RDO East Blog May 2023

Hi everyone,

It has been good to see many clubs making the most of the bank holiday weekends, and using the King’s Coronation to put on your events and celebrations.

This month I’ve been able to visit a number of clubs across the region - it has been really great to hear about all the plans for the months ahead and the desire to continue to develop activities for existing and potential members. Many of you have taken advantage of the Discover Sailing initiative to help promote your taster sessions and open days. Please do not forget there is lots of advice, guidance and resources designed to help with the delivery and marketing of your events. Please find out more and sign up, here: https://www.rya.org.uk/club-centre-support/affiliates/finding-new-members/adults/discover-sailing

RYA Training Centres

Many of you are involved with RYA Training Centres - whether clubs, charities, local authority or commercially operated, you will know that RYA courses and sessions are a great draw for bringing in new participants and developing existing ones. Over the winter and spring, we ran several heavily subsidised instructor courses to help with the capacity requirements you have, it’s been really good to see a number of those new instructors getting involved in running their first sessions or managing other instructors, well done to all. I recently allocated the training centre inspections, so if you are a centre contact or a training Principal you will have been in receipt of an email from me over the last 10 days or so; please do liaise with your inspectors to get dates in the diary, even if the visit is not for a few months yet.

Most of you are involved in programmes of activity that are already scheduled and underway and I recognise that this is a time for delivering, not necessarily for planning. However, I would very much like to ask for your feedback about how you think the RYA can help your organisation. This is with a view to me collecting responses and seeing if there are options for appropriate support over the autumn and winter months. Therefore, whether you are seeking volunteer training, instructor development, club development planning advice or any other areas that will help your club in future, please do let me know what your needs are.

On Tuesday evening, 13 June, at 19:30 we will be running a short online session for those representing RYA Affiliated Clubs and RYA Affiliated Local Associations. This session will focus on our new regional structure, club engagement, and support available. If you represent a club or a local association, please register here: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0bb5b43a-80f3-4c9b-882c-042536c087d9@e7fee957-e659-4f9a-9ae0-fe61160217f7

Finally, I would like to congratulate Sailing Development Officer Jen Miller on her recent marriage - Congratulations Jen, all the best for the future!

See you soon!

Robbie