Congratulations to both our Club members
RYA Award to Chris Holt
The Royal Yachting Association’s Lifetime Commitment Community Award.
Chris Holt joined Llangorse Sailing Club some thirty years ago and soon became known for his willingness to help where he could.and has always more than willing to do his bit. He soon became an influencial member of the executive committee and has played an important role in the way the club has progressed and what the club has achieved in improving its facilities.
He became Commodore in 1991 having moved up from Rear and Vice Commodore over a period of 4 years and subsquently became one of the Vice President in 1994 and has been re-elected at every AGM since then.
Before taking over as site chairman a few years ago, he was always willing to play an important role in undertaking work on the club site and since taking over he has become a very active hands-on chairman. As such Chris is an excellent team leader.
Since he took retirement in 2004 he has spent much of his time doing inumerable jobs on the club site including painting and decorating, making the Topper storage rack, and in 2004/5 he was very involved in the major re-vamp of the site. In 2008 he played a crucial role in the off-site fabrication and subsequent positioning of a new jetty to replace the old jetty which had reached its sell-by-date. More recently he has been involed with the construction of ramps to allow people with disabilities to gain acces to the club house and changing romms.
Besides the enormous amount of physical work and effort Chris Holt has put into the club to improve the infra-structure, as one of the club’s sailing instructors, he is very much involved with training, particularly with the club's annual Cadet Week. He encourages new members and is always willing to help in any-way he can and is a good ambassador for the club and for sailing.
The sailing club was a founding member of the Llangorse Lake Users Group and Chris Holt played a vital role on the group in establishing a code of conduct for the use of the lake encompassing the lake owner, the National Park Authority, The Countryside Council for Wales and the Breconockshire Wild-Life Trust and the lake users. The group now has a role in monoitoring all aspects of the lake and its environment.
When considering all his attributes and the input he has made in enhancing the club, it is impossible to quantify the impact of his contributions have made or what he has achieved for the good of the club and its members, but these have been recognised by his being awarded a Powys Sports Council Service to Sport Award, which has now been followed this year by his being awarded one of sailing’s premia awards, The Royal Yachting Association’s Lifetime Commitment Community Award, which he will receive at a presitigious function in London later this year..
RYA Award to Eddie Ramsden
Honorary Life Member
This is the top RYA award and is only made every three or four years
Arthur Ransome has a lot to answer for! Eddie‟s initial interest was kindled by reading Ransome‟s books which resulted in him learning to sail and then racing on the River Tyne in the days of kapok life jackets. Eddie‟s primary interest has always been in dinghy sailing, particularly GP14s. He is a stalwart of the Class and served as its President for four years.
Eddie now sails a Flying Fifteen at Llangorse Sailing Club when the demands on his busy schedule allow.
When Eddie moved from his native North East he became involved with the Welsh Yachting Association and produced the first development plan for the Principality in 1982. His work with the RYA centrally had an unlikely beginning. It started in 1978 at the Endeavour Trophy where a very large drunken Australian had attacked a fellow competitor. Eddie sorted it out. On the basis of this, the then Chairman, Francis Elkin, asked whether he would join the General Purposes Committee of the RYA.
The rest, as they say, is history. During his long and illustrious RYA career, Eddie has served as Chairman of Training Committee and was, more recently, Deputy Chairman and Chairman from 2004-2007. Eddie‟s profession background in local Government where he led several successful projects, led to him being appointed as Chairman of the Working Party that moved the RYA from Eastleigh to its current modern headquarters in Hamble. Eddie has been a far-sighted and strategic thinker on RYA‟s affairs for 30 years. His wisdom and pragmatism have stood the Association in good stead and played a major part in enabling us to reach the position we are in today.