2015 03 newsletter

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Frome Canoe Club is affiliated to the British Canoe Union and is a Registered Charity (Number 1104728)

Newsletter

Volume 39 Issue 3: March 2015

Help needed We need help on two days coming up:

29th March to run a taster session at the pool (12 to 1pm) 5th April promotion of the club at the Frome Independent Market in the morning. See p6 for details.

FROME TRIP

Mike at Bolham weir on the Exe trip. What happens next? See P12!

OUR CLUB IS FANTASTIC!

What is Kieran doing? P10 has the details.

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CALENDAR: details

REPORTS

OTHER THINGS

FCC ‘THROWLINE ’ CLUB MAGAZINE

Send articles for the next issue to [email protected] by 26th March

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

President

Graham Warnecke

Vice Presidents

Richard and Jane Arney

Jim and Catharine Croft

Chairman

Andy Vowell

Vice Chairman

Gareth McGiveron

Treasurer

John Kent

Secretary

Pam Dixon

16 Blagdon Walk, Frome, BA11 2YH

Committee Members

Rich Carter

Richard Heal

Jonathan Howell

Tracey Lemon

Stuart Miles

Jack Smiles

In this issue

3 Calendar in brief

4 Frome trip/Tryweryn/Saturdays

5 Rock Collisions/Pool sessions/ Canoe Polo

6 Help needed

7 Slalom - key dates

8 Slalom - points to remember

9 AGM

10 River Frome by Alun Jones

12 River Exe trip

14 2015 Courses

15 Bits and Pieces

16 Smokefree Sports Club

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Calendar 2015


Date Event Standard Contact

March

6 Polo at the pool - contact game Experienced paddlers Jack S

11 Rock Collisions/big ships - a talk All Andy V

14 Club session: Saturday pm All Rich C

14/15 Tryweryn weekend 2 Star + Arthur

18 Coaches’ meeting Volunteers Rich C

20 Polo at the pool - non contact All Jack S

22 River Frome trip Passport/One Star Rich C

25 DVD Night All Pam D

27 Last pool session All Pam D


29 Frome Expo - help needed All Pam D

April

5/12/19 Slalom training All John K

5 Frome Ind Market - help needed All Pam D


18/19 WWSR - a safety course Participants Pam D

20 Monday evening slalom starts All John K

22 Wednesday sessions start All Pam D

24 Mini slalom (1) All John K

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Calendar in detail


RIVER FROME

22nd March Meet Market Yard: 9am Cost £3 Organiser: Rich Carter

Let’s hope it is a bit warmer than the February trip! This trip is for anyone who is at Pass-port/One Star standard or above. You need to be able to stay warm so thermals to wear under your cag are essential. And a packed lunch. You can borrow any club kit.

TRYWERYN WEEKEND - 14/15th March

Organiser: Arthur Belbin

A chance to paddle some harder water in north Wales. The section of the Try-weryn that runs from the Chipper to the camp site is often known as the Upper Tryweryn. It includes the famous Graveyard, Ski Jump, Fed yr Goch Falls, Fin-gers and Chapel Falls (all 3+). All this and more in less than 2 km! And because the river is high volume and quite steep, these rapids usually feel a lot more in-timidating and a whole grade higher! Not for the faint-hearted. But with a good support/rescue crew on the water and on the bank, this is a challenge that some members might be ready for. For experienced paddlers, this is a fabulous play-ground! Depending on paddlers, we can fit in a paddle on the lower Tryweryn, an easier stretch - from the campsite to Bala. We stay in Lynda’s lovely bunkhouse Friday and Saturday night. She does break-fast on Saturday and Sunday morning for us (£5 pppd) which is so civilised. Transport is sorted out amongst friends—or let Arthur know if you need help. A deposit of £26 secures your place on this trip. There are only 18 places.

