Your committee met on Wednesday November 11th by Zoom in the shadow of the latest Covid lockdown. We have much to tell you and I apologise now for being a bit long winded.
In view of the timescale, and the distinct possibility that things won’t change much in December, we unanimously decided to cancel the Club’s Christmas Dinner which had been scheduled for December 9th. We will look at the possibility of having an event early in 2021.
We have a volunteer to take over the role of Treasurer on January 1st. Piers Rogers’ offer to take over the job from Alan Purchase was gratefully accepted by the committee, this will have to be approved at the 2021 AGM, presently scheduled for February 10th. The committee would like to thank Alan for his reliable and accurate services to date.
This of course left the post of Membership Secretary open and Penny Masters has offered to fill that role. The committee accepted her offer and she will take over on Jan 1st with approval to be sought at the AGM.
We now have room for a couple of new committee members. We would like more female influence and contribution from younger club members if possible, call (07831 692652) or email me if you would like to discuss the implications.
Membership has been kept at £10 per family and subs are now due. Details of how to pay, terms and conditions, etc. are on the website www.kebc.co.uk, hover over the Members heading and click on join. As most, if not all, of you will be paying electronically it would be helpful if you could notify membership@kebc.co.uk that you have renewed your membership. We also need to know if any of your details have changed so a short email saying no (or any) changes and date subs were paid would be helpful. We will try to make this easier in future. Payment indicates your acceptance of Club policies.
Boatwatch coordinator Richard Benton has a message for all members:-
“The seven month Boatwatch season finished at the end of October, and more quietly this year without the gales that gave some boat owners grief over the last couple of years.
I know that both Boat Club members and other Estuary users value what Boatwatchers do, and also that the Harbour Authority find having extra pairs of eyes on watch around the upper Estuary reassuring. My contacts with the local Police team about Covid 19 lockdown arrangements for Boatwatch made me aware that they recognise what we add to the general level of safety and security locally.
As always, we must thank our Harbour Office contacts, especially Amanda Sparks and Phil Goodhead. They always respond swiftly to our messages about boats or equipment at risk by contacting the owners, or by arranging for Harbour staff to investigate if it seems urgent.
On behalf of the Club Committee and the membership I thank all members who gave time to Boatwatch duties in 2020. I know that Boatwatch duty added a sense of purpose to lockdown exercise outings for many Boatwatchers when everyone’s activities were particularly restricted.
Looking ahead to 2021, I will be starting the process of recruiting some additional club members to Boatwatch for the new season. As with all voluntary activities there is a core long term group of participants and a selection of others who join in when they can. Both are welcome, but the natural turnover of individuals due to changes in personal circumstances means that we need some new volunteers for 2021.
There were a significant number of additional members who indicated when they paid their 2020 subscription that they were willing to do Boatwatch, but whom I did not contact earlier this year because Covid 19 restrictions made planning difficult until well on into the season. I will be emailing these people in the near future to ask if they are interested in joining in for 2021. I will include details of how we organise the duties and how often individuals cover these in that message, but there is a lot of information in the Boatwatch section of the KEBC website.
If readers of this newsletter who have not participated before would like to volunteer now, feel free to contact me on boatwatch@kebc.co.uk“
Richard Benton, Boatwatch Coordinator. 14.11.2020.
The following from Nigel Mortimer:-
Dear Salcombe-Kingsbridge Estuary Conservation Forum members
I am forwarding you the email below on behalf of the LIFE ReMEDIES seagrass project targeting the opinions of motorboaters – please do forward this email to anyone else within your group, club, etc. that might also have an interest and be able to help.
With best wishes
Nigel Mortimer
Estuaries Officer – South Devon AONB Unit
Nigel.Mortimer@SouthDevonAONB.org.uk
Hello,
My name is Lizzi Gabe-Thomas and I am an environmental psychologist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. I am working with Collingwood Environmental Planning and Natural England on the LIFE ReMEDIES project. www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-recreation-remedies-project
If you are a leisure motorboater in and around the South Devon area, we’d like your views as we explore the relationship between boating practices and seagrass. Please CLICK HERE and register to join our online conversation, which will take place from 6.30pm to 8.30pm on Monday 23rd November (please register by Friday 20th November).
The meeting is being organised as part of LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES, a four-year marine conservation project to improve the condition of sensitive seabed habitats within five Special Areas of Conservation along England’s south coast. The project is led by Natural England in partnership with Ocean Conservation Trust, Marine Conservation Society, Plymouth City Council/Tamar Estuaries Consultative Forum and Royal Yachting Association. [& South Devon AONB Estuaries Partnership]
Independent research consultancy Collingwood Environmental Planning (CEP) will run the meeting. If you have any queries, please contact c.twigger-ross@cep.co.uk. All discussions will be anonymised and will follow CEP’s GDPR and ethics protocol. You can also view the LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES privacy notice on the Natural England website.
Best wishes,
Lizzi
Dr Elizabeth Gabe-Thomas
Environmental Psychologist
Sea and Society (SAS)
Plymouth Marine Laboratory
Finally KEBC now has a Zoom Pro account and we hope to be running on line events this winter. Keep your eyes open for more emails from us. The for sale section on the web site is going well. Members might like to offer jumble/single items – one photo image per item and everything at a reasonable cost with the option of donating cash received to the Club’s charity account.
Thanks for your patience (if you got this far).
Tony Watson
