Stewartby Sailing » Working Parties

March Working Party – We’re ready for Summer.

Karl Pountney — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:17:56 +0000

Sunday 28th March saw the last of the winter working parties in preparation for the Summer Sailing Season which starts on April 4th. A number of tasks were completed and the site is much tidier. In the clubhouse, the curtains are finished and the last few redecoration jobs have been completed.

The following members all deserve thanks for their time today:

Dave Grummitt
Dave Harrison
John Williamson
Peter Billington
Ian Sullivan
Mark Norman
Andy Gregory spared as much time as he could.
Kevin Edwins (especially for helping with the Duty List later)
Gerry Howcroft (Dinghy Park Manager)
Karl Pountney (Soft furnishings, radio repairs and Duty list)
Sarah Norman (Galley)
Rosie Norman (Galley Slave)
Bill Strange

February Working Party – Mission Accomplished

Karl Pountney — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:20:51 +0000

Sunday 28th February saw the second working party of the year, and with monsoon conditions and widespread flooding across the site, everyone was welcome of some indoor work. After 3 days, the clubhouse renovations were complete.

Nick Jones took a number of photographs which can be seen on the gallery.

In the clubhouse hall and bar, the ‘gloss’ paintwork was finished and the pictures re-hung. The bar area looks complete now with all the pictures back on the wall. All of the curtains were painstakingly ironed, paired-up and hung at the windows. We have a new cool-blue set of rope lights and, for the first time in ages, a clock on the wall. No late races now!

In the changing rooms, the benches have been modified and more room created for people to move around, especially in the gents changing rooms. While the amount of bench-seating has reduced, it makes better use of the space and feels far less cramped. A mirror has been put up there are soap dishes in the mens showers.

Of course, working parties are nothing without the volunteers. The list of whom includes:

Dave Grummitt
John Williamson
Peter Billington
Dave Harrison
Bill Strange
Nick Jones
Steve Ivory
Karl Pountney
Gerry Howcroft
Ruth Ivory
Robin Hall
Harry Fiddler
Sarah Norman (Galley Boss)
Rosie Norman (Galley Slave)
Kate Southwell
Emma Southwell
James Prior
Zoe Janes

The club would also like to thank all the parents, children and coaches of the RYA Eastern Zone squad. We took a gamble with the re-booking of their training event and hoped for good weather. As it was, the weather kept us all indoors and your patience and cooperation resulted in a successful day for everyone.

Club House Redecoration Working Party – A Job Well Done.

Karl Pountney — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:36:26 +0000

After 10 years of Yellow and Terracotta, the clubhouse has been completely redecorated over the weekend of 30th & 31st January. Both days were well supported by members and a great deal was achieved in a surprisingly short period of time. A small amount of work remains for the February working party but overall our plans were achieved.

Photographs of the saturday team are available on the Gallery

Planning and preparation are key so they say. Work started on the working party on Friday lunchtime when the curtains were taken down by Ruth Ivory and Karl Pountney for laundering, a small amount of rubbish was thrown-out and Ruth and Karl headed for the local DIY shed for materials and (importantly paint).

Saturday focused on the preparation of the walls, painting of the ceiling, removal of the spot lights and the first coat of emulsion on the walls. Working quickly, the 8 member team soon had the walls ready for painting before lunch. The wall painting job took the whole afternoon with most of the effort spent on the large amount of fiddly cutting in around the pillars, light fittings and windows.

Neil Rushton, though unable to take part in the work, played a very important role in supplying the scaffolding towers for the ceiling work. This allowed John Williamson to lead the painting job which pretty much took all day to complete

Sunday saw a great many members arrive. Just as well, there was lots to do. In addition to finishing the painting of the walls, the easy chairs needed repair, bar-area painting and the painting of all the woodwork. Bill strange did a sterling job of scarfing in a piece of timber to repair a rotten window frame. Robin Hall and Karl Pountney repaired the easy chairs by putting in new hard-board bottoms to replace the rotten webbing straps.

The day wasn’t without its lighter moments. In the bar area Peter Billington, Dave Harrison, Tim Browning and Duncan Wilson were painting over the terracotta walls with paint chosen by Karl. The colour, Toffee Surprise, was a little contraversial with the surprise being that the paint was brown. Poor Karl. Despite his protest that it looked fine in the colour-chart and seemed to go well with cream walls, it took 2 coats and the replacement of a few pictures on the wall for most to comment that it doesn’t look too bad.

There are many people that need to be thanked and a list is included below

Saturday Team

Karl Pountney
Ruth Ivory
Mark Norman
Nick Jones
John Williamson
A Member
Gerry Howcroft
Laurie Kibblewhite
Graham Shrimpton – Electrics
Neil Rushton – Delivery of scaffold towers
Linzy Norman – Galley
Sarah Norman – Galley

Sunday Team

Ruth Ivory
Steve Ivory – feedback, encouragement & some painting
Robin Hall – Table Saw guy
Mark Norman
Harry Fiddler
Harry Janes
Chris Janes
Emma Southwell
Kate Southwell
Tim Browning
Duncan Wilson
Dave Harrison
Peter Billington
Bill Strange – Chippy
Gerry Howcroft
Karl Pountney – for ‘toffee surprise’
Linzy Norman – Galley
Sarah Norman – Galley
Rosie Norman – Galley & Painting

Of course, working parties are nothing without a damn good feed and Sarah Norman, Linzy and Rosie deserve an extra-special mention. The curry and stew on both days was absolutely fantastic.

The next working party will require a few people to work indoors and get the curtains up, finish the woodwork painting and re-hang all the pictures in the clubhouse and bar area.