WINTER CLUB SESSIONS

AT THE CLUBHOUSE

ON

14th March 28th March 11th April

2– 4 pm EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

SATURDAY AFTERNOONS

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Calendar in detail


POOL SESSIONS - FRIDAYS

8-9pm. Cost £3.30/£2.80 At the Frome Leisure Centre

LAST POOL SESSION IS 27th March

CANOE POLO

AT THE POOL

8.30pm - 9pm Organiser: Jack Smiles

Two games a month, one is for experienced paddlers (the contact game) and the other is a non contact game. A good roll is an asset in the contact game because pushing in while tack-ling is allowed! The non contact game is good for inexperienced paddlers, both adults and young people alike.

Contact games Non contact March 6th March 20th

A talk by Andy Vowell

ROCK COLLISIONS AND

TECHNICAL RESCUES.

HOW THE BIG BOYS DO IT!

11th March 7.30pm at the Clubhouse We are talking big ships here. Andy will walk us through some of the projects he has been involved in. It will be amazing! Come at 7pm for tea and cake. Talk starts at 7.30pm.

Calling Coaches and Volunteers

Coaches’ Meeting 18th March, 7pm

Clubhouse

To look at the programme for 2015 All volunteers welcome

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Calendar in details

Does anyone do the Frome Community Lottery?

We can apply to the Frome Community Trust for grants for the club, but we need two people who are either doing the lottery already (or are happy to start), to countersign the application.

Do let Pam know if you do this lottery or want a form to start. It’s a £1 a week commitment and of course prizes can be won too!

DVD NIGHT

25th March 7.30pm at the Clubhouse Come at 7pm for refreshments

What shall we watch?

Let’s choose on the night from our extensive library of DVDs!

Help needed Two separate occasions: 29th March - Frome Expo 5th April - Frome Independent Market

Frome Expo - at the Frome Leisure Centre 12noon - 1pm We are going to be promoting the club and offering free short tasters to members of the public in the pool. We need people to man the desk and answer questions and we need people to help on poolside.

Frome Independent Market is promoting all the sporting activities available in Frome. We shall open the clubhouse from 10am –2pm In addition members of the public can watch the ‘display’ of slalom training which will be going on during the morning. So we need people to man the stall in the market and direct people to the clubhouse if they want more infor-mation and we need people to get on the water and train with John’s slalom groups.

2015 Slalom Programme 2015 kicks off with Sunday training on 5th April For full details see page 7/8

Anyone having difficulty paying the trip

prices please speak to the Welfare Officer.

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Slalom - some key dates


Sundays 5th, 12th and 19th April

Training at Market Yard. Juniors 09:30 to 10:30, Adults / more experienced 10:30 to 11:30.

Mondays from 20th April

Training at Market Yard. Juniors 18:00 to 19:00, Adults / more experienced 19:00 to 20:00.

Friday 24th April Minislalom at Market Yard 18:00. A 12 gate course with minimum organisation.

Sat 2nd / Sun 3rd May Bala Mill Div 3/4. A camping weekend in North Wales. Note in the past this has been a 2/3.

Sunday 10th May Grand Team Event at Market Yard. Race in teams of three.

Saturday 16th May North Walls Slalom at Winchester. This is a Division 4 race and is held on flat water so is ideal for your first race. There is also an Open race for those who are already in a higher division.

Sat 23rd / Sun 24th May

Llandysul Div 2/3, with Div 4 on the lake. A camping weekend in West Wales.

Friday 29th May Minislalom at Market Yard 18:00. A 12 gate course with minimum organisation.

Sunday 31st May No training as such but this is the day we put up the course ready for Langham Farm the following week-end.

Sat 6th / Sun 7th June Langham Farm Slalom. A Division 3 and 4 ranking race near Rode which we organise.

Sat 13th / Sun 14th June.

Ogmore slalom Div 3/4 at Bridgend in South Wales. We will probably race Saturday only.

Sat 20th / Sun 21st June

Shepperton slalom Div 3/4 in South West London. We will race Saturday only.

Friday 3rd July Minislalom at Market Yard 18:00. Moved forward a week to avoid clash with Biblins weekend.

