With the wonderful Dartmoor Pixie Band

Spring is on the way, the sailing season will be starting soon, and we’re kick-starting the year with a fantastic humdinger of a hoedown with a Barn Dance and Supper, including live music from the fabulous Dartmoor Pixie Band.

The evening promises to be a great way to clear the cobwebs, get to know some of the people you’ll be seeing on the water this season, and meet old friends.  Don’t worry if you can’t dance – you’ll be in the majority, and the band has a ‘caller’ who will talk everyone through all the dances.  Or if you’d prefer just to sit and enjoy the spectacle, that’s fine!
 
Bring your own drinks plus a dish of food to share.
 
This event is open to club members and their families.
 
WHEN: SATURDAY MARCH 9TH 
 
WHERE: BERE ALSTON PARISH HALL
 
TIME: DOORS OPEN 1800.  First course of food served, starting from 1815-1830, while the band sets up for the first round of dancing starting around 1915-1930.  Dessert and cakes served at the interval, followed by another round of dancing.
 
BOOKING DEADLINE: 24 FEBRUARY

Ticket prices – including Pasty

• £12    Adult
• £7      Young Person (12-18 yrs) and Student/Apprentice
• £5      Under 12 yrs

 Pasty choice is meat; vegetarian; vegan; gluten free

Other ticket options

Under 12 yrs – no food
We appreciate that young ones may prefer to eat before the event, in which case there is no charge.  Please register non-eating children with Katherine for a ticket though, as we must record all attendees for the event.
 
‘Pay what you can’
We’d like all members to attend this event and appreciate the cost of living crisis has hit hard, so there’s a limited number of tickets available on a pay what you can basis.

How to Book 

1) Pay for your tickets
By BACS to sort code 40-44-05, account no. 00853569, account name Weir Quay Sailing Club, reference: your name and Barn Dance.

2) Email Katherine Duncan (social secretary) with your ticket details (names, ages, numbers) and pasty choices, and any dietary requirements. 
e-mailkatherineduncan1@hotmail.co.ukTel 07809 628168

Remember to book by 24^th February!

3) To book ‘pay what you can’ tickets, please contact our treasurer Ben, email: treasurer.wqsc@outlook.com  (all applications will be in total confidence). 
Then email Katherine as above.

Look forward to seeing you for a brilliant evening!

Sue and Katherine

Your Social Secretaries

We had our first Winter Talk last Monday, given by Emma and Ben of the Community Interest Company (CIC) Sailing Tectona.

At Sailing Tectona, Emma is the Business manager and a 1st Mate while Ben is the Operations Manager and a Skipper.

Emma spoke eloquently about how Sailing Tectona is run by a team of people united in their passion to provide life-changing opportunities for young people and people in recovery. They use sailing as a method to connect people with nature and in doing so, reconnect with themselves and others. They are experts at caring for and maintaining traditional sailing vessels, in order to make this happen.

We also learned that from March this year, Emma and Ben will be moving to live in “Heron’s Reach”, the house attached to Weir Quay Boatyard. Emma will take on administration duties at the boatyard and Ben will continue to work with others at the yard to lift and launch boats as well as other tasks.

We look forward to seeing more of Emma and Ben and perhaps even seeing Tectona in these waters.

On Saturday 6th January, we gathered at the Boat Shed before setting off on either of two walks:

• One to view the local history along the shoreline at Weir Quay – led by Robert Coombs.
• And the other, longer walk, following a route past Holes Hole and along the undercliff to the Tamar Valley Vineyard at South Hooe and then back via Cotts and Gerald’s Lane – led by Sue Coomber.

Afterwards, we shared soup, hot drinks and a lunch made up of contributions brought by everyone. What a lovely way to spend a sunny Winter’s day and weren’t we lucky with our weather!

Sailing Tectona – Community Voyages and Tall Ship Rebuild

by Emma Harley

The first of our 3 Winter Talks and OPEN TO EVERYONE

Monday January 15^th at Bere Alston Bowling Club

1900 for 1930 start (£1 entry)

Many of you will have seen this beautiful traditional sailing vessel in and around the Sound and this evening will give a brilliant insight into the fantastic work of the Tectona Trust which has the aim of inspiring positive change in people’s lives through active participation in sail training voyages and community boat maintenance days.

Dick Brown’s daughter, Anna, is selling her Mirror Dinghy “Huggles”.

For full details, visit the For Sale & Wanted page on the club website For Sale & Wanted – Weir Quay Sailing Club (wqsc.org)

Anna will sell her in exchange for making a sponsorship payment to her in the London Marathon, where she is running for the MacMillan Cancer Foundation.

Yesterday – 16th December – our fellow club on the Hub Club site, the Tamar and Tavy Gig Club, had a celebration to mark their first 20 years in existence.

With a Christmas theme, they dressed up and took their gigs out on the river, followed by mince pies and mulled wine in the Boat House.

And to finish, they were serenaded by local shanty band, The Tavy Tars.

It is planned to organise joint outings next year with the TTGC such as a “Get Afloat” day directed towards local youth groups as well as an event to swap between boats on a trip to the Sound – involving dinghies, cruisers and rowing gigs.

Last Sunday, a team from WQSC and the TTGC completed the filling of the first layer of gabion baskets on the edge of the parking area to the rear of the HC Boat Shed.

The next tasks are:

• Wire these baskets closed
• Back fill behind them with rubble/earth between the bank and the baskets
• Build the top layer of gabion baskets, ready for filling!

We will be calling for volunteers when the next baskets are ready to be filled.

This year, James Platts created a number of Winter dinghy races – the Equinox Series and the Autumn Series. Having been delayed by bad weather, the series racing was completed last Sunday and the final results are given below.

The races have been a great success and are a credit to the hard work and support from all involved but thanks are particularly due to James Platts who set up and organised the Winter races. Let’s hope they can become a regular feature of the club’s Programme.

Equinox

Autumn

More details can be found on the Dinghy Sailing page of the club website.

The final, Pursuit Race takes place next weekend 12th Nov – anyone not registered for racing so far can always join in the pursuit but please let Julie Platts wqsc.secretary@gmail.com  know by lunchtime on Friday if you intend to take part, so we can calculate start times.

Rosie Hinge

Website Officer

The dinghy Winter Series of racing is taking place now.

The Equinox series has finished and the final race in the Autumn series takes place next weekend. The Chilly pursuit race will follow.

Results and comments on the racing so far can be found on the Dinghy Sailing page of the club website.

James Platts
Race Organiser

Last Saturday, 21st October, the dinghies not needed for the Winter race series were de-rigged at the Hub Club dinghy park.

And we flew the flag for WQSC, as can be seen in the photo above 🙂 using the new flag staff recently constructed by Steve Kirby and helpers.

All ages took part and luckily the weather stayed dry just long enough to get the jobs done!