Firstly, a belated Happy new year to you all.

Thanks to all those who turned up to the AGM on thursday, it was great to hear what you all had to say, and hopefully we can look forward to an action packed 2012. As is often the case after these events, there’s a natural changing of the guard on the committee. This year Pete, Stu and Emelie were standing down. Thanks to those guys for all their hard work over the last year.

So, your 2012 committee line-up stands as follows:

• Chairman- Neil Hayden
• Treasurer- Mark Waterfall
• Secretary - Ric Harwood
• Membership Sec - Andy Dibble
• Social Sec - Nathalie Belunza (aka French Bird)
• Web Admin - Dave Patterson

Thanks to all the committee members for volunteering their services for another year and hopefully we can all do the club proud. We still have a committee vacancy for beginners rep, so if anyone’s interested then get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. Also, if anyone has any flashes of inspiration and ideas for things we can do and ways we improve the club, then again, get in touch with us via email or have a chat at the pub- we really do want your feedback and suggestions.

In terms of upcoming events, we shall be sitting down in the next week or so and looking at the social and events calendar for the next year, so watch this space.

In the mean time, I hope you’re all thinking about the sponsored swim in aid of the RNLI on February the 18th. We really do need as many people to take part as possible, it doesn’t matter if you’re not the strongest swimmer, it’s the taking part that counts.

This is my last newsletter as I take on chairman duties, so I thank you all for your time and pass the baton over to Ric, who I’m sure will do an excellent job!

See you all in the pumphouse or at the beach soon.

Neil

Ok, so since I last reported, we have had our first ‘Secret Newquay’ event, and judging by the feedback it definitely won’t be the last! Luckily, the weekend also co-incided with some great autumnal weather and some epic swell.

Don’t forget this friday the 9th is the christmas party. There’s a record number booked so am sure La Rocca will not know whats hit it and will be an awesome night.

Looking into next year, our AGM is Thursday the 19th of January at the Nova Scotia pub, kicking off at 7.30 so don’t be late! This is your chance to find out more about how the clubs run, have your say and elect the committee for the forth coming year. We should be done and dusted and back to the pumphouse by about 8.30. Nominations for committee positions need to be in by Thursday the 5th of January. If you are nominating someone then is worth checking that they’re happy to be nominated first!

I shall be jumping ship for the next few weeks and heading off to sunnier climes. Therefore, I shall wish you all the seasonal best and look forward to returning to some decent winter swells.

Neil.

Well, they say it's the taking part that counts. So, on that note, congrats to everyone who took part in the interclub longboarders competition on Saturday. Whilst we may not have been competing at the business end, it was a lot of fun and great experience. Thanks to the Hotdoggers for organising it and to all those who made it down to show their support- the BSC was definitely well represented.

Let's hope that our recent run of sunshine and waves continues into next weekend when we shall be descending en masse to Newquay. Unfortunately, if you haven't got a ticket, then you can't just turn up to the event- there's always next year!

Bookings have also now closed for the Xmas party on the 9th of December, judging by the number of people booked up, it should be an epic night!

Looking a bit further ahead, we shall be holding our annual AGM on Thursday the 19th of January, more details to follow but this is your chance to have a say about how the club is run.

Also not to be missed is our now annual sponsored swim in aid of the RNLI on Friday February the 17th. In addition to raising some cash for a very worthy cause, this is a good reason to get in the pool and bash out some lengths to get you surfing fit for the New year. There's no reason why anyone can't do this- you don't have to be the greatest swimmer, a bit of enthusiasm goes a long way! More details are on Facebook and on the forum.

That's about it for now folks. Look forward to seeing you all soon.

Neil

Hey Guys,

What an end to the summer! We had an awesome trip to Bude last weekend, with sunshine and waves- a heady mix! As you've probably noticed, the forum's all back up and running- massive thanks to Dave for his may hours of long labour bringing it back to life. No probs. Sorry it took so long. DP.

The next weekend trip will be the now not so secret Newquay trip on the weekend of the 12th/13th of November, due to popular demand places have booked up pretty quickly, however Nat has managed to arrange a few extra spaces -although you'll need an extra duvet as the accommodation doesn't have any heating. If you want to come, you need to contact her ASAP as bookings will soon be closing for this.

Also, on the 5th November we have the inter club longboarding comp at Saunton. We have 2 teams entered but all support is appreciated.

Another date for the diaries is next Thursday the 13th of October. Ric will be doing another surf forecasting talk, upstairs at the Nova Scotia pub kicking off at 7.30pm. Also that day we will be opening the bookings for the Xmas party on the 9th of December, so bring your hard earned to the pub or get online and pay via paypal, as it'll definitely be one not to miss!

I think that's about all for now. Hopefully see you all soon.

Neil

Hey Guys,

Hope you've all been having a great summer and getting in plenty of water time! As you may have noticed the forum is currently down, our erstwhile web gimp is hard at work trying to solve the issues with it so should hopefully be back up and running again soon. Watch this space. DP.

Meanwhile, don't forget the trip to Noongallas this coming bank holiday weekend. There's no need to pre-book, more details are on facebook. Should be a cracking weekend so lets hope for some decent waves!

Coming up on November the 5th is the inter club longboard competition being held at Saunton, we're hoping to put together a couple of teams for this, the challenge being to equal last years excellent result!

Also watch out for an exciting announcement about the November Newquay trip. Might be a bit of a departure from the norm but should be amazing.

Hopefully see you all soon.

Neil

Hey Guys,

As our membership year comes to a close we are hosting our annual Summer BBQ this Thursday (30th of June). This is a great chance for new and old members to come along, get fed, have a good social and renew your membership for the coming year. As last year, membership will be a whopping 5 pounds, Stu will be on hand to collect your fivers.

The Pumphouse have kindly agreed to let us use the space outside for this, providing that we use their bar to buy drinks and vacate it by about 9.30pm. We will provide all the usual BBQ stuff, however, if people would like to maybe bring a salad or some cakes then that would be greatly appreciated.

We will be kicking things off from 7pm. Hope to see you all there.

Many thanks

Neil

Thanks to all who showed up for this years AGM (even those who were a little late). There weren't any earth-shattering announcements but it was good to get together to review the year, talk about plans and welcome in some fresh blood to the committee.

The revised line up reads as follows: Pete Wilkins - Chairman. Neil Hayden - Secretary. Stu Woodham - Membership sec. French Bird - Social sec. Mark Waterfall - Treasurer. Andy Dibble - Beginners rep. Em Davis - Communications and PR officer. Dave Patterson - Web gimp.

Big thanks to Sim and Steve who have stepped down after many years of loyal service to the club. Thanks, congratulations and best of luck to Neil, Nat, Mark and Em for stepping up. For those who missed the spectacle I'll post the minutes on the forum in the next 24 hours.

One of the issues that was discussed on the night was the lack of swimmers for our sponsored swim for the RNLI on Friday the 18th Feb. Or target is to swim 50 miles in one hour and to beat last years total of £1700 raised. I think the pool can hold 40 people at a time so it's an achievable goal but so far Andy has had less than 20 people confirm that they are swimming. Even if you're not a strong swimmer you can make a contribution by swimming some lengths. The sponsor forms are available to download here so please print one off and put the date in your diary. If you can't make it on the night but you want to donate you can use this JustGiving page.

This will be one of my last tasks as serving secretary as I hand over to Neil so I'll take this opportunity to say thanks for having me - it's been a privilege. I'll still be lurking in the background looking after the technical stuff so if anyone has requests for the web site, forum, email or facebook then feel free to let me know.

Cheers

Dave P.