East Coast Sea Kayaking Club

Don't worry the old hands are reading this debate with interest !

Thanks to everyone who responded, either here on the forum, by e-mail, by telephone and in person. The responses were across the spectrum, from positive to negative, and included ideas, suggestions, criticisms and solutions to potential problems. Some of the ideas I am pleased to say were of a better quality than those I outlined and some of the criticisms demonstrated the wealth of experience we have to draw on should we seek to more actively attract new members.

Some of the key themes raised in the responses included the benefits of attracting new members, who the target audience might be, the importance of the role of the professional/commercial operators in bringing people up to the Level 2 standard, the challenges of accessing gear for new entrants to sea kayaking and the significant commitment that any endeavour would require.

I joined the club nearly ten years ago when I was in my early thirties and around that time I was one of the youngest of a diverse group of people getting started in sea kayaking. I would love to be part of helping another group to get started in this life-affirming activity. The challenge is significant and the effort required to achieve any degree of success is not to be under estimated. One of the key differences now though is that due to the work of our members, leaders and committees over the past ten years, we have a much improved infrastructure and a huge body of knowledge and experience.

I think the next step for me is to work through the responses and try to put together some more concrete proposals for the committee to consider – plans, budget, people and so forth. If any member is keen to get involved, let me know and we’ll meet up to share the load…John, Ewan, Robin, Dave…I’ll be in touch!

Thanks

Happy Wednesday to all
Just to assure the members that the club committee are indeed considering the issues and ideas raised in Tony's posting.

There are challenges to the club's current demographics such as Age, gender, Geographic, Economic, social, physical ability etc. which we as a club need to consider.
Some of these issues act as a block or a disincentive to new members joining or indeed new members staying on.

Anyhow the club committee & the leaders group together need to work on these
which will not be in any way a quickfix.

Some of the changes required will challenge the current "STATUS QUO" of the club
but as long as what we decide to do doesn't damage the club for it's current members
then we should be able to work out a way forward on most issues.

I also ask that if you are responding that you refrain from inadvertant negative comments that may cause hurt or insult to others.

The committee will meet again at the end of August or early September
and the concerns and issues raised will be considered.

At that stage I will respond en-masse to the membership as to our collective response and we can take it from there.

All the best and wishing you good paddling in august
Alan

"I also ask that if you are responding that you refrain from inadvertant negative comments that may cause hurt or insult to others".
Good comment alan....

I hope nobody would be deliberately nasty...although some people cannot help it....
But some people are very easily offended too....
I use the following if I can to try to help me...before opening ones mouth think, does what I am about to say meet the following criteria....

Is it kind,
Is it necessary
Does it improve on silence.

But, even then one can only look into ones own heart to check, and if ones own heart is not in the correct place then one will naturally think that one is correct in saying what ever....its all veeeeery complicated....but a good place to start....

Similarly, if I feel offended by someone it is most likely because I have taken it personally.....if one is actually attacked personally one can try to have empathy for the person who attacked one,not sympathy, empathy... it is anger that makes them attack, personal anger from their own lives, nothing to do with the attackee at all....so then the attackee can think before replying about the 3 things listed above before replying.... this diffuses the angry person, the attacker....with practice it all calms down.....
This makes for very good debating and issues get resolved.....9.5 times out of 10....
Fundamentally it is all about oneself......know thyself....easier said than done....

On now with the debate......sorry for the slight hijack...and BTW I think it is a great idea, if I can help in anyway I will

If it's free it's advice, if you pay for it it's counselling and if you can use either it's a miracle.

LOVE REMEMBERED
John F McCullogh

Imagine being loved! It is a miracle some say.
Love fiercely he advised me for this all will pass away.
For all who seek each other there is no need to remind
That we have all the world, but very little time.
Man of woman born Is but a transient creature.
I only learned to love so well
because I had the finest teacher.



Because the history of modern thought regarding miracles has been strongly influenced by apologetic interests, the emphasis of this entry will be on the apologetic conception of the miraculous—that is, on the concept of miracle as it has been invoked by those who would point to the reports of miracles in scripture as establishing the existence of a supernatural God. It is important to bear in mind, however, that any difficulty associated with this apologetic appeal to miracles does not automatically militate against the reasonableness of belief in miracles generally. A successful criticism of the apologetic appeal will show at most that a warranted belief in miracles depends on our having independent reasons for rejecting naturalism;