Category: Club

Club welcomes ‘surge’ in paracanoe interest

Post author By Russell
Post date 23 February 2025

Addlestone Canoe Club (ACC) is the latest club to make strides in expanding opportunities for paddlers of all abilities.

Inspired after attending a recent paracanoe education day, hosted by Paddle UK, the club has witnessed a surge of interest in the sport.

ACC has been welcoming paddlers into the club for their first experiences of the water, ranging from children with disabilities to paddlers with aspirations of reaching the Paralympics.

“The training has already paid dividends,” Caroline Pemble, Chair of Addlestone Canoe Club said.

“The club currently has three paracanoe athletes, each with unique stories and aspirations.

“One athlete has a dream of competing at the Paralympics and is now training with us at Addlestone, even braving the coldest days of the year to pursue his goals.

“We also have two young lads now coming down to the club.

“They’ve been getting involved in our club session, taking part in a bit of race training and they absolutely love it.

“Their families have even started getting involved in the sport.”

The paracanoe education day, provided club’s coaches and volunteers with invaluable insights into the world of paracanoe.

Led by Paddle UK coaches Attila Herbent and Gary Quittenton, as well as community members such as Julie Gray, Julia Lawley and Nick Adnitt, the day covered a wide range of topics, including classification, boat adaptations, safety considerations, and practical handling techniques.

The event also featured inspiring talks from programme athletes, who shared their personal journeys and experiences with paracanoe.

Caroline continued: “The education day gave us more confidence that what we were doing was okay.

“I think it also helped us to know who else we can tap into to get that knowledge and learning to adapt the boats and things like that.”

Addlestone Canoe Club’s dedication to inclusivity extends beyond providing coaching and equipment. The club strives to create a welcoming and supportive community for all its members.

They engage in open communication with potential athletes, ensuring that their individual needs and concerns are addressed.

“We work closely with individuals to assess their needs and ensure safe and enjoyable paddling experiences.”

Looking ahead, Addlestone Canoe Club is eager to expand its paracanoe programme and encourage more people with impairments to take up the sport.

“We would say give it a go,” said Caroline.

“We’re happy to try and help anyone fulfill their dreams and get them on the water.”

Are you local to Addlestone and interested in getting involved in the sport?

Contact the club here to arrange an evening at the club

Club

Come and get involved in 2025!

Post author By Russell
Post date 14 February 2025

The dates for our Try-it and Intro days for 2025 have just been announced.

The Try-it days will be on:

Sunday 6th April
Sunday 22nd June

The Intro courses will be on:

Sunday 18th May
Sunday 20th July
Sunday 14th September

To find out more about the Try-it days and how to sign up, click here.

To find out more about the Intro courses and how to sign up, click here.

Club

King’s Award for Voluntary Service

Post author By Russell
Post date 14 November 2024

We are proud to announce that Addlestone Canoe Club has been awarded The King’s Award for Voluntary Service for 2024. This is the highest award a local voluntary group can receive in the UK and is equivalent to an MBE.

Based on the edge of the picturesque Wey Navigation, Addlestone Canoe Club has been established for over 40 years. We are a registered charity run entirely by volunteers. Addlestone Canoe Club is a multi-discipline club that welcomes all those interested in paddle
sports from Whitewater, Sprint, Marathon Racing and Paracanoeing. Addlestone Canoe Club is probably the most diversified Club in the region, and we run programmes and instruction to suit beginners and advanced paddlers of all ages and abilities. Due to our location on the Wey Navigation, we have developed a special ethos of providing a wide variety of Canoeing experiences and opportunities for young people. Some of our young paddlers have gone on to represent Great Britain at International events while some adult members have participated in the renowned Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race.

The Canoe Club operates all year round and during the summer months the volunteer (Paddle UK qualified) coaches at the Canoe Club take out hundreds of local young people from various scout,
guide, church, youth and school groups including young carers and those with disabilities.

Addlestone Canoe Club is one of 281 local charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to receive the prestigious award this year. Our work, along with others from across the UK, reminds us of all the ways fantastic volunteers are contributing to their local communities and working to make life better for those around us.

The King’s Award for Voluntary Service aims to recognise outstanding work by local volunteer groups to support their communities. It was created in 2002 to celebrate Her Majesty The late Queen’s Golden Jubilee and, was continued following the accession of His Majesty The King. 2024 marks the second year of The King’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Recipients are announced annually on 14th November, The King’s Birthday. Award winners this year are wonderfully diverse and include volunteer groups from across the UK, such as a mental health and wellbeing support network for veterans and their families in Yorkshire; a group preserving a historic 12th century castle in south Wales; volunteers providing English lessons for refugees in Stirling and an organisation providing a opportunities to engage in
the arts for people with learning disabilities in County Fermanagh.

