October 2022

The arrival of the winter months means a gradual change in focus across clubs and organisations in Scotland. A lot of you will be looking to hold AGMs, engage your membership in Winter Talks and for some in Winter Race Series. A time to look at the development of your organisation and begin the planning for summer 2023/24.

So, what can we do to help you? We have a number of opportunities coming up:

Participation and Development Workshop Programme

Following feedback from several clubs, this programme has been moved online and so we will be hosting one of the three workshops over November, January and February. We hope that this will give as many clubs and organisations a chance to come together to learn, talk and share best practice around each of the three topics.

The dates are as follows:

Funding – Wednesday 16^th November 2022

Does your club or centre need more funding?  For running costs, special projects, equipment, or facilities?  Do you know how much you need and how you might go about obtaining it?  Who might you approach?  What resources are available?  Do you have a financial strategy?  This facilitated workshop will help you to answer these questions and guide you towards helpful resources, to ultimately create and implement a funding plan for your organisation to help you achieve your financial goals.

Facilities – Wednesday 18^th January 2023

Our Facility Workshop aims to explore the areas to consider in the development of your club/centre facility.  One barrier cited for club growth is poor accessibility to include the whole community so we will think about how we can meet inclusion and sustainability commitments which fit in with the community you are part of.  We will look at ways in which you can consult with your membership, the community, and under-represented groups to develop your plans as well as discuss what key elements funders will be looking for in terms of your club ethos and vision for future growth and development.

Community Mapping – Wednesday 8^th February 2023

Community Mapping is an exercise that will help club and centres to identify who lives in their local community and how they can link in and work with other organisations in the area. It will help the clubs identify potential partnerships and ways to better link with the community around them. We will look at all the different types of organisations in local communities, for example schools, charities, community groups etc. 

For further information and to book your free place(s) on the workshop please go to our booking page here.

Cost of Living Connect Call - Wednesday 7^th December 2022

Secondly, we are aware that the Cost of Living is beginning to impact clubs, centres and organisations across the sporting sector, as well as participants and members of sport. Our community is no different and the RYA have launched an online survey to find out a bit more about the impact the ‘cost of living crisis’ is having on facilities and utilities. It closes on 26^th October and the survey can be accessed here.

However, in Scotland we would like to have a discussion around this topic and therefore would like to invite all clubs, centres, and organisation to a ‘Connect Call’ on Wednesday 7^th December 2022 at 7pm. This will be an opportunity to tell us how the ‘Cost of Living crisis’ is affecting or may potentially affect your organisation, share some ideas on how you are planning to support your members/customers at this difficult time and hear from others on what they are thinking. We do not have all the answers, however we would like to host a supportive conversation on this area. If you would like to join for an hour on Zoom then please book your place here.

Hey Girls and RYA Scotland Partnership

Have you heard that we are linking with the team at Hey Girls to promote awareness around the barriers that women and girls face during their menstrual cycle? Helping to ensure that there are free, sustainable period products for women and girls to use, is only the start and will help to remove a barrier to getting on the water. If you would like to get involved and work with us on this project, then please do not hesitate to get in touch with one of the team or by emailing us.

Junior Sailing for the Autumn & Winter

The RYA Scotland Academy Programme is open for 2022/23 with opportunities taking place throughout the country. You can have a look at the programme and book your space using this link.

You can also speak to the Performance department if you have any questions by email.

Changes at RYA Scotland

As you may have noticed, things have been changing at RYA Scotland. We currently have Roy McCubbin and Abbie Hewitt helping with the Performance programmes. If you have a question for them then please do not hesitate to email the performance department.

We are looking to recruit in a number of opportunities to support the administration function, membership and performance areas of RYA Scotland. You can find out further details on all our vacancies, here.

Finally, if you would like to hear more or organise a catch-up with one of the team, then please drop us an email!

We hope you to catch up with you all soon!

Take care and stay safe!

The Development Team, aka Georgia, Laura, Brian, Kristy & Liza

13/10/2022