You can find out more about canoe slalom on www.canoeslalom.co.uk

http://www.canoeslalom.co.uk/

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Slalom - some points to remember

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Annual General Meeting - report back

We say goodbye and thank you to Alun who has chaired the club for over three years now and we say hello to Andy V who was voted in as Chairman at the AGM.

Arthur also leaves with Alun, and his place on the committee is filled by Jack. All the other committee members remain as before.

We said thank you to Sally and Tim who have been kit officers now for many years and who are stepping down but not leaving the club, we hope!

Comments from the floor were really positive tonight, with some lovely comments about how well the club is run, how good our facilities are and how welcoming we are.

The proposal for the PaddlePass brought some discussion and was agreed in principle. It is to be a way to allow members to participate more frequently during the summer season at the Market Yard. Details need to be worked out and so more about this later.

Altogether it was a brilliant AGM with a really good turn out. Thank you to everyone who came!

And finally at the very end of the meeting we heard about the Smokefree Sports Club that we are becoming (see back page for more info).

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River Frome - a different section today by Alun Jones


The first day of February was very cold with a biting wind but a small group of well prepared paddlers

assembled at the clubhouse to paddle the River Frome.

Two of our number, Anne-Marie and Martynn from the Sutton Bingham club, joined us for the day. We chose to paddle from Langham Farm to Iford. This stretch is only viable for a small group because of the lack of parking space at the egress point.

After a quick warm up at Lang-ham Farm we proceeded to paddle to the weir at Tellisford which was surprisingly dry given the river level at Frome. The original fulling mill site now is occupied by a modern electricity generating turbine which has altered the water level. Tellisford is one of the thankful villag-es that lost no men in World War One.

We managed to negotiate the weir with only Martynn getting wet and paddled under the 17th century bridge towards the water monitoring station AKA the zoom flume. This is a section of river which is contained within con-crete banks that funnel the river into a tapered V-shape and has a small

standing wave at the bottom that provides a refreshing face full of cold water to paddlers as they go through. All of the group powered through the flume safely.

We paddled on to the second weir at Snarlton Farm which was a slide and a drop into a deep pool. We were now getting close to Farleigh Hungerford and were able to observe two anglers having fun, and a buzzard which flew low under the tree canopy.

The next weir at Farleigh looked quite high from above but again we all slid over safely. From the river we could see the medie-val castle which Sir Thomas Hungerford had started to build in 1377. I think it will look

good when it’s finished.

The question of ‘How far is it now?’ came up and, of course the correct response is ‘It’s just around the corner’, unless it is really just around the corner when the answer is ‘We are nearly half way now’.

After a short stretch we were con-fronted by a river wide blockage caused by a fallen tree and the debris that was trapped around it. At first sight it looked impassable but Kieran found a way through for us to follow and even Stuart in the open canoe managed to crash through.

Are we

nearly there yet?

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River Frome, 1st February continued

The last weir above Iford is a sloping shelf and can be run down a channel on the right hand side. There was not much water flowing over the weir but all paddlers managed to scrape down into the river.

The Archimedean screw or axial flow pump, to the side of this weir is used in this instance to generate electricity, though this ancient technology has been used in recent times to stabilize the leaning tower of Pisa. Small amounts of subsoil saturated by ground water were removed from far below the north side of the tower, and the weight of the tower itself corrected the lean. It has also been postulated that an axial flow pump was used to irrigate the hanging gardens of Babylon.

At the egress point there is a limited space so we collected the group up-stream and set off in pairs at short intervals. There is always some slip-ping and sliding here with the muddy bank, and today was no exception.

It was good to get into warm and dry clothing and head home.

A note to the paddlers today: if there is any aspect of the trip that you feel could be improved please let us know and we will try to implement your suggestions.

Ed – Thanks Alun for this lovely

article! However you missed out the details of Kieran’s dramatic rescue of Anne-Marie. It was exciting to say the least, watching him as he clam-bered over the weir to free one well-and-truly pinned paddler!