Representatives of Addlestone Canoe Club will receive the award crystal and certificate from Michael More-Molyneux, Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey early next year. In addition, two volunteers from Addlestone Canoe Club will attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May and June 2025, along with other recipients of this year’s Award.

Caroline Pemble, Chair of Addlestone Canoe Club said: “We are delighted that Addlestone Canoe Club’s work has been recognised. We are a multi-disciplined canoe club based on the edge of the Wey Navigation that provides safe, quality paddlesport activities, fitness and health opportunities for all. This is not possible without the hard work & commitment of all our volunteer coaches & club members.”

Club

Come and get involved in 2024

Post author By Russell
Post date 14 March 2024

The dates for our Try-it and Intro days for 2024 have just been announced.

The Try-it days will be on:

Sunday 21st April
Sunday 2nd June

The Intro courses will be on:

Sunday 12th May
Sunday 21st July
Sunday 1st September

To find out more about the Try-it days and how to sign up, click here.

To find out more about the Intro courses and how to sign up, click here.

Club Racing

Winner of Sports Volunteer of the Year: Wendy Dodson

Post author By Russell
Post date 22 February 2024

Congratulations to Wendy Dodson for winning the ‘Sports Volunteer of the Year’ award.

Wendy is the head racing coach at Addlestone Canoe Club (ACC) and has spent the past 50 years dedicated to the sport, firstly as an individual athlete and in later years as a passionate coach. Wendy, along with her husband Andy, joined the club in the mid 1990’s and together founded the ‘Racing’ section and developed it into the successful program that it is today.

Wendy has been a World Class canoeist competing in numerous international events for Great Britain, including the Sprint World Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, 1977 and winning the Marathon World Cup in Gudina, Denmark, 1983. She was also a formidable runner, top placing in the Nottingham Marathon in the early 1980s. Over the years Wendy’s passion for the sport has not waned and she still competes in National canoe marathon events as a veteran and runs with her friends weekly.

Wendy’s dedication to the sport has impacted many people’s lives. As the head race coach within the club, for over 25 years, everyone who races for ACC begins with Wendy’s coaching. From the many juniors that have been involved with the club over the years, six junior racers have gone on to represent Great Britain at International events (Sprint & Marathon) and a few have been chosen for the National Talent Program. As a small club, we have over-indexed in GB team representation verses club size, when compared with larger ‘Racing specific’ clubs. Additionally, Wendy has coached three crews (six people) in preparation for the gruelling Devizes-Westminster 125 mile endurance race.

During a recent audit of volunteer hours given by members, Wendy stood out from all others, with a mighty 467 hours per year or 9 hours per week, which she dedicates to our club, the community and the sport. Within the ACC, this includes coaching, supporting members at races, club maintenance, environmental clear-ups, committee meetings, safeguarding and first aid. Alongside her commitments to ACC, Wendy is on the British Canoeing National Sprint Regatta Committee and gives 4 weekends per year to running National regatta events plus sixteen hours at the planning meetings associated with these events.

In addition to her coaching work, Wendy is the club welfare officer, a critical role, with key responsibilities such as ensuring all adults working with vulnerable people have up to date DBS checks in place. She is an active member of the club committee and helps to organise our ‘come and try it’ days run by ACC, which encourages ‘newbies’ in the local community to try out many different forms of paddle sport, hopefully joining us as new members to enjoy the sport all year round. She also coordinates the purchase and distribution of club racing kit and branded casual clothing.

Addlestone Canoe Club is highly regarded in the canoeing community and Wendy was instrumental in the club attaining the British Canoeing award of ‘Club Mark; by leading the team writing our policies and procedures. The attainment of ‘Club Mark’ status was key to unlocking the potential of the club, enabling us to acquire funding to provide more opportunities for paddle sport in the community. Following on from this, Wendy then built the ‘development & talent pathways’ for Junior racers, which guides individuals and coaches through the stages of development from beginner to elite athlete. Addlestone Canoe Club has now been awarded ‘Talent Club’ status from British Canoeing.

Through her work in the club and the Canoeing community, Wendy has been a driving force behind bringing visibility of the sport to as many people as possible in the wider Runnymede borough. Wendy was instrumental in ACC (jointly) hosting the National Hasler Final
British Marathon Racing in 2022. This took place in Runnymede and lead to the club getting recognition from the public and both local and county councillors.

Wendy’s passion for all aspects of the sport, meant that she also championed for a clean and safe environment and initiated river clean up days from ACC. These involve general litter picking and the removal of non-native invasive plant species such as floating pennywort from the local waterways. These days are fun, educational and also benefit the local community by maintaining a valuable local amenity, the Wey Navigation. Such is the popularity of these events; they have been expanded from being run in the school holidays for junior club members, to hosting locally based global companies such as Sky TV for their staff activity volunteer events. These days have been recognised by British Canoeing who presented ACC with the ‘Clear Access, Clear Waters’ award.

