Our usual Thursday night meeting place, Dowty’s Sports and Social club is closing down, which will be a shame after all these years. But luckily for us, they have another one which is where the club will be meeting on Thursdays, from around 9.00pm as usual. It can be found at:

Dowtys Sports & Social Club,
off Hatherly Lane,
Staverton,
Gloucester
GL2 9QD

 And there is a handy link to a map here…

So don’t forget, and we’ll see you Thursdays: same time, new place…

Adam has been updating the programme as things move about and change, and the latest and greatest version can be found here.

Don’t forget the Pitch, Putt and Pizza tomorrow, which has been wonderfully organised by Hazel.

And of course, the club’s 25th Anniversary BBQ Extraveganza on 26th July, with food, drink, paddling, camping, entertainment and everything… Building on the successes of previous years, it is not an event to be missed! See Tony and Steve for tickets…

FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The summer lido pool sessions are now in full swing, and going very well. There is a full programme of the planned activities here, though these may change depending on any circumstances beyond our contol  or, frankly, if we just don’t get round to them. Either way, the pool sessions are an excellent chance to brush up on your skills, grab a quick game of polo, or just float about in a leisurely fashion. So we shall hope to see you there…

At last some new photos on the website! These are from the surfing weekend at Woolacombe in early May. Photographer Bhav did the honours with these fine photos, and these are a selection of the 700 or so that he took over the weekend. So thanks to Bhav, and the photos can be seen here …

The Devizes to Westminster Organising Team have let us know that as this is the 60th Anniversary of the Devizes Westminster International Canoe Marathon, they are holding an Anniversary Party & Celebration, starting at 7pm at The Corn Exchange in Devizes on Saturday 24th May 2008.

There are people in the club who have paddled the marathon and in the past (not an easy task), and if anyone would like to join in the celebrations, full details can be found in a poster here or on their website here.

Having taken over the Editor’s chair from Rich Longhurst at the AGM earlier this year, Bhav has made a superb job of his very first newsletter! It is not an easy job, as Rich will tell you, but we have had some excellent contributions from club members and Bhav has done a great job of bringing it all together.

If you have not yet received one (assuming you have paid your membership for this year of course) then you should do soon, either at the Dowty club or through the post. But in the meantime, a special web based version can be found here. Enjoy…

One of the advantages of being a club member is access to club kit. To make sure that kit is available for all club members, we would ask that people return kit to the shed as soon as they have finished with it. A good reason for this is insurance: when the kit is in the club shed, it is insured. When it is in your garage or garden, it isn’t. Therefore, when you borrow kit, please return it as promptly as possible.

At the end of April the committee are having an audit to check that no equipment has gone missing. So please can anyone who has borrowed club kit make sure it is returned to the shed by Monday 21st April.

Thanks, and any questions, please contact the committee…

The Spring 2008 newsletter is now available. All members of the club can collect their copy at Dowtys on Thursday! A big thanks to Bhav who volunteered to take over as editor and has put in a lot of time and effort to getting this out in time.

You may not notice unless you look closely, but the front page has changed, just a little bit. It is now put together with the rather good WordPress software, which makes it easier to update, catalogue and manage posts. So with any luck, the front page should get updated on a more regular basis.

The other advantage is that instead of just one person updating the front page with anything he things is interesting, relevant or just mildly amusing, it now means that any of the committee can come along and post their news, information and wildly outlandish anecdotes (or maybe not!).

So make sure you keep checking this page for club news and information. And of course, there is also the forum for a more interact experience, where anyone in the club can post and reply to messages. This is the place for everyone to post news, views, info and arrange ad-hoc club trips. Remember, it’s good to talk …

p.s., if you have been using the very useful RSS feed then you need to know that the feed address has changed and you need to re-subscribe to it. If you haven’t, then why not!?!

The summer is nearly upon us, and whilst the cold wet winter offers adventure and excitement to the hardy British paddler, we all have to admit it is much more pleasant paddling in the warmth of the summer…

So in his first mission since joining the committee, Adam has put us together a very fine programme of trips and activities to take us through the summer months. This can be found here.

Meanwhile, Steve has been sorting out the lido, which will be starting on 8th May and running until 4th September. Having missed out on the lido sessions last year due to it’s refurbishment, it will be great to get back there for a pleasant Thursday evenings paddle. They are not there yet, but full details will be found here.

It should be a very good summer …