Barnt Green Sailing Club - Rear Commodore's H & G section

   25th Feb.2010.  A message from  Mike Pickworth - Rear Commodore  -  e-mail

Hi everyone
 
There are two working parties taking place prior to the start of the summer sailing season. These will take place on Sunday 7th March and Saturday 13th March. Please try and attend on one of these dates. Below is a list of the jobs that need doing. If you feel particularly well qualified for a certain job, or if you feel confident enough to take the lead on one of them, please let me know. Also if you have tools to do one of the jobs please can you bring them on the day.   Many thanks to all who turned up on the 7th, too numerous to mention all by name but it was a good turnout and a large proportion of the jobs were either finished or partly done.  More volunteers are needed for the 13th however, which will be led by the Commodore.  Mike.  The work party on the 13th saw most jobs completed - a very successful two days of effort for the club's benefit.

Updates and images from the 7th in red, by RB. 1. Fence to be constructed above the wall in front of the clubhouse (this is a health and safety requirement). Fencing materials will be delivered but 5 posts will need sinking into the ground and crossbars bolted.   Completed on the 7th. I saw Mike and Ralph Gordon working on this with helpers? Click the images for "the bigger picture" Stained with preservative on the 13th by Chris Pack.

 2. Replacement of two bars on the fence at the top of the enterprise beach.   This was done.
 
3. Apply cuprinol wood preserver to the foreshore jetties.   Progress not known.
 
4. Bench in front of OD box requires rubbing down, repair and coating with sadolin.  I think John Preston worked on this on the 7th?
 
5. Bare wood panels on sheds requires undercoating and painting.  Started on 7th.   Finished by Chris Pack on the 13th.
 
6. Apply weed killer around boat anchor points.   Yet to be done.  The one job to be postponed until the grass begins to grow!
 
7. Pontoon on cadet beach needs lifting from water, replacement of wheel and resiting.   Done.

10. Scrub clearance on north shore  (Mar 7, Robin Brown leading).  Bring Saws, loppers, fire lighting kit etc.

This was another successful scrub (jungle?) clearance session with most of the fresh cutting, a tangle of small trees, hawthorne and brambles, being burned on the day.  We were so lucky with the weather!  In addition to yours truly with chain saw, Fred came along with his saw and the cuttings clearers/fire feeders were Philip Everard, Julian Jukes and Mandy Suggitt who, with a friend from her allotment, managed to collect together a large bundle of small twigs and saplings for making plant supports and for weaving.  Mandy, Mike and I returned after lunch break to feed the fire until exhaustion drove us away!

  
11. Clean optimists.   Bob Suggitt worked on this and on repairing Pico's ready for the season.
 
12. Move abandoned sailboards from graveyard, cut up and put in skip.   Yet to be done. DONE, on the 13th The Barnes family set to with a chain saw massacre and Julian suggested he should be nicknamed the "Redditch Ripper"!  I thought the Bittell Board Butcher was quite appropriate too.  An image of Julian's handiwork will be HERE shortly. 
 
13. Tidy up graveyard and possibly move the dinghies away from the water's edge to accommodate the
      fishermen.  ???  It looked fairly tidy to me!
 
Thanks,      Mike.                                                                  (Images open to larger pictures if clicked)

Mike and Fred try out the "Bittell Barrier" while the little pine tree on the north shore now stands in isolated splendour having until recently, been completely surrounded by "jungle"!  This tree has a preservation order placed upon it and must never be felled, I for one, am very fond of it. (RB)
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Archive

6/10/2009.  Posted ON BEHALF OF BRIAN ALLEN. 2008/9 Commodore.   Just to remind all members that we have two working parties coming up.   Saturday 10th and Sunday 18th (no sailing)    We have several jobs to do from cutting down scrub on the north shore to general repair of the club facilities.  Please bring along saws and wood tools if you have them.    Brian   (Start @ 10.00 a.m.)  

Note by web admin. Scrub clearance is an obligation under our farm stewardship scheme for which the club receives a payment from the Rural Payment Agency ( E.A.)

The 2009 Spring work parties are on Sunday 8th & Saturday 14th March.  There will be no sailing on the 8th, please bring tools, enthusiasm and a sense of humour to assist Bob Allen, Rear Commodore and Brian Allen, Commodore in carrying out various tidying up and maintenance jobs.  Start at @ 10.00 a.m. 

 There are may tasks to be carried out to help keep our club in as good a shape as possible.  Please members, give your support!  As you all will realise, our club runs on goodwill, this is an opportunity to contribute and to meet other members.

If you have any questions, please contact either the Rear Commodore or the Commodore here

A brief report on the 2008 spring work parties

The old and the new.  Rear Commodore Bob Allen, helped by John Preston, made two new doors for the green sailboard store and signing on shed. Here we see one fitted and the other door will be fitted soon. An excellent and very professional job was made and these replacement doors should last us a very long time. While this was going on Adrian Savage and George Puttock were busy cutting out and replacing rotton planks at the rear of the shed. An awkward job by the look of it yet the finished job, subject to painting green later on, came out very well indeed. See below...In the meantime, Gordon Padmore and Stuart Howe made a splendid job of re-lining the inside of the OOD box with plywood, a most impressive improvement.  Elsewhere, during the two work party days, many other jobs were carried out by a fairly small but dedicated group of members. See below left....

In addition, Richard Easton and Robin Brown, armed with chain saws and helped by Jill Easton, Bill Tucker and Bruce ???, spent several hours on the north shore cutting back tree re-growth and clearing areas of scrub under the terms of our farm stewardship scheme, all part of the requirements imposed by Natural England and the E.A.  A benefit of this to sailors is the reduction in wind shadow when this is the windward shore.

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2007 archive follows.

Many of the jobs undertaken in the spring were completed although much still needs to be done.  The outstanding achievement last autumn was the complete re-building of the junior slipway.  Many people deserve thanks for this but none more so than Stuart Howe and Bob Allen who gave up a great deal of their time to work on and oversee the project.  Pictures HERE