Eyot Champions of the 2008 Lions Swimarathon

9th March 2008

Chairman Kevin Nutt, his daughters Frances and Ruth and Keith Walker entered this year’s Henley Lions charity Swimarathon last Saturday. The money raised by sponsorship was split equally between the club and Headway which was the Lions chosen charity this year. Eyot were last year’s Lions sponsored charity so we were very pleased to enter the event once again to raise a bit more for The Eyot Centre and another local good cause. We also managed to break the event record swimming a total of 146 lengths.Thanks also for the Lions of Henley for their effort in putting on the event once again

Keith

The New Club House is Finally Here!

It will be business as usual this year. You will be able to get from the car park to the river without having to get caked with mud. Parents will have somewhere to go to have a coffee and there will be hot showers, toilets and everything!.

A big thank you to all those who helped clear the car park at the beginning of the project and for helping with the planting towards the end.

2007 was a very interesting year for us – No clubhouse, summer flooding and radical change in the test scheme. We look forward to 2008 but for now we at Eyot wish you a happy new year.

Paddlepower

Last year the British Canoe Union changed the system for testing canoeing ability for the junior members. The Star Test system has been replaced with Paddlepower. Our volunteer coaches have attended training courses in order to bring the scheme in.

The new Paddlepower scheme has a different emphasis away from technical skills and towards a broader experience of Paddlesports of all types. It is aimed at the under 14’s. Each child has a progress booklet to fill out and eventually send off to receive the Award on completion.

There are two booklets. The first – Paddlepower 2-5 equates to One Star and the second Paddlepower 6-9 to Two Star. Above this level there is progression to Paddlepower Discovery. This is where the major change takes place as participation is rewarded in a broad range of Paddlesports.

Under the new scheme the coaches and children have to keep record the individual child’s progress. In theory the children keep these and produce them to us when they want to have it filled in. We have piloted this and our experience is that they go astray or are not available to us when needed. We have therefore decided to keep them in the new clubhouse so that they are available on club night. They will also be available if required for school projects etc. Once completed they will be presented to the child.

The Award system will provide an opportunity to experience a wider range of canoe and Kayaks and so will be even more Paddlepower fun.

Litter Picking Campaign

I would like to thank those people that helped with the Henley-on-Thames litter picking session on Saturday. It was good to be able to offer assistance to the Town Council with this event not only to help keep the town a much cleaner and tidier place but also to be a part of a community that is interactive and helpful to one another. The weather was very kind to us and I for one found the whole experience very therapeutic.
Pete Holloway

Swimarathon

Members and friends of the Eyot Canoe section, 16 in total, enjoyed their swim in the Henley Lions Club annual sponsored Swimarathon.
This event took place in the pool of LA Fitness, Henley.
Swimming in teams, relay style, members and friends enjoyed the light competitive nature of the event.
We fielded 3 teams of 6. All teams swimming at the same time meant that each team were out to beat the others.
Ian's team, bringing up a very close rear, produced some fierce competition for Chris's team who managed a creditable second place. First place (again) went to Pete's team storming ahead with a very impressive 139 lengths to their credit.
My thanks go to all those that took part and gained sponsorship to go towards the new club building.
Thanks
Pete Holloway

New Clubhouse Money

I am pleased to report that we have now received the promised £30,000 grant from the Henley Town Council for the rebuilding fund.
We have also just heard from Sport England that the £100,000 grant that we applied for has now been granted. This means that we are now able to instruct the builders to continue with the building.

Pete Holloway
Centre Manager

Well done Wayne on your fantastic performance on the 5 Star assessment. I feel sure that your next assessment will result in you gaining the award.

This award is the top personal performance award possible in canoeing and as such requires a flawless performance. A very difficult award to achieve. Wayne has gone further than anyone before at the Club in personal canoeing ability and I wish him luck in his next assessment for which I and the Club will happily support.

Pete Holloway

Centre Manager and Club Leader

Please Click on Link for Report

The Club has another qualified coach;

Congratulations to Richard Masey for passing his BCU Level 2 coaching award. Richard has been helping with the Club's coaching programme for some time now, under the supervision of the other coaches. He is now one of, those coaches. His qualification now means that he is able to look after a group of trainees on his own. I would like to thank Richard for his contribution to the Club so far and look forward to his future input in being one of the team of coaches that make this Club viable.

Thank you Richard.
Pete Holloway.

Click here to BCU Website to see full story.

