Nottinghamshire County Sailing Club named RYA and Yachts & Yachting Club of the Year
by Susie Nation-Grainger 3 Mar 2018 20:07 GMT
3 March 2018
Nottinghamshire County Sailing Club named RYA and Yachts & Yachting Club of the Year © Paul Wyeth
Nottinghamshire County Sailing Club have been named RYA and Yachts & Yachting Club of the Year 2018 at the RYA Dinghy Show today (Saturday 03 March) where the awards were presented by double Olympic medallist Saskia Clark.
Beating off stiff competition, the Midlands club were recognised for their efforts in Facility Development and were announced as overall winners.
After a strategy to rejuvenate the club, over £250,000 including grants was invested in expanding and upgrading the clubhouse and facilities including updated changing rooms, expanding the boat park and renovating the clubhouse.
This has enabled Nottinghamshire County SC to maximise participation and increase membership by 27% with currently over 1,200 members.
Commodore Ross Ryan said: "It's fabulous and we're delighted! The hundreds of members who volunteer all year- it's what it's all about. The award included a public vote this year so we're really grateful to the boating community who voted for us".
All five shortlisted sailing clubs were recognised for their achievements of across five categories: Increasing Participation, Innovation, Communication, Inclusivity and Facility Development.
Dartmouth Yacht Club were presented with the 'Communication' award for their successful campaign which welcomed everybody in their town to get involved and out on the water at their club.
The Increasing Participation award was given to London Corinthian Sailing Club. The club has recently made significant progress with major initiatives to increase participation in both dinghies and offshore sailing, offering a wide range of activities for all ages, all levels of experience and all aspirations.
Whitefriars Sailing Club were back for a second year and this time as the winners of the Inclusivity Category. The club's Sailability group grew from just a few sailors in 2012 to over 90 in 2017 with weekly sessions often attracting over 40 participants.
Finally Marconi Sailing Club were named winners of the Innovation Award. They had an increasing number of new members who wanted to learn to sail yachts while participating in racing, so they invested in a small keelboat to increase capacity.
Find more information about the award and the all the finalists can be found at www.rya.org.uk/cluboftheyear