The Early Years
The club was formed in 1974 by the
amalgamation of Three Counties S.C. and Rolls Royce S.C. who
previously sailed on the Trent and Leicester S.C. who previously
sailed on the Soar near Mountsorrel. The water authorities were not
too keen on allowing the reservoir to be used for sailing, but
skilful negotiation by Tony Buckley eventually got a lease signed.
He was helped in this by Alf Sharman who also drew up plans for the
building of the club house. John Walters acted as Master of Works
throughout the whole building process which was carried out partly
by club members in working parties, chiefly at weekends, and partly
by professional help when the Master of Works felt this was needed.
The Sports Council gave a grant to help with the
finances.
When sailing first started the
Starter's Box was a wooden hut near where the pole for the hooter
still stands. This was considered an eyesore and the present
Starter's Box was erected, again with financial help from the
Sports Council. On this occasion John Lees supervised the cutting
of the steel girders. To satisfy the fire authorities a Petrol
Store had to be built, but by this time the concrete mixers were
not available and the mixing had to be done by hand to the
satisfaction of Eric Halford. It has stood the test of time.
Unfortunately during all this period money was scarce. The grants
from the Sports Council had to be supplemented by interest free
loans from some members and the formation of a special class of
membership called 'Foundation Life Members'. These paid a lump sum
in 1974 in return for life membership. The roof of the clubhouse
was resurfaced in 1988 and the window frames were replaced with
hard wood in 1990.
In the early days sailing had to
finish on September 30th. Subsequently permission was obtained to
sail until October 30th and later until December 26th. One year
sailing continued throughout the winter, but this was not popular.
The reservoir froze over, and one enterprising individual went out
on to the ice and stole an outboard engine from one of the safety
boats moored in the bay. No wooden boat improves by being left in
the dinghy park in those conditions. With milder
winters being the norm in the early part of the new century, an
Icicle series on alternate Sundays was introduced as a trial in
January and February of 2004. This proved successful
and from 2005 the club has operated a year round sailing
programme.
1990s
During 1992 the Management Committee
decided to improve the training facilities at the club, recognising
the need to encourage new members via a well run and well equipped
training school. By securing a significant grant from the Sports
Council we were able to purchase a fleet of Laser 13's, sailboards
and clothing which has boosted our membership and strengthened our
position as a centre of excellence for sailing in the East Midlands
area. After providing good service for 12 years, in 2004 the Laser
13's were retired and replaced with a new fleet of RS Vision
dinghies. These permit the club to offer the most up to date
training courses using modern designed boats, including asymmetric
spinnaker handling and trapeze training for crews, considered
essential for up and coming younger members.
Later, a fleet of Optimist dinghies
was purchased to better enable the club's most successful junior
training and weekend camp programme to run more smoothly. Indeed
the first years of the millennium saw a dedicated group of
volunteers planning and running a programme of junior sailing which
had regular attendances of 60 or more children, a level of
commitment and enthusiasm from helpers and sailors alike that would
have left every other club in the country green with envy! The
junior training resulted in many of the club's younger sailors
being selected for youth squads and saw many competing at national
and international level. At the end of 2006 the Optimist dinghies
were retired and replaced by more rugged
Optibats.
In addition to just learning to
sail, courses are arranged for those who not only enjoy racing, but
also feel depressed if they do not win. For these individuals race
training is arranged. Watch the notice board for dates and times.
In connection with this, anyone who still has a copy
of the 1983 Staunton Herald can read an article by Stuart
Childerley who at that time was Laser Fleet Captain. In 1988 and
1992 he took 4th place sailing a Finn in the
Olympics.
During the winter gales of 1993 we
suffered major damage to our rescue Dories when they were blown
from their moorings on to the dam wall. This prompted us to review
the rescue facilities at the club and the decision was made to
purchase two R.I.B. Avon Sea Riders and a Sea Hog safety / work
boat that have proved to be highly successful.
In order to safeguard our investment
we also decided to embark on the building of a new boat-house which
was completed at the end of 1994. This has proved to be a good
investment enables us to launch and recover our rescue boats with
ease, preserve them in a good condition and reduce maintenance
costs. With an ever increasing amount of sailing dates in the
calendar and more boats on the water, further new RIB's were added
to the fleet of rescue boats in 2006 and 2007, with one of the
original RIB's retired after a long and useful operating
life.
The New
Millenium
During 2002 with the increase in
particular of junior sailing, the club purchased an additional
moulded plastic training / rescue boat, affectionately know as the
"Carrot Boat" due to its colour. In keeping with the move away from
oil burning 2 stroke engines, the new boat was equipped with a 4
stroke outboard, as was a second boat known as "ET". Throughout
2003 and 2004 all of the club's motor boats were refitted with four
stroke engines.
The winters of 2001-3 saw
particularly active closed winter seasons with the erection and
refurbishment of a training room located next to the boat house,
together with extensive refitting of the changing rooms and
showers, and whilst the water was low, the widening and
improvements to the slipways. During the winter of 2005-06 the bar
and galley were refurbished and refitted. After the bonfire night
party of 2008, the dry area, including the bar, was fully refitted
to a very high, professional standard. And early in 2010 the wet
area was given a complete refurbishment. Plans are in place for
further improvements in other areas when the club's budget will
allow.
This
year sees the launch for the new club committee boat,
"The Misses Crewe", which was funded primarily
by a £10,000 grant from Sport England. The boat is fitted out with
modern race management aids to allow the OOD and his assistance to
manage our racing program much more efficiently and safely from a
friendlier environment. Incidentally, the
boat's name refers to the three repressed daughters of
Sir Vauncey Harpur-Crewe, 10th Baronet Calke Abbey who was a
keen ornithologist and who owned the six ponds which were developed
into Staunton Harold Reservoir. He turned the whole estate into a
bird sanctuary (probably driven by his keener interest in shooting
and taxidermy). He hated anything modern, thus sailing on the lake
would have been unthinkable. A modern committee boat in the middle
of the lake, would be like his daughters defying his repression of
them, and hence "The Misses Crewe"!
In
two successive years, the club has been awarded £1000 in the Volvo
Eco Challenge for environmental projects lead by youngsters in the
club. 2010 saw Hannah Jones's success for the new water fountain in
the clubhouse and wild flower seeding around the site. And this
year, Cora Kenmuir-Hogg's award will go towards cavity wall
insulation and some double glazing in the
clubhouse.
The Club is run on a solely
voluntary basis and as such members are required to undertake a
number of duties each year as allocated using a rota system.
Members' duty allocations will be displayed on the Dutyman
system, accessible from the club website.
