A new year and a new(ish) committee. After the recent AGM (18th Feb.) a big welcome to the new committee members Mike Cambdem, Ian Carpenter, Ruth Robinson and Steve Tott. Many thanks to the committee members who are leaving the committee and who have contributed much to the club over recent years. These include Lance Davenport, Alistair Fraser, Paul Webb and Mary Wood. Other changes include Dave Higson moving from the chair to secretary. Dave has done a lot of work overseeing the building of the clubhouse and his experience will be greatly appreciated on the committee. Also big thank you to Barbara for a very, very nice hotpot.
As you can see from the above heading I have taken over the chair. What I hope to achieve, with the help of the committee, is to reduce the high turnover rate of members within the club that is, I believe, too high. Through talking to new and perspective members that attend the baths at Marple, they are concerned about where they can go from there, how they can progress and what the club can offer them? Now the site has been developed, it is time to concentrate on the members. I will be looking to increase the number of training courses available to both adult and youth members. There has always been and will always be the slalom route for paddlers. Slalom offers an excellent opportunity for training, competition and enjoyment, but more and more people are looking at other aspects of paddlesport including, sea kayaking, open boating and river running. Many want to have a record of their progress in personal skills through the BCU personal proficiency star award scheme. This is another area where I would like to see progress. To achieve these aims it is important that we achieve Top Club status for the club.
It is important that young people have a quality introduction to canoeing and kayaking with clear pathways shown to them early on to enable them to progress and reach their own potential. It is for this reason that Manchester Canoe Club is working through the British Canoe Union's Top Club scheme to achieve Sport England Clubmark status. This will enable young people to develop within an environment that welcomes young people and where safe, effective practices are adopted.
To meet the criteria of Top Club Pete King, and others, have already done much work, but much work has still yet to be done. To develop the club we need more coaches to work with young people and adults at entry level. For example, we need to instigate a two tiered slalom coaching system i.e. sessions for entry/intermediate paddlers and sessions for intermediate/ advanced paddlers. We also need to support those coming into the sport who are not interested in slalom, and therefore be able run sessions based on the BCU 1 - 4* personal proficiency awards. Even these may not be suitable for the younger paddlers, and the introduction of schemes for young people would therefore be desirable, for example the Paddlepower Scheme which has been run successfully throughout the rest of the country to engage, challenge and retain young people within the sport.
If you feel you would like to be involved in any kind of coaching for the club, whether it would be in slalom or inland coaching, and assist or run introductory courses, coaching sessions or youth schemes for the club, then please let us know. If you want to just help out with the coaching at slalom training because you have a lot of experience to share with others, then you do not need qualifications, just make yourself know to Dave Bradshaw or Gill Hay.
We are looking to arrange coaching courses and the required prerequisites required for those coaching courses for club members who want them. Manchester Canoe Club will support coaching courses and where possible we will run courses in-house to reduce costs. If you are unsure what is required to enter the coaching scheme then call Gill Hay (Training Officer) or look at the BCU website. If you are interested then please contact Gill who will advise and inform you on any up and coming courses.
As One of the first targets for the new committee will be the acquisition of new kayaks or the improvement of the present fleet of club bath and river kayaks. This will not only encourage members to stay with the club, but is essential for the safety of their users.
It is important to note that in the near future an incident book will be placed in the First Aid Box, which is to be kept in the top left hand cupboard in the kitchen. This is for the use by anyone administering first aid from the first aid box, or where a 'near miss' has been deemed to have taken place. A 'near miss' is any incident where a serious injury may have resulted. An example of this might be if a novice paddler were to get swept down the river in high water. The purpose of the book is to record information for future reference. This is so that if a previously treated person, or potential casualty, felt they had been mistreated and is demanding recompense/compensation, then a record of who treated them, how they where treated and a description of the incident, can be referred to. If there was no record having been kept, then the club has little defence against claimants.
The last pool session has been changed from the 27th March to the 3rd April. There will be NO pool session on the 27th March. This because it was felt that the middle of the Easter bank holiday might not have been suitable for many people to attend. The people at the baths certainly had no objection. In this last pool session we will be running a Diamond Slalom competition. Followed by activities or games thereafter. This is ideal for both adult and young, novice or advanced paddler. £2.00 per entry. Normal sessions will not be run that night. For more information, or to book, contact Mark Davies.
