2012 AGM

30th January 2012 saw 68 sailors, volunteers, carers, parents, governors and trustees gather at the RHYC for the AGM and open meeting of the Woolverstone project. The club's position on the edge of the River Orwell is wonderful and the low tide on arrival showed up the mud flats, wading birds and slowly ebbing sea.

It is easy to be distracted by the surroundings but with the arrival of the team of helpers from both RHYC and WP the conference room was smoothly set up for action. Arrivals started at 8.30am and the AGM, planned to start at 10am was only delayed by a few minutes whilst additional seating was found.

It was a testament to the commitment of all that so many people came from quite far distances on a day that was cold and wet. Bruce Moss opened the proceedings on behalf of the RHYC welcoming us and offering the support of the club throughout the day.

Julia Dansie opened the AGM as Chair of the project and after introducing the new governors and trustees, reports were given by Ian Hammond on his role as Coordinator; David Bolton as Accountant; Audrey Jones as a fundraiser and Leslie Downing as Operations trustee and overseer of Safe Operating Policy and procedures.

Gavin Ravenscroft the vice chair of Neptune Sailing spoke of the possible links between his project and WP this year and Peter Hibbert completed the presentations by giving details of 2011 activities and developments of training and sessional work with adults, schools and other projects in 2012.

RHYC provided abundant tea coffee and biscuits and the room was re arranged into small table spaces so that groups of people could discuss and feed back their experiences of what worked well and could have been improved in the projects work during 2011, and then their hopes for 2012.

It was difficult to bring this part of the morning to a close as there was such a great deal of enthusiastic discussions happening in the groups but finally a spokesperson from each table reflected thoughts on issues as diverse as training needs on an off the water, to the excellent catering staff in the hut.

Issues pertaining to the great numbers of sailors on the open sessions and how to keep as few people waiting as possible; safety issue in inclement weather; maintaining the standards of boat maintenance; the tensions between the needs of different groups wanting to sail on the same day and the parking difficulties at times for disabled drivers were part of the feedback. Positive reference was made to the sailing cancelation line, the availability of the coordinator via the mobile phone line, and the very comprehensive web site. The information received will be supporting and adding to the developmental aspects of this year's work within the project.

Finally Ron Hollington and Chris Atkins both active sailors for many years presented retiring trustees Johnty Dickinson and Hugh de las Casas with WP inscribed tankards and photos, and spoke movingly of the work done by both during their respective years in the project.

The Meeting was brought to a close and the RHYC provided a feast for lunch whilst the provision of their bar meant that many stayed long after the closing of the meeting, catching up with friends and other sailors. Many thanks go to the staff from the RHYC who seamlessly supported our needs. A very positive experience for all involved in the project

Julia Dansie