ***
There is an error on the Gala newsletter the first race will be the Bay Relay, before the races in the small pool.
The warm up plan is now available on the website or at the desk.
On gala evening, when swimmers come out onto poolside, they should sit close to their warm up lane number until they are called for the warm up. After that, they may sit where they like on the bench.
Presentation Evening - is Friday 12 June at the Broadstairs Pavilion from 7.30pm. Feel free to bring along your friends & family to watch the swimmers collect their medals, trophies & to get together away from the pool.
Remember that we always have a couple of surprise awards up our sleeves!
Tickets will be on sale in early June. We will ask the Pavillion to have basket meals available.
Annual General Meeting will be held at the Racing Greyhound, Hereson Rd, Ramsgate on Tues 19 May, 7.30pm. This is when the existing Committee stand down, and the new Committee are selected by you, the membership.
Slips are currently available at the reception desk, for nominations and to let us know whether you will be attending. We need as many people as possible to attend.
Paul Highsted, the Secretary, and Ian White, the Treasurer, are both standing down from their current roles. We thank them for the many hours that they have worked for the Club.
However, Paul has agreed to be nominated for the Treasurers role! Chalkie has agreed to be nominated as an Ordinary Committee member. Both will obviously mentor their successors, as and when needed.
Alan Tilbury, a Committee member and the smiley face behind the desk, has agreed to be nominated for the role of Secretary.
This does NOT mean that the jobs are automatically theirs if you are interested in joining the Committee, or one of the Officers jobs, you should ask the current job holder for more details about how to do the job, and if youre still interested, ask someone to nominate you.
Nominations for Officers (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary) close 9 May, other nominations close just before the AGM.
All appointments are subject to a suitable CRB check.
Most of you will remember Cathy Tuddenham, one of our longest serving Teachers and supporters. Cathy retired from poolside duties last year and is always missed (particularly during breaststroke lessons!) We are delighted to report that Cathy has agreed to be our Honourable President. She will be welcomed to her role at the AGM.
New Club Rule Following a Committee meeting this week, there is a new Club Bye Law regarding ceasing membership of swimmers with very limited attendance patterns. This applies to swimmers whose subs are being paid (if subs are not paid, the Arrears Policy applies). This does NOT apply to swimmers who have advised us that they will be away from swimming for injury/sickness reasons or extended family holidays, for instance.
Heres how it will work:
· Every 12 weeks, attendances will be checked via the register
· Any swimmers who have attended on 2 occasions or less during that time will be contacted to ask if they still require the place
· If the family say yes, the place will be held
· If the family say no or there is no response, the place will be filled
· If a swimmer goes into a second cycle of 12 weeks with 2 or less attendances, the Club will contact the member to advise the membership will cease and to cancel their payment arrangements.
This is because the Club has to run an extensive waiting list for various reasons and a place that is rarely being used by a swimmer might be better used by someone else. We dont wish to shoo existing members out of the door, but we certainly dont want to be paying the ever increasing pool fees for vacant water either!
Charity the Club will be supporting a charity this year, from the proceeds of the gala and Presentation Evening. Weve put 3 charities in the spotlight for you, the members, to vote for:
- Demelza House childrens hospice - adding life to days when days cant be added to life - the only residential childrens hospice in the south east - http://www.demelzahouse.org/
- Whizz-kidz - a charity providing wheelchairs and training for children and young people who need to use wheelchairs - http://www.whizz-kidz.org.uk/
- NSPCC - aiming to stamp out child abuse in all forms - http://www.nspcc.org.uk/
Well donate the money to the most popular charity - if there is a tie, the Committee will choose which one to donate to.
Thanks for your continued support - remember that the more raffle ticket, entry tickets and programmes you buy, the more money will be donated to the chosen charity!
Collecting your children theres a couple of things here. Please remember that there is almost always information on the desk or in the reception area that we need you to know about. Most info is on the Whats New page of the website, so if you dont have access to that, please come in to see if there is any info that you need.
Can the parents or carers of the 9.00 group please make sure that you are on time to collect your child there have been occasions recently where the teachers have had to wait with a young person at after 10pm. Its not part of their role & they want to get home too! Thanks.
Synchro wed delighted to report that the Synchro taster session with Hythe Aqua early on in April went fantastically well. If we have another one, we will be more confident with the PR (no end of probs last time resulting a late final thumbs up) keep an eye out for more info.
Congratulations to Darren Sayer, the Membership Officer, who ran the London Marathon in 4 hrs 3 min for Children with Leukaemia.
And she said shed never do it next Club rep up on the blocks will be Sue White, Teacher & Committee member who is part of a 6 person relay team, swimming the Channel for Kidney Research. Sue is looking for sponsorship either via justgiving.com/ dangerducks or by sponsor form at the desk in June. Any sponsorship is deeply appreciated and will take her mind off the freezing cold water.
Dates for your diary:
· 16 May gala, 6.15pm warm for 6.30 start
· 19 May, 7.30pm - Annual General Meeting, Racing Greyhound, Ramsgate
· 12 June Presentation Evening, Broadstairs Pavillion, 7.30pm
· June Personal survival courses in the Main Pool watch out for the info to follow about groups
· No break fromlessons in the summer school holiday |