A reminder to anyone who has their boat in the boat store down at the site, the annual fee is £20 per year.
I would like to thank all members of the committee for their input, not only for this year but for the three years that I have been chair. There are many people I would like to thank for their self less endeavours but specifically I wish to mention some "non paddlers", Alan & Sue Webb for their work on and around the site, Anne Wells, Barbara Aldridge and Christine Bradshaw for their culinary activities and Laura Tatham for her role as Membership secretary.
Below is a brief resume of the committee's activities over the last 12 months.
Building works:- The contractor has not yet completed rectification of the defects. The Club is still holding the retention fee (approx £4,000).
Site Clearance: - This is ongoing. The farmer has demolished the Nissen hut, however, the remains are still present. It is anticipated that clearance will be complete this summer. It is also hoped that one of the containers will be removed along with the generator and associated housing. As a gesture of goodwill the generator is to be offered to the farmer.
Opening Times: - Sunday morning rota is working well, although some weeks site attendance is very low. The objective is to ensure that the building is open, not just for members use but also to raise the profile of the club to passing public.
Keys are now available to members, uptake has been slow - only 1 set has been issued.
There are a few issues which are still outstanding:-
Electricity Supply - we have one, obviously, but we are not aware who makes the supply. Powergen have no record of our installation. We have made enquiries but to no avail. Consequently we are not receiving or paying any bills. As an interim measure we are recording meter readings.
Maintenance - currently being carried out on a "as needs" basis. A planned programme will have to be developed over the next 1-2 years.
Efficient use of storage space - the roof space over the changing rooms has not yet been utilised.
It is nearly 2 years since the club applied for Top Club status. The application was virtually ready 12 months ago but unfortunately was not taken to completion. Things have recently started moving again and it is envisaged that Top Club status will be achieved this year.
The Yearbook was not issued in 2004. The draft was not ready until July and a decision was made that this was too late in the year to issue.
The 2005 yearbook will be issued in March. This year the Yearbook will be in a loose-leaf format contained within an A5 binder. This will allow for individual sections, specifically those containing changing information, to be issued each year, as opposed to a full reprint. Initial set up costs are higher but savings will be made in subsequent years.
This is the next major project to be undertaken. There is funding and professional support available from the BCU. The object of the scheme is to recreate the difference in water level between the top and middle pool, concentrate the flow into the bottom pool and bring into use the stretch below the bottom pool. This is to be achieved with the use of 2 - 3 tonne rocks strategically placed on the riverbed.
Before the BCU get involved the club needs to provide the following information:-
Unfortunately we have had difficulty measuring the river bed due to the constant high water levels over recent months.
When the committee first met with Chris Hawkesworth of the BCU our target was summer 2005. Realistically this will not be achieved and so we are now looking at summer 2006.
Once again the catering team, Anne Wells and Barbara Aldridge, have provided an excellent service throughout the year. Unfortunately support for the catering team has been minimal, which has meant both Anne and Barbara putting in long hours at slaloms. More support is required and this is an area of activity, which the committee acknowledges needs a higher profile.
So far this year, the baths at Hazel Grove have been well attended, with over 89 different people visiting them.
We have run 3 beginner courses and 3 rolling courses, introducing 20 people to canoeing (the majority of which have gone on to join the club) and 16 people to rolling. We have another beginners & rollers course starting soon & bookings are quite high on these.
The boats we have are not suitable for some people, the larger paddler cannot fit comfortably into them. We only have one larger suitable boat (a creek). Recently we ran a beginners course with three large men and they struggled, hence we need more suitable boats.
We need new / 2nd hand boats, that could also be used on the river during the summer, fully equipped with airbags and backrests. I would like to see the profit made from the baths going towards these boats.
I would like to thank the following for their help, as without them the baths would not be running.
8 people braved the cold December days and completed one days training in basic river safety / rescue techniques based at the Tryweryn. This involved a lot of swimming!!!!
Following on from the beginners courses at the baths 6 people proved their skills & achieved their one star award at the Roman Lakes in November
Following on from the baths sessions, 7 people took part in a one-day training session based on the Goyt, concentrating on skills needed for paddling rivers. The river was high & we had a number of swimmers, but the day was enjoyed & lots of skills were achieved.
6 people achieved their aquatic first aid certificate after successfully completing an 8-hour course.
