Crouch Kayak Club

Chairman’s Report 2026 AGM Welcome and thank you for attending. We have had a number of good paddles throughout the year. As well as the usual Wednesday paddles we have had a number of trips around Wallasea and paddles to the mouth of the river as well as trips to and from Fambidge. Away from Burnham we have had a Cambridge paddle, a Medway paddle and a summer camp on the Norfolk Broads. In November Adrian ran a canoe paddle training day on the Chelmer. This was a fun session with all of the attendees taking away some useful nuggets of information. A thank you to Adrian Archer for organising this. The pool sessions have continued over the winter months and are a valuable way of introducing members to rescue techniques in a warm clean environment. Some of the sessions have not been that well attended which is a shame as they cost the club quite a bit of money to put these on. It is important that as a minimum we know that new paddlers to the club can exit a capsized kayak safely and without panicking. Really checking this should be a basic requirement to going on the water. As you know we are obliged to have a first aider on every club paddle and qualifications have to be refreshed every 3 years. This February we decided to run first aid training for all of our club first aiders. This gives us nine first aiders and so we will be well covered for the next three seasons. This year there is a trip planned to Wales paddling the Conwy estuary in June which Adrian is organising. If there is sufficient interest, possibly we might organise a trip to Dorset as well. We will send out a poll soon on this. We would like to put on some more formal training this year. A few years ago the club ran an FSRT (Foundation Safety Rescue Training) course. This is a good base course and is a prerequisite for a number of more advanced PUK courses. I believe we have sufficient new members to make it worthwhile running it again. If there is the interest I will see if there is somewhere we could do this. I would like to thank all of the committee members for their effort throughout the year. Particularly for keeping the club running in the summer when I was distracted with my house move and hospital visit. A special thank you to Andy for keeping everything on track with his reminders and emails. In addition I would like to thank Dee for maintaining the website. This is an excellent website which as a club I think we can be proud of. Also a thank you to Lorraine who has been preparing the minutes for all of the committee meetings through the year. The 2026 CKC Committee Elected at the AGM Chair - John Holliday Vice Chair - Daniel Rodwell Treasurer - Alan Organ Secretary - Andy Coppin Welfare - Andy Coppin Membership - Mark Kendrick Health / Safety - Roger Smith Social Media - Daniel Rodwell Equipment - TBC Minutes Secretary - Lorraine Holliday Other Committee Members.... Sue Quill Chris Brown Clare Albon The new committee looks forward to their first meeting of 2026, at which point they will review the plans for paddles on the River Crouch and further afield throughout 2026. If you would like to get move involved in the running of CKC and be considered for a role on the Committee, please reach out to John Holliday or Daniel Rodwell. We look forward to see all members for the first Wednesday evening social paddle on the 1st April. The membership portals for CKC and BSC are now open for 2026, see below links https://www.crouchkayakclub.co.uk/membership https://www.burnhamsc.co.uk/ Cheers John Holliday Photos Supplied: Dan Rodwell

Spring Skills Pool Session Busy day for the kayakers; directly on the back of this years AGM we all headed directly to SWF swimming pool for a skills session focused on wet exits and safe re-entry techniques. Also good to welcome some new members, who are going to be joining us this year for many of our weekend paddles on the River Crouch. These sessions are vital to ensure all members can practice key skills in a safe environments before heading out onto open water for the first time, or renewing skills they may have previously learnt but not practiced in a while. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Lorraine / Andy

Preparing for the year ahead - 2 Day First Aid course completed by 9 members of CKC. Across 2 days in late February, 9 members of CKC took part in a 2 day activity lead first aid course, provided by Helen Toser. Over the 2 day course everyone was able to get hands on with all elements of first aid, including practising the vital skills required for CPR and wound care, as well as being able to find the best ways to approach the initial triage of a patent and plan out the best course of action required for their assessment and treatment. We also took the opportunity as part of this course to review the CKC first aid kits, ensuring these have everything we need for this years paddles. Including the purchase of some additional non-standard items that will make our paddles even safer in the event that our members need to perform any first aid at the club, on away paddles or out on the River Crouch. The 2 day course was concluded with a number of practical scenario assessments and a short multiple choice exam paper. We are pleased to confirm all 9 members passed the course and now have a 3 year First Aid Certification. This is a great achievement for the club and will ensure that all paddles have additional qualified first aiders on them now. We look forward to taking the knowledge and experience learnt from this course and applying it to a number of "On the River" sessions that we will be holding for members in the Spring to Summer paddles. Additional to these type of yearly courses, we also hold a number of pool sessions across each year that aim to provide safety training for the afloat elements of a paddle, focused on solo self recovery into a kayak and also group managed rescues that may be required out on open water. Pictured, Mark being supported by Sue as part of the practical exercises we undertook over the 2 day course. Well done to all involved in this weekend and congratulations on your new qualifications for the club. We look forward to welcoming Helen back to CKC in the future more courses when required. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Andy , featuring Mark and Sue