One of the organisers of
the annual powerboat record event on Coniston
has been presented with a RYA National Award
by HRH The Princess Royal, President of the
Royal Yachting Association, for his
contributions to the sport.
Richard Solomon is a member of Windermere
Motor Boat Racing Club where he has held many
official positions but his role in the sport
has been extensive at a national level as
well.
Richard served for many years on the RYA
Circuit Racing Committee (CRC) and its
predecessor the Sports Boat Committee as his
club delegate until 1999 when he decided to
retire from this duty. While on these
committees he took on various responsibilities
including recording all rule changes, making
sure the wording was correct, and also
responsibility for Water Approvals where he
would advise and assist clubs with the
requirements for their water.
Shortly after
retiring from CRC, Richard became Chairman of
the RYA Powerboat Racing Committee, with his
term ending in 2007..
His national role began when he joined the NW
Regional Committee of the RYA as a club
representative but he was then seconded onto
the precursor of the Sports Council and other
national bodies. He has been Officer of the
Day and Time-Keeper for both club and national
events, even though he retired from active
racing 30 years ago.
Two members of Redesmere Sailing
Club have been presented with RYA awards for their work which has helped the club, based at
Capesthorne near Macclesfield to develop as a venue
for training as well as competition and pleasure
sailing.
Geof Weston has been part of the sailing community in
Cheshire for more than 40 years and a driving force at
Redesmere for more than half that time. He receives a
Lifetime Contribution Award. As a handicraft teacher,
he became a key player in the Cheshire Schools Sailing
and Canoeing Association (CSSCA) which uses Redesmere
as a venue. He helped the CSSCA become an RYA Training
Centre and also encouraged the Association to broaden
its activities to coastal waters as well, even taking
youngsters on sail training ships like the Francis
Drake from Holyhead.
He encouraged many of the youngsters to both improve
their sailing and then go on to become Dinghy
Instructors and Senior Instructors themselves to
cascade their growing experience and knowledge.
At Redesmere Sailing Club, Geof began by helping with
the summer training weeks for club members and then
assisted the club to become a recognised RYA Training
Centre.
He gave up teaching and working for himself, building
up a furniture making business before retiring and
constructing a garden railway at 16mm to the foot
scale. Now 76 he still helps out with the summer
courses. Goef still sails the 18 foot Yachting World
Rambler that be built himself and has often sailed in
the Menai Straits of North Wales.
The other award for outstanding service was presented to Rachel Ward who
started sailing at Resdesmere with her father at the
age of six. Now she takes her own seven year old
daughter sailing there in her double-handed Scorpion
dinghy.
The citation says that for more than 20 years Rachel
has been unstinting in her commitment to developing
sailing at the club. She started by volunteering as an
assistant on sailing courses and then became a dinghy
instructor. She remembers attending her course for the
qualification at Ullswater which was very high as a
result of heavy rain. She said the clubhouse was
flooded and they were launching their dinghies between
the tree tops. Driving there, she said, it had been
difficult in places to find what was road and what was
lake in the Lake District.
She has been Commodore of the club and then Chief
Instructor and Principal of the Training Centre
helping to develop an inclusive sailing club open to
all abilities and providing opportunities for every
member. "I just want everybody to love sailing as much
as I do," says Rachel.
She is still working with youngsters, coaching and
mentoring them to achieve their potentials, whatever
their abilities and ambitions. Her citation says: "It
is difficult to see how Redesmere would be the highly
successful club it is, without her involvement."