There are a number of people who have expressed an interest in becoming kayaking instructors, and the plan is to meet the requirements and then to organise a level 2 coach training course for them.
The beginners from the baths sessions are really keen to continue canoeing and we are trying to provide future courses for them. The 1* and 2* training and assessment, as well as the 'introduction to moving water' courses are an excellent opportunity for these beginners to progress. Whilst the 2 and 3* training and assessment courses are suitable for those with some experience, especially for those wanting to become instructors.
There is a problem regarding boats for beginners & new members, the ones we have are not all suitable for river use. The majority do not have backrests, airbags or full footplates. This issue really needs addressing before the summer if we want to keep these new members in the club.
The following courses have been organised and need to be booked onto:
| 1* Training & Assess (£10) | 17th April |
| Intro. to moving water (£10) | 26th April (5 weeks) |
| 3* Training (£10) | 23rd April |
| 3* Assessment (£5) | 21st May & 11th June |
| 2* Training (£10) | 7th June (4 weeks) |
| 2* Assessment (£5) | 5th July |
Other courses that will hopefully be run this year are:
Canoe Slalom continues to grow, both nationally and within the club. We have two well attended training sessions a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, where a healthy mixture of paddlers from various divisions and various age groups train together.
We have two past members of the club who still competed at the highest level last year, in Heather Corrie and Paul Ratcliffe. However, Paul has announced his retirement, and Heather is the oldest paddler on the British team, and did not race as often as she has previously.
Another paddler who started his career at Marple is now pushing to get to the top of the sport. Nathan Stevenson has been racing on the J18 team, and proving to be our strongest paddler in this age group, and he still has one more year to go as a J18 paddler. His proved his class at the Danube cup, where he finished 12th. He has now postponed his studies and moved to Nottingham in order to concentrate on his canoeing, and is a serious hope for an Olympic gold medal in 2008.
Our current hopeful replacements in the British team hierarchy come in the shape of Josh Howcroft in K1M, Kay Bradshaw in K1W and Geoff Wells in C1. Geoff is a bit of a late starter, but due to his work ethic and the support he gets from being on the Welsh squad has advanced considerably since the middle of the 2004 season, and almost certainly would have been promoted into Premier if the last Div 1 race of the season had not been cancelled. Look out for Geoff to make the J18 team; a few people could be in for a shock.
Kay and Josh are progressing well, and are both racing for selection on the J16 team this year. They are both on the World Class Start programme, and are training regularly at Marple, and at other sites. This is Kay's last year as a J16, and she is looking to push her contemporaries to the wire to make the team for the European race season. Josh is a year younger, and is going fast enough to gain the attention of the national coaches. He will do very well to get selection this year, but should be in a strong position next year to make the team.
Of course this is not the full story of slalom. It is a sport that is open to paddlers of all ages. The headlines and plaudits go to the young paddlers looking to stand on an Olympic podium in 2008 or 2012, but that doesn't mean that it has nothing to offer to more mature paddlers.
First of these is Ben Davenport, who is a very talented paddler, who has an excellent turn of speed which will surprise some of the young paddlers who have been cosseted by their coaches over the winter. He undoubtedly has the talent to go far, but like most of us has other priorities to consider. Tim Aldridge also got his C1 into Division 1, despite having started working at Brookbank, which has seriously interfered with his slalom training.
There is also a group of older paddlers that have come into the sport over the past year or two, who have made their way up the ranking lists. Mark Davies made division 2, while Gill Hay moved up to division 3, along with Ruth Robinson, Michael Cambden and Ian Carpenter. We should expect all these paddlers to continue to move up the divisional system, along with Lance Davenport, who has been consolidating his position in Division 2, but now is looking fast enough to push on to division 1.
And we can't forget the C2 pairing of Wells and Davenport who moved their boat up into Prem last year, finishing fourth in the national rankings. This boat also promises great things, but Geoff's commitment to his C1, and Ben's imminent move to University is likely to prevent much further progress. Of course, this was behind Steve Hesford and Tom Carlisle, who are having a bit of a resurgence in their boat at the moment, finishing the season ranked third in the country. Of course it helps the motivation if you get the latest toys to play with!
Beyond the above mentioned are those that continue to race and enjoy the sport, but failed to make any progress last year. We continue to train and race, with the hope that we can make the extra push to move up into the next division, all the time enjoying what we are doing (it gets you out of the house).
