The club has large grounds to support the range of activities we offer and these require continuous improvement and maintenance for the benefit of members and visitors. We are very fortunate to have a group of 10 regular volunteers who turn up every Tuesday to help with these activities and allow us to undertake some bigger projects.
Latest Update: 20th February 2024
The regular Tuesday Working Parties have continued through the cold, wet and windy winter months. The war on brambles continues – like painting the Forth Bridge it is never complete! However, major areas are being brought under control. This includes the foreshore, the lower water level providing an opportunity for easy access. Several of the trees obscuring the coxswain’s view of the water have been cut back and a pincer movement is seeing the brambles in the area in front of the clubhouse being removed.
In addition a major clearance of the brambles along the boundary with Grafham Water Centre has revealed additional hard standing and parking space, as well as rediscovering a long-forgotten ditch.
The floor of the training room, which was in a sorry state due to water damage, has been repaired. This has involved replacing all the displaced tiles and sanding/varnishing the whole floor and skirting boards.
Update: 21st November 2023
On a wet, windy and cold Tuesday a special working party was held to wage war on the brambles and undergrowth around the site. A large team of 20 intrepid club members reported for duty and, armed with gloves, loppers, shears and secateurs set out to tidy up the club grounds. Works and Infrastructure lead, Rear Commodore Andy Rhodes, having written up the list of the day’s tasks on the whiteboard in the Coxswain’s shed, briefed the team on the tasks and allocated teams to the various areas. Then it was time to attack the brambles, including a number of badly overgrown berths in the dinghy park, and the undergrowth along the shoreline of the club grounds.
A welcome break at lunch time saw the team converge on the cafe for a lunch of sandwiches, crisps and chocolate, as well as very welcome hot cups of tea and coffee. This was a chance for newcomers to get to know other club members and everyone to plan future sailing activities. After lunch at least the rain had stopped although the cold northerly wind was still blowing and it was back to the job in hand. As a result, the club grounds are looking much tidier, and we are very grateful to the team of volunteers who joined in. Look out for notice of future working parties. The regular Tuesday working party happens every week and new members are always welcome. If you are interested in helping, please contact Andy Rhodes at works@grafham.org.
2023 Progress Summary
Around the jetties and slipways, improvements include replacement of the west jetty by the Coxswain’s slipway, moving the old west jetty to slipway 4, fendering improvements to the east jetty and extension of the concrete on the coxswains slipway to ensure we can continue to operate with low water levels
The area around the clubhouse has been improved by replacement of the main flagpole as the old one was unsafe, refurbishment of the three shoreside flagpoles and re-laying the path to the main flagpole and the paving around it, using reclaimed materials from other members’ home improvement projects.
The site has been tidied by identification and disposal of the unwanted trailers from around the site, filling potholes, clearing brambles around the site and cutting back the shoreside bushes while the water level was low, as well as strimming common areas and unused berths. The blocked drains that were causing flooding at the main entrance to the clubhouse have been cleared. A metal skip was used to recycle trailers, assorted scrap metal and the old flagpole. This has raised £750 so far. The hard standing area that had become overgrown near the cruiser park has been reclaimed and the campervan spaces re-marked to both increase space between them and add additional spaces to increase capacity for visitor camping.
Improvements to the clubhouse have included painting the doors for the ladies and gents changing rooms, the metal supports for the central stairwell, the emergency exit corridors from the changing rooms, the new fire door from the kitchen to the cafe and the adjacent walls of the kitchen area and cafe. In the changing rooms privacy screens have been added and a curtained off changing area created in the ladies changing room. New heaters with motion sensors have been installed in the ladies changing room. The wiring between the site buildings has been surveyed and unused cables removed. Outside the white edging and bollards on the outside steps of the clubhouse were repainted.
In support of on-the-water activities. there has been ongoing maintenance on the committee boats, particularly aimed at improving the reliability of starting Grafham Belle, refurbishment of the shoreside life rings and support posts and replacement of some of the club buoys; this is an ongoing activity. Other ongoing activities include repairing or replacing the goose gates where there are holes that the geese can get through and improving the storage for club boats and equipment so that they are easier to use and maintain.
If there are projects or improvements that you would like to see made, or if you like to get things done and want to join the group, please contact Andy Rhodes at works@grafham.org