2025 Boating Season on the Horizon
A message from your Chairman, Keith Rowe
I would like to begin the year by bringing you all up to date with what the Committee have been doing since the AGM. We have been busy…
The first coffee morning of the new club year was held at Acle on 16th November 2024 organised and hosted by Graham, on behalf of Paul and Thandi Bates, with 31 members attending. This was a great turnout and a lively three hours were spent discussing new ideas, innovations and issues affecting local boating, and generally meeting up with old and new friends.
Some changes in the pipeline…
It is our intention to streamline the committee by creating two separate but connected teams. The management of the club will be conducted by the Club Officers, namely the Chairman, Vice Chairman, General Secretary, Membership Secretary, Treasurer plus the Webmaster and Magazine Editor. All of the co-ordinators (National Events and Regional) and representatives will be part of the Operations Team working in conjunction with the Officers. This will allow the club to respond more quickly to issues or opportunities as they arise whilst keeping abreast of membership feedback through the co-ordinators who will be working hard to develop the membership and events in their area – with the active support of the Vice Chairman. We plan to keep up to 4 meetings a year of the overall Operations team, but can also have shorter, more frequent meetings of the Officers to get any initiatives/planned changes implemented quickly.
We have crafted a new Awards Committee, headed up by Chris Cole. This independent group will review the nominations for the annual Martin Broom Memorial Trophy and the new Conspicuous Service award which is for any member or group who render exceptional service to the club or to any individual other member during the year. They will also review all nominations for the Chairman’s Letter of Commendation. At this point, can I say that in future, members will not be able to nominate themselves for an award. Also we would like to receive all nominations as the event/service occurs rather than leaving it to the end of the year before you think about it.
At the coffee morning last November, the matter of the club having a motto was raised. Since then Graham, along with the feedback of a number of members, and in particular Dr Anthony Barber, has created the following motto:
Amicitia et Adventura
Translated to English this says “Friendship and Adventure” which I’m sure you will agree embodies the ethos of the club and the aspirations of many who have joined. We have deliberately crafted it in Latin as those who are not yet members may seek translation and be pleasantly encouraged by the meaning.
As most of you will be aware, Jocelyn Jones, our magazine editor, stepped down at the end of December for personal reasons. Our thanks are extended to her for her efforts on behalf of the club and we wish her the very best for the future.
I can tell you now, that we have been fortunate to co-opt onto the management team, Jo Moore, ably supported by her husband Mike. Their boat is ‘Serenata S’ a Broom 37 and they have been members since 2021. They were originally based at Newark on Trent before moving to the Broads in 2022. Jo is a keen photographer, gardener and, of course, boater.
Jo already has a number of ideas to develop the magazine and has had previous experience in an editorial role. We will be chasing for additional magazine material very soon, as we now have 5 new full page, 2 half page and 1 quarter page adverts. It would not be good for the magazine to be dominated by advertisements no matter how helpful the income, so Jo, with our support,will be looking to expand the editorial side. Contributions for the next issue to Jo editor@broomowners.com.
Our current membership number is currently 450, with 15 of those joining since the AGM. There are clearly a large number of Brooms up for sale at the moment with our brokerage friends, so I am confident that number will continue to grow.
Whilst on members, we have to accept that occasionally we will lose a member by their passing. This is always sad and especially if they are a friend and member of long standing. Accordingly we have decided to create an “In Memoriam” section on our website and will be working with Louise to ensure that either the club and/or a family member can access this to share a photograph and some details of their lost loved one.
We are eagerly awaiting information from our Regional Co-Ordinators and Representatives as to their hopes and plans for this coming year.
To kick things off the next Coffee Morning for the Eastern Region will be on Saturday 1st February at Acle – we already have 45 members booked to attend.
I have organised a get-together and seminar on Saturday 1st March covering Cruising especially for Beginners along with Technical questions with the expertise of a Marine engineer, Electrician and a Boatbuilder who have many years experience working at Broom Boats. We currently have over 40 members booked to attend and still have further space if interested. Hopefully this will be a resounding success and if so, we hope to help and encourage other regions to do similar.
Also, our friends on the South Coast have a Fitting Out Lunch on Sunday 23rd February organised by Julia Greenhalf which I will be attending plus there is a cruise to Littlehampton , Friday 2nd May – Monday 5th May weather permitting . Please register your interest by 1st March with captainchristopher@hotmail.com
We hope to see as many of you as possible at events during the year, and will keep you up to date with progress as we move forward.
Safe boating and we look forward to meeting you all and hearing and reading about your adventures .