Regular Monday evening Canoe Polo sessions at Irlam continue to benefit from the two-hour session. The first half an hour is currently used for training and team practice followed by a one and a half hour rotation of games. Weekly attendance has grown to circa 23 per week with an influx of enthusiastic new blood. The sessions are now organised to accommodate both the new-starters and the seasoned national-league campaigners, this seems to be working well.
The planned conversion of the 33m Irlam pool into a 25m plus training pool presents MCC polo with a real threat. This was anticipated for April 04 and is still very much on the cards pending council funding.
Mid season we did investigate the viability of a second session and using the Cheadle Pool looked promising. However, a survey of individual's commitments revealed that this was not sustainable so the option was not taken up.
The monthly payment scheme has been supplemented with a direct-debit option, now taken up by the majority of participants. This works well both from an organisation and an audit point of view. The occasional absence balances out over the whole year, accounting is greatly simplified and regular attendance encouraged.
Polo at MCC continues to be run on a self-sustaining basis, participants cover all pool and league fees on an ongoing basis. A set of accounts presented shows an annual turnover of approximately £3,500 with a current balance of £231 (Dec 04).
Manchester teams were represented at National League Division 2, 3 & 4 during the 03/04 season. The A team finished in 4th place in division 2 which in retrospect is the best ever placement. The C team came close to wining division 3 North (a) but after a hard fought final tournament settled for 3rd position, just below promotion. Still a pretty commendable performance and by all accounts a very enjoyable. The B team playing in division 3 North turned in an indifferent year finishing in the lower half of the league but with no real risk of demotion.
In a rash moment mid March it was decided to enter a team in the national polo championships Hatfield the May bank holiday weekend. The Monday before the tournament it was decided that we had enough players for 2 teams (div 2&3). The div 2 side comprised a mix of National League Div 2 & Div 3 notably Alan Lines, Graham Helsby, Dave Higson, Matt Thornhill, and Mick Renshaw. A poor start to Saturday morning left it all to do in the crossovers. First round, won the first cross over playoff with a golden goal in the dying seconds of extra time. However we had a reverse result in the second crossover game, loosing by a golden goal in the dying seconds. Sunday left us with a lot to do, won the first cross over lost the second cross over giving us an overall tournament position of 12th, beating the clubs previous best result of 13th some 5 years ago.
Ypres (Holland) was as good as ever this year with Manchester sending a strong team. The regulars ( Daz N, Scott, Matt, Daz C & Andy P ) were joined by two of the old guard namely Alan and Mick. We also dragged Dave Brown off his stall for a few games. The weekend started on a strange note with our usually quiet campsite being taken over by moshers at a hardcore rock festival. Luckily there is a campsite next to the polo, so we moved there instead. A large fan base including family members and Tracy Cropper and friends who just came for food and beer, not a bad reason, joined us. On the pitch the team played really well finishing in the top half of division two for the first time. Overall the weekend was a great success for the club and we hope we can repeat it next year
The recently re-formed Manchester Ladies comprising Nicki Ward, Cheryl Ridge, Elaine Moss, Tracy Cropper and Fay Davies battled it out once more in Ladies Division two. They enjoyed considerable success and narrowly avoided promotion as playoffs were suspended this year due to league reorganisation.
2004/2005 Season brought some welcome additions to the team making it easier for Tracy to retire, knowing that the team would continue without her. Our thanks got to Tracy for the hard work and enthusiasm she put into all areas of polo, not just the women's team. Shortly into the season Nicki dropped out due to a shoulder injury. The rest of the team, however were willing to continue and were keen to have some training sessions together. These have been successfully accommodated into the Monday Irlam sessions. The players would like to thank the club and players for their support in making this happen. At the time of writing the team had yet to play in the National League but were looking forward to the opportunity to try out some of the tactics they had been practising.
Once again the North West League was a casualty, due to a lack of volunteers. It is recognised that this is a loss to the sport of canoe polo at the local level since this did form the best available introduction to competitive polo.
| Type | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| Full | 120 | 116 | 109 | 122 | 121 |
| Youth | 17 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 13 |
| Assoc. | 11 | 8 | 8 | 11 | 10 |
| Life | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Family | 67 | 67 | 96 | 70 | 61 |
| Total | 217 | 205 | 229 | 219 | 206 |
| Groups | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| table created by T2T 2.51 | |||||
As the table once again shows we have a decrease in total membership for the club. The number of family members has decreased with the total number of Full members remaining static. It is pleasing to see the numbers of Group members on the increase demonstrating our clear commitment to wider community involvement.
