RB Blog January 2022

Robbie's blog for January.

Hi everyone,

I hope that you all managed to have a good break over the festive period and are looking forward to the Spring - and what, for most of us, is the beginning of the new season. I know I’m certainly looking forward to some warmer weather and getting on the water!

Club Plans for 2022 & virtual catch-ups.

I am hopeful that the end of the winter period will see us being able to get afloat and experience a more normal start to the year. I know that many of you are working hard to finalise your programmes in order to kick-start the year with a comprehensive range of activity, and it’s been good to hear some of the ideas you have been discussing to ensure the newer members hit the ground running. I look forward to getting out and visiting as many of you as I can, but in the meantime I would like to extend the offer of having a virtual catch-up to discuss any plans your club may have and any challenges you are facing, how we might be able to help, and to share what other clubs have been up to. Get in touch via Robbie.bell@rya.org.uk. I am also planning a couple of Club Development Forums, these will take place online and will enable us to catch-up and share some ideas about what’s planned in the region - keep an eye out on the RYA East Website for further information here.

Club Development Webinars

We have been running a series of Monday evening webinars, focusing on the core topics from the Affiliated Club Conference held in November. You can listen to recordings of past sessions and sign up to those yet to happen here. Please do share this link with your club colleagues.

Instructor Training Day Update

We have made the difficult decision to cancel the Instructor Training Day. This was planned for the 06 March; however, with our reliance on so many different component parts to make this event work, we felt that the risk of having to compromise or cancel the event at short notice was too high, especially given that we rely on a huge number of volunteers to make this event happen. Instead, there will be several Instructor courses and opportunities taking place across the region - please do keep a look out for social media posts and on the RYA East web area.

RYA East Regional Fleets

The RYA East fleets will be available for hire this season. As a reminder, we are able to hire our fleets to RYA Training Centres delivering RYA Training Activity. We have:

2 x Fleets of 3 RS Teras

1 x Fleet of 6 Toppers
1 x Fleet of 6 Oppies.

These are all available to hire at just £60 per day per fleet. We are looking to sell the 2000 fleet which consists of 2 x 2000’s on a West Mersea lowering double-stacker trailer; if you are interested in purchasing these boats please let me know. For more information about availability and booking please visit here.

Funding Opportunity

As you may have heard, Sport England have recently closed their Small Grants Scheme, but this has been replaced by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Fund, which has just opened. It is similar to the small grants scheme, with the key points being:

Awards of between £300-£10,000 are available to not-for-profit organisations.
Awards are to help inactive people get active, or less active to become more active.
There is a particular focus on projects that support people who may otherwise have less opportunity to be active, and live in areas of disadvantage

Sport England are keen to see projects bring together various groups and communities.
Funding can now be for: minor facility alterations (e.g. making a facility more accessible); coaching; volunteering training; service alterations (e.g. providing new ways of delivering activities, such as web-based to attract new participants); or for additional equipment.
It cannot be for running costs or replacement of equipment.

To find out more visit here or get in touch.

Keep in touch

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - and keep sending us your stories of what’s been working well, and your initiatives to keep members engaged over the winter.

Robbie