I did enjoy the information you gave about Archimedes’ screw. I feel it is great that there is at least one person in the club who keeps discussions at an elevated level! And did you know that although attributed to Archimedes (circa 3rd

century BC) the technology may in fact have been used by Assyrians 350 years earlier! On a different note, we were very grateful to John for turning up and doing the shuttle especially as he was ill - the following day he was at the GP getting antibiotics and painkillers. And finally, great to see Kieran back on the water after the shoulder Injury!

Paddlers and Points Boys Kieran F Women Kath N, Pam D, Su F Men Alun J, Ian J, Mark B, Rich C,

Stuart M and Terry O. And joining us today were guest pad-dlers from SBDCC: Anne Marie (2) and Martynn (3)

Martynn’s swim is here. And the other film John took at Tellisford weir is here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27889086@N07/16234107327/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/27889086@N07/16235127329/

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River Exe - 22nd February


We approached Bolham weir with some caution – it is well known for its capacity to hold paddlers against their will. But we needn’t have worried. It was nice and gentle unless you were Mike, and then Bolham won! But Mark was watching and whisked him upright before he had a chance to do a wet exit.

So that’s only two points Mike! Every-one else managed fine. To be fair Mike had lent his boat to his son as a true gentleman would, and he was paddling Kate’s boat - a bit small for him and not so stable.

Then onto the rapids and they were a bit meaty today with a good flow but a few people got a big surprise when they found the rock right in the middle.

Worthhouse bridge was next and a veritable jungle of trees obscured all river arches bar the very left. Even that one was partially blocked so we needed a plan. It took Rich standing out in the water and Mark on the edge to guide us one-by-one through to safety. It worked. No one got stuck in the strainer.

Salmon ponds weir had a two pronged approach – some of us going down the steps and others down the weir face. The hole at the bottom was big and hungry today as Terry found out. Only a short swim though for him before he was out of his boat rescuing himself in the true textbook fashion promoted by trainers on any WWSR course that you do.

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River Exe continued


weirs with no problems and we met up again at Bickleigh to get changed – yes, you guessed, in the rain.

A big thanks need to go to the peo-ple who helped with the evacuation.

Finally can I recommend Stu as a paddling partner – he supplied the group shelter, the warm drink, the extra thermal and stayed calm for us all as we battled with the group shelter in the fierce wind.

As we left Tiverton we looked back

at the river, now very brown and

flowing fast: the water levels were

really picking up with the day’s rain. I

think we were all glad to be in warm

cars and on the way home. But it

was a good trip. Good company and

good water levels.

The weather, bitterly cold today, start-ed eating into us. We had icy water attacking us from below and freezing rain drops stinging our faces from above. But people were still smiling because the water levels were good, making the features fun today.

On to the Town Weir and Walronds where some rested whilst others played.

All that was left now was the hard slog down to Bickleigh but water levels were picking up so we were helped a little even though the icy rain and wind were still in our faces.

A ball in the water distracted us from the cold for a little while, and then Becca fell in on a sneaky eddy line. It wasn’t long after, that we said enough was enough and got her out, and into a group shelter with hot drink, choccie bars, fresh thermals and the slightly dubious company provided by three ladies: Kath, Lesley and Pam.

Bex did the hard work at this point, of dragging a boat over to the road to act as a marker because Alun was hot-footing it to Bickleigh in order to return in his car. Becca by now was warming up and smiling again. She didn’t need any help to get to the road and into Alun’s warm car.

All the other paddlers did the last two

Paddlers and Points Girls Aimee C, Chloe C Boys Keiran C, Kieran F Women Bex, Kath N, Pam D, Paula B Men Alun J, Graham W, Ian J (6),

Mark B, Mike B (2), Rich C, Stuart M and Terry O (3)

And joining us today were guest paddlers: Becca, Luke, Peter and Tim.

Ed: Look out for Alun’s article about this trip, coming next month.