We lost one of our two Life members this year with the death of Eric Totty who was associated with the club for much of his life and will be missed.
New applications this year (excluding family members) total 44 which is one less than last year. We clearly demonstrate an ability to attract new members but must address our retention issues in the coming year.
This time last year we had just sent out a mail shot to 70 past members asking them to rejoin - we had a very poor response to this. I would think that one way forward, in any analysis of the Club's position, might be to survey our existing members about their experiences, good and bad, of the club, what they particularly like about the club and its activities and any changes they think might be beneficial. In an idea world it might even be possible to survey resigned members to ask why they left in order to identify possible shortcomings.
There have recently been 3 meetings of which the club should be aware.
This is held annually and I would recommend that anyone with a real care for access to attend if only to keep in touch with what is going on. There is now a small group of MPs who meet regularly with BCU Access to discuss the problem and there are some signs of movement.
Since the meeting I have obtained a copy of Douglas Caffyn's report on access law dating back to magna carta. In it he makes what is to me a significant point. The 1932 Public Right of Way act specifically includes the establishment of RoW over Land covered by water. I have passed my copy to Laura and she is looking to clarify a number of points, namely;
Given a positive outcome I would suggest that the Club should pursue the establishment of such a RoW. It is important in doing this that we collect statements/records of the paddling of the river stretching back over 20 years. That such records go further back should be helpful.
You may recall that Sports England and others "commissioned" a report by the university on access and access negotiation. After that report was issued a second phase was initiated with University members setting out to obtain access agreements on three rivers, one of them being the Mersey from below Stockport to Little Ees Lane.
I was not able to attend the meeting but have since been updated by Chris Cleaver. It is reported that 70 landowners have been identified and contacted. They are mostly in favour of dedicating a canoeing route. This would not be exclusive. Naturally several wish to consult lawyers to see just what is involved. However things are going so well that Brighton are spending time looking further up stream towards Stockport to identify and contact more landowners.
One must hope that this is successful. During phase 1 I tried to sell Brighton on the idea of using the Goyt as one of the pilots but they chose the Mersey as offering fewer problems. Obviously they are keen that the pilots should be successful and hope for further commissions.
I attended this on behalf of MCC. The intention is to develop an area of derelict land as a park. The land is not continuous but lies in three disconnect pieces on either bank of the Mersey. The 2 pieces on the N bank are connected by the Pennine Trail. Importantly funding is already in place!!! It is available for 2 years so there is some pressure to get moving. We scored minor brownie points in that we are looking for access points for all canoeists whereas the Anglers who spoke want access restricted to one (closed) club. They did not however raise any objection to use by canoeists.
It is almost certain that in some form the project will go ahead and relatively quickly. Those in charge are sympathetic and have included in their wish list a number of canoe launching points. A snag at present is the paucity of car parking provision. It should however be possible to get off at the end with a relatively short carry to Burnage Rugby club who have accepted public use of their car park (as a sweetener to permission to extend it!).
Funding sources EU Mersey Basin Campaign (largely from donations from ICI Shell etc) with minor input from Stockport BC.
We have arranged the following courses for club members. These NEED to be booked onto, as each have a maximum number of spaces.
This is ideal for people who have done the intro to canoeing course at the baths or elsewhere and want to progress to paddling outdoors, and to be assessed at the first level of kayaking.
This is ideal for people who have done an introduction course, or have experienced flat water paddling and want to progress onto moving water skills. The course will be run at the club site, with hopefully a river tour on the last evening.
This is an ideal progression from the 1* course concentrating on flat water personal performance skills. You don't need your one star to do the course, but you do need to have experienced paddling outdoors, & be willing to work on your skills.
Once the training course has been done, those that feel they are ready can put themselves forward for this assessment.
This is the highest flat water personal performance award and it requires an excellent performance of skills. It is one of the pre-reqresits to become a level 2 kayak coach. You need to be quite experienced and at least at 2* standard to do this course.
Once the training day has been done, those that feel they are ready can put themselves forward for this assessment.
I would also like to run / organise the following courses, but I need people to let me know if they want to do these, so I can put a group together:
If interested in any of the above, or if you want any other courses run, contact Gill Hay.