Another Open Day successl!
Our Open Day in August was another brilliant day – fantastic weather, great food and drink, superb music and entertainment. A huge thank you to everyone who generously donated, supported or joined us on the day. We are thrilled to confirm that we raised over £6,000 which makes a significant contribution to our operating and project costs.
Boathouse Development
We launched our boathouse development tender process and were delighted with the response. We are now shortlisting the submitted proposals with the aim to finalise the decision in November to allow works to commence in the new year. We plan to be operational throughout the entire development.
Our Declared Facility journey
In October we welcomed a representative from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency to conduct the assessment to determine our progress to becoming a recognised Declared Facility asset. We are required to demonstrate robust, detailed and recorded information on training, maintenance, qualifications, risk management, policies and procedures. It has been a long journey taking many hours but we are very positive that we are approaching a successful conclusion.
Crew News
It’s been a busy few months for training and securing professional qualifications. 10 volunteers completed their RYA VHF Radio License, six completed RYA Powerboat Level 2 and 12 completed marine Casualty Care/First Aid.
Martin Geldart completed his RYA Day Skipper practical and RYA Advanced Powerboat courses as he continues his journey to achieving helm status.
Our thank you’s!
Our first thank you is to the Nearly on the Beach Concert team who presented us with a cheque for an extraordinary amount of £7,500 – we are so grateful for such generosity.
We have been blessed with wonderfully generous responses to recent appeals – every kind offer alleviates our financial pressure.
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- Drysuits: We appealed for support to buy new drysuits when we had to dispose of suits no longer fit for purpose. The response was amazing, and we received donations from Fairlight Residents Association and others to allow us to purchase new drysuits.
- Freezer: We put a shout out for a small second-hand freezer to help store food for our many barbeques and were delighted to receive a brand new one from a local supporter.
- Crew suit booths: The plywood dividers between our crew drysuit booths were rotting and in need of replacement – we asked the community and a generous supporter paid for the ply to replace.
- Aluminium plate: We appealed for some tread plate to build a new bow storage box to replace the existing one which had rotted. We were thrilled that Stagecoach in Hastings donated the materials. Our helm, Shaun O’Hara, spent two days fabricating the new box – saving us a huge amount!
- Personal Beacons: A big thank you to Robin and the whole team at the Royal Oak, Pett for donating two personal beacons to ensure we hold the required number for our operations.