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Club Courses 2015

WWSR course 18/19 April

At the Tryweryn £85 plus £24 water charge plus certifi-cate charge. Accommodation and food to be arranged by individuals. Spaces limited to 6 so book early with Pam

Courses for OVER-14s One Star £35 An introductory course for beginners to the sport. An evening course: 5/12/19/26 May A weekend course: 15/16 August

Two Star £55 A course to progress from One Star. A seven week course on Tuesday evenings, 7-9pm. Starting 3rd June

Canoe Safety (FSRT): £35 20/21 June Over two days the training builds on the rescue skills covered in Two Star. Certificate extra: £5 BCU members / £10 non BCU members

Courses for YOUNG PEOPLE Passport (Beginners) £35 An introductory 5 week course for the under 14s. Tuesdays, 6.30-8pm. First course starts 12th May Second course starts 16th June

Discover (Improvers) £50 This follows on from the Passport course and develops the skills learned in Passport. It is a 10 week course, designed for under-14s. Tuesdays, 6.30-8pm. Start date - 12th May

Aquatic First Aid: £30 8th August An 8 hour course focusing on water based incidents. It includes loads of CPR. Certificates extra: £6 BCU members / £9 non BCU members

For more information pick up a Courses leaflet from the clubhouse

or download here

Application forms here . Or paper copies from the clubhouse.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5HiGU9GTgeARDE5VDgtTnowYmc&authuser=0

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5HiGU9GTgeAcGJHdTBaX3lmSms&authuser=0

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Bits and Pieces

Get all your ca-

noeing things

from the Family

Adventure Store

at Hilperton.

Usk Paddlers - 15th February (nil points!) Girls: Chloe C Boys: George M, Keiran C, Kieran F Men: Andy V, Bob B, Chris W, Jack S, Mark B and Rich N Guest paddler Mick Hill from Melksham. And bank support from Tim Smiles. Appar-

ently Jack needed help with launching.

We’re collecting! From now till 5th May

Ian Jones 12

Toby Wilde 3

Jos Maxey 3

Jed Norris 3

Terry O’Neill 3

Rich Heal 3

Cameron Fewell 3

Martynn Rowson 3

Becca Spinks 3

Anne-Marie Rowson 2

Mike Bullen 2

COPPER NOSECLIP POINTS

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Canoeing and kayaking are “Assumed risk” – “Water contact sports” that may carry attendant risks. Participants should be aware of and accept these risks, and be responsible for their own action and involvement.

www.frome-canoe-club.org.uk

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facebook

CONTACTS

Chairman: Andy Vowell Vice Chair: Gareth McGiveron Treasurer: John Kent 01225 765168 [email protected] Secretary: Pam Dixon 07740 472982 [email protected] Head Coach: Rich Carter 01373 864623 Youth Reps: Tracey Lemon and Stuart Miles Volunteer Rep: Jonathan Howell

SmokefreeSports

The club has just elected to become a smoke free sports club and we have been working with young people and parents to promote this in the club. The harmful effects of smoking are widely known and we will cover some of these in future news-letters but the first things the young people want-ed to mention were some facts about the cost!

THE COST OF SMOKING

A packet of 20 cigarettes costs around £7.98

A 20-a-day smoker will spend around £2,900 a year on cigarettes

The cost of smoking to society is around £12.9 billion a year in England alone

Over a third of all accidental fire dwelling deaths in the UK in 2012/13 were caused by smokers’ materials.

Comment - Chloe did a quick bit of mental arithmetic in the meeting and said “If you stop smoking, after 7 years you will be able to buy a Mustang GT”! On a more practical note Su said “In one year you could buy a heck of a lot of canoe kit.”

Ed: do pass on any interesting facts that you would like to share with other club members about the dangers of smoking.

2015 03 newsletter

Documents

club session

club kit

frome trip mike

frome triptrywerynsaturdays

frome expo help

frome ind market help

frome independent market

smokefree sports club