A messsage from the Chairman

Written by Peter Bentley Peter Bentley

Published: 14 April 2020 14 April 2020

Created: 14 April 2020 14 April 2020

Last Updated: 29 April 2020 29 April 2020

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A message from the Chairman

Broom Owners Club and Coronavirus

I hope that you are all taking the instructions appropriate to your age and have managed to avoid being infected. If you, or any members of your family, have been struck down then I hope you, or they, eventually make a full recovery and our thoughts are with you. Unfortunately, the age demographic of the club puts many of us in the higher risk categories, so please follow the guidance. At the same time, the membership is a diverse group and there will be some in key industries, not just the medical profession, important as they are at this time, who we should be thankful for.  

So, many of us will be confined indoors, except for the recommended exercise periods or essential shopping trips. For most of us our boats are moored in marinas and somebody from their staff will be responsible for carrying out regular safety checks. However, others may not be so lucky and if you are concerned then please don’t hesitate to post something on the forum, there may be someone who can help, you never know.

The Club during 'lockdown'

Unfortunately the various events that were being planned have either had to be cancelled or postponed and, depending on the programme for lifting the lockdown, others may join them. Your committee is monitoring the situation and will do its best to salvage as many as possible. To this end we have been busy exploring the opportunities that modern technology presents. Therefore, the committee meeting, due in late April,, will go ahead with a lot of preparation and preliminary ‘discussions' being carried out on the committee section of the forum. After some investigations we have opted to use Zoom for the final decision making, if it is good enough for HMGs cabinet, then it is good enough for us. The photograph shows your Chairman during one of test sessions.

Meanwhile, if anybody is struggling to fill their time and has run out of potential cruising plans to prepare or maintenance projects to consider, then what about putting your fingers to the keyboard? David Haugh is always pleased to receive articles for Sweeping Statements and this is an ideal opportunity for all you budding journalists, who have hidden behind the excuse of a lack of time in the past. At the same time, you could submit these articles, or other literary masterpieces, as entries for the Martin Broom Memorial Trophy. Frank Hawkins and his team of judges would be only too pleased to receive them for consideration and you might receive some recognition for your work. Finally, let's not forget the quiz prepared by John Oldham which will test your knowledge of the web site and the history of the BOC and Broom boats. Thank you John.

However you pass the time, I look forward to meeting as many as possible when we return to normality and the committee will do its best to ensure that, if nothing else, we can enjoy the AGM weekend in Portsmouth.

Peter Bentley