King George Sailing Club - End of Year Review
by Peter Edel, KGSC Commodore 9 Dec 2022 13:31 GMT
2022 sailing at King George Sailing Club © KGSC
Another year has past, and what a year! Looking back, it's truly incredibly what we have achieved in such a short amount of time. In the the last twelve months we have seen some massive changes.
The London Watersports Company, a new website, new social media pages, a new logo, a new membership database, new boats, new cameras, a new webcam, a new weather station and a reduction in Covid regulations. I'm sure I am forgetting bits and pieces, as we have achieved so much in such a short time.
So let's start from January-February 2022. We held the King George Gallop, a big thank you to Mo Allen and his team of volunteers for what was a great event, made more interesting by Covid (in fact, many other clubs cancelled their respective events).
By the end of February, early March we launched the new website. A small group of us worked on a new website, improving not just the layout, but the content, functionality and lastly its appeal to new members. I'm also proud to say that all of our hard work as members on submitting Google reviews means that when you now search 'Sailing London' or 'Windsurfing London' we now appear on page 1, not 2. And with all the new functionality, including webcams, weather station, results, etc.. It is an incredibly popular site. (In fact, in the last month, there has been more hits on the weather station/webcam page than on the home page).
We have also seen all the improvements with regards to social media as well. Instagram and Facebook are embedded into the website, and I try my best to update these with relevant content that will attract members. And, it has worked. We have made more new members from Facebook, Google and Instagram combined this year alone than we did when we last held a stand at the Dinghy Show in early 2020 (and possibly even 2019).
The biggest change in the last year, starting back in March time, has been the introduction of an independent watersports tuition company on site, in the form of The London Watersports Company. I wish to thank Stuart, Gary and the rest of their team for all the great work they have done. They have contributed at least 30 members to the club since they came on site. Not only is the site busy and active at the weekends, but also in the week, something I am really proud of. It would be fair to say it has not been a simple and straight forward year and there have been many struggles with even the smallest thing causing massive problems, but we have always found a way. They've contributed largely to the increased participation by the membership on the weekends and I cannot think of anyone that hasn't at least communicated with them or had tuition from them. I think everyone has had something out of them.
Better sailing Saturday's, another huge success, leading off from last years inception by myself, has grown from strength to strength. To the point where some Saturday's has been more popular than club racing on Sunday. As such, we are continuing to support it at the clubs cost, keeping the cost to those attending low. This is with a view to build more members and increase participation.
I'm also really happy to see that the Cadet Club has moved from strength to strength over the last year as well, again on Saturdays. We have had some twenty plus families join the club as a result, with the focus being on parents assisting in the running of the session and the club. We have also been extremely lucky to win some funding from Tesco Community Grants, £500, to assist in the operation of this group. I'm hopeful that in the coming months, since we have put in for some more funding that we will win again and that we can expand on this growing part of the club. I see these juniors as being the future of the club, not necessarily in the running of it, but for me, new blood to race against.
Thursday evening racing, has been well attended. The new BBQ and card payment machine has helped massively in ensuring that Thursday evening has been a success.
Over the year we have held a couple of open meeting events, including the Laser and Solo open held on the same day, in June, as well as the LWA in September. Both well attended and run. We also held the Cadet Inlands, attended by 30 boats, in September. Again a big thank you to those that assisted in the running and manning of the event, as well as those that attended. All of these events bring in valuable income for the club to purchase new equipment and offset your membership costs.
With the growth that we have seen over the year, it was pretty clear early on in the year we were going to need to do something with regards to boats. Our Laser Pico fleet, 26 years young, is nearing the end of its life span. We had been given by the RYA, for two years on the trot, an action plan to do something about it. With the committees backing, we put together a ambitious plan to match fund the £20K needed to get the 6 new Fusion dinghies. And in August, we did it. KGSC owes a massive thanks to all those that donated and voted. We were also awarded funds by Thames Water, a total of £3500. This got us across the finish line. Since the delivery, there's not been a week since that they've sat still. In fact, I personally haven't even been in one yet, they are always in use.
Over the summer, another small group of us has also been working with me to swap from our old membership database to a new one, Sailing Club Manager. This has now simplified a number of processes, meaning membership and duties are on the same website, and use the same login. Crucially, we don't have to pay for two systems. It also means that, for the first time, at this years renewal our members can pay via credit or debit card, not just PayPal. This system also houses the boat park and windsurf pod layouts, meaning we now know who owns what boat.
Whilst on the subject of membership, we have 339 members, across 213 memberships. Our goal of last year was to cross the 300 members. I cannot reaffirm that the difference having LWC on site has made to member numbers and I am incredibly grateful to them. This should make us more sustainable as a club going forwards.
We have also implemented a number of cameras across the site, for security and for viewing pleasure on our website, for those that cannot make it down to the club. This has been added to with a weather station, which also links into our website. Great for those who are trying to make that tough decision between staying in bed and coming for a sail.
We've also seen the introduction of the members handbook. With a bit of tweaking, it now means that the membership are well informed of the club rules and how the club operates.
We've also seen KGSC putting some work into show that we are fighting against Single Use Plastic. As a result, we have won Bronze, Silver and Gold in one year. At the time of winning our Gold Award, we were only the second club in the country to have that accolade.
In the last few months, as we've strolled into Autumn and now Winter, focus has changed slightly. Again, we've worked on pretty much every piece of paperwork that the club will ever need. So much so, that I personally killed one laptop in the process. The next secretary should have an easy time of it.
So what else does the future hold...
January sees the return of the King George Gallop, scheduled for Saturday 21st 2023. What I hope to be a great event for the club and I actively encourage you all to assist in the running of the event and if not, participate in.
As it stands, we are building the calendar for next year, where again we are looking to host a ILCA and Solo open event, as well as the LWA.
Lastly, we are indeed nominated for RYA Club of the Year 2023. Voting opened on the 1st December. Please do vote and share the voting link far and wide.