As the new Chairman, I thought it might be nice to introduce myself, and give you a bit of background. My wife and I live aboard a 37 foot sailing catamaran on the South Coast. We have lived aboard for around 12 years. We have had experience of the canals and rivers prior to taking up sailing, which we did when I was made redundant 22 years ago. I became a qualified RYA Shore-based Instructor myself being qualified to Yachtmaster level at sea.
Throughout my life I have participated in Committees, both in the work and voluntary environments. Over the years I have taken on nearly every post invented for a committee. I have been a Chair, Gen. Secretary, Treasurer etc. I have also been involved in setting up community and non-profit organisations.
That very potted bit above brings us nicely to the RBOA and current matters. Here in
Chichester the weather has turned from foul yesterday to fine today, with promises of foul later on in the week. We are lock-bound by the tide at the moment, so the laundry has had to be postponed. We are moored on the island side of the lock in Birdham Pool. When the tides are on the high side at high water the lock gates are swept open and the hydraulics are not man enough to shut them. As today was not near springs we didn’t anticipate this, having not noticed quite how low the pressure had dropped. For those who are not au fait with tides, winds, pressure and that, if requested I will write little explanation.
The new Committee had its first meeting after the AGM, and put in place the additional posts. These are listed elsewhere in the magazine. We have one completely new post, The Archivist. This is Charles Foster (who has also taken on the Rewards post). It became apparent that we needed to have an organised system for recording and retaining the history, knowledge, photographs and memories that are within the organisation. So, if any of you have interesting, relevant, pictorial, and even unusual items that can be stored either electronically or in paper form, please contact the General Secretary in the first instance before anything else.
Our first meeting had a very positive and forwarding looking feel. We now are a Company Limited by Guarantee, and what this means for all of you, is that we are a legal entity, and so you individually and collectively cannot be held financially liable for any actions of the RBOA, over and above £1 per person.
In my time as Chairman, I hope to be able to represent both the members and the organisation in a positive and progressive way. I have already been asked to meet up with organisations the RBOA is involved with, and it will be very interesting to see how these meetings go and what progress can be made. Watch this space.
As most of us are about to settle in for the winter, may the weather be kind and the winds not too strong.
Keep warm and dry.