SWIMARATHON

Well done everyone who took part in this years Henley Lions Swimarathon.

We exceeded last years figure and made over £1500. Half of this goes directly to the rebuilding of the Eyot Centre, soon we hope.

Grant Readings was the winner of the prize of £50 voucher to spend at Marsport. (thank you Marsports for your generosity in offering this great prize)

Cheers

Pete

Work has started on the new temporary trailor store. As you can see from the photos we have progressed well so far. Thank you to all those that turned out the other day to help.

This store will mean that we can leave the trailor loaded ready for pool sessions and trips and will save many hours work in the loading and unloading of boats.

Eyot Appeal Fundraising

Thanks to some very hard work by a small number of your Centre's management committee, we have managed to secure a loan of £120,000 to help towards us reaching our target of £580,000 to rebuild your Centre.
On your behalf I would like to thank The following;
Oliver Makower. (senior trustee of Thamesfield Youth Association)
Steve Cook, (chairman of The Eyot Centre)
Keith Walker (project manager and Member of canoe section committee)
Very well done chaps!!!!

In addition to the above loan we have secured grant aid from South Oxfordshire District Council to the tune of another £120,000.
Work continues behind the scenes, on your behalf to raise funds for the rebuilding of your Centre. This makes it very important that you, as members, all do your bit by supporting any fund raising activities that are organised. Come on folks, lets see that support.

Eyot Appeal Thermometer

Regards Peter Holloway

The Eyot Centre Canoe Marathon 2005.

The Eyot Centre ran their Annual National Canoe and Kayak race on the Thames on Sunday 12th September. It attracted over 200 competitors of all ages and standards competing in single and double racing boats. Beginners raced in the under 11’s Lightning K1 single Kayak class on a circular course of 1 mile. At the other end of the scale international athletes battled over a 14 mile course from the start just above Henley Bridge down river to Bisham Abbey and back.

The field included the Great Britain Canoe and Kayak racing team. There were entries from clubs from all parts of the country but locally this including Henley’s Eyot Canoe Club, Wokingham Canoe Club, Pangbourne’s Dolphin Centre and Reading Canoe Club.

One of the clubs youngest entrants is shown below picking up her prize from Vice Mayor of Henley Barry Wood who is an active supporter of the centre.

Swimarathon Saturday 5th March 2005. Gillotts Pool.

The canoe section raised a total of approx £1000, 50% of which will go to local charities and the other 50% to the Centre's redevelopement fund.

The 'Thunderball' event raised £670 for the Centre Appeal and we thank the Dragon Boat section for their efforts.

The Dragon Boat section ran a series of winter races and raised a further £1900 for the appeal.

Results of the Eyot Centre raffle are as follows.

1st Prize (£2000 holiday voucher) goes to Mr Barry Edwards of Henley.
2nd Prize ( 28in. flat screen colour television) Mrs Barbara Lindsay of Henley.
3rd Prize ( Christmas hamper) Miss Marie Abrey of Reading.

PRESS RELEASE: THE EYOT CENTRE APPEAL

The Eyot Centre Appeal was re-launched on the New Orleans on Wednesday with a "Riverboat Shuffle".

The event was attended by the Mayor, Cllr C Pye and several members of the Town Council together with a Trustee of Thamesfield Youth Association, Mr Toby Greenwood.

Chairman of the Eyot Centre - Mike Sheehy with Cllr Chris Pye and instructor Pete Holloway

This was a re-launch as a previous appeal had already raised over £100,000 over the last five years when lottery funding had been hoped for. The Centre have produced updated plans and were awaiting confirmation of planning permission from Wokingham District Council. Once this happened the re-building would begin.

The Eyot Centre has two sections, namely Canoe Club and Henley Dragons. It occupies a wonderful site on the Wargrave Road beside the river. The club house and shower block need replacing fairly urgently as the building falls further into disrepair. The Canoe section has almost 80 members most of whom are youngsters from the area and the Dragon Boat Club has a thriving membership of around 70 members.

The re-building will cost £580,000 but will produce a building that will stand for many years to come.

In his speech Mike Sheehy the Chairman of the Eyot Centre thanked Hobbs & Son for their continued support of the Centre and informed the gathering that there would be continuous fund raising, the first part of which would be a Christmas raffle with a top prize of a £2,000 holiday. 10,000 books had been purchased and if every member took 100 tickets to sell £10,000 would be raised.