Club

Summary of the year

Post author By Russell
Post date 31 December 2023

Addlestone Canoe Club is a charity set up to run activities that teach young people and families in our community to enjoy the outdoors through paddlesport and stay safe on the water.

All administrators, coaches and helpers are volunteers working together to achieve our objectives and so much more. The support of our members is instrumental in our success and they make our club a friendly and inclusive place to be. The committee thank our
volunteers for their support.

We have now spent two years in our new building, activities are back to pre-pandemic levels. We now have a new secure app suitable for members’ communications, it is very busy with good information and fits well with our safeguarding objectives.

Behind the scenes the committee review our processes and policies keeping the club in line with the requirements of a modern voluntary group. We have continued to raise funds improving the clubs facilities and have successfully raised an extra £40,000 since the build project enabling us to invest in equipment, tech and training that we need to engage new participants.

The club has achieved so much in the year – here’s just some of the highlights.

Increased Membership numbers to pre covid levels
Two Come and Try It Days for the general public
Four Introductory Courses for the general public
Regular taster sessions for all
Car park resurfaced and grass re-laid
New gates and fencing installed, securing the site
New race kayaks delivered-enabling new participants to experience and enjoy this discipline, being used by beginner adults and juniors
Replacement canoes ordered, particularly to service families and youth groups
New SUPs (stand up paddleboards) delivered, introducing a newly accessible discipline to the community, with ACC being able to teach safe use of this craft for private owners. The SUPs are also very useful for coaches when supervising introductory sessions
First aid and safeguarding courses run for club volunteers
Skills training for white water and racing coaches run for club volunteers
Addlestone Canoe Club nominated as Runnymede Mayor’s charity for 2023/24
Ran schools and community group sessions including Runnymede
community development scheme sessions
Assisted at the Virginia Water Lake safety day, run by Surrey Fire and Rescue Service – continuing to be involved in promoting safety on our waterways
Made links with Runnymede Borough Council to offer sessions to Ukrainian families
Engaged our youth members during school holidays to
assist with clearance of Floating Pennywort (an invasive species), promoting awareness to the local and wider community too by inviting volunteers from Sky and Tribe Outside Group
Working towards two British Canoeing awards –clear access, clear
waters and sports performance
Trips organised to white water rivers (Lake District, Devon, South Wales, North Wales), developing the skills of members
and volunteer coaches.
Flat water trips in Kent and Surrey
The racing section has continued to attend events with great success for all age groups
Working towards offering junior Freestyle opportunities
Working to promote daytime, weekday paddling for retired persons and shift workers

Every week, 50 weeks of the year our volunteers run club sessions and community sessions from March to October.

Feedback from visitors has been really positive and our reputation continues to grow as an inclusive and friendly club providing safe, fun outdoor experiences for all.

After much financial investment in the build we are now in a strong position to invest financially in our people. Keeping membership and equipment usage fees as accessible as possible, Addlestone Canoe Club is working to put on funded training events for our coaches and helpers and create a ‘hardship fund’ to make paddlesport accessible to all.

Many Thanks to our committee, coaches, helpers and ALL of our members, helping Addlestone Canoe Club to meet its objectives.

Club

Christmas paddle

Post author By Russell
Post date 17 December 2023

The club brought the year to a close with the traditional Christmas paddle.

As a fun outing for all members, it involved decorations, dressing up, a paddle challenge, and food and drink back at the clubhouse.

This tops off an outstanding year for Addlestone Canoe Club, with the whitewater, freestyle, and racing groups all undertaking many activities, and encouraging paddlers to excel in all areas.

We’ve also introduced many new paddlers to the joys of kayaking, canoeing, and paddle boarding, and many took advantage of the discounted membership through the summer.

Plans are already being put in place for another exciting year of paddling.

Club

Try-it day fun!

Post author By Russell
Post date 2 May 2023

At the end of April, Addlestone Canoe Club had over 60 members of the public visit for try-it sessions on our try-it day.

The try-it day sessions each last an hour, and attendees could have a go at paddling kayaks, canoes, or stand-up paddle boards, learning about the basics of controlling paddle craft, as well as an introduction to safety on the water.

As with all of our activities, the day was run by volunteer coaches and helpers, and we are massively grateful to the support of all of our members who help make these events happen.

We still have more try-it days as well as introduction and more advanced courses coming up this summer. Click the links to find out more about how you can come and join us!

Club

ACC wins at the Runnymede Civic Awards

Post author By Russell
Post date 25 February 2023

The first Runnymede Civic awards was held on the 22nd February, where Runnymede Borough council celebrated some of the most talented, determined and extraordinary individuals and groups in Runnymede. We are proud to share the news that Addlestone Canoe Club (ACC) were honoured to receive two winner’s trophies and a highly commended certificate for the work and achievements of our members & coaches.

The first Award of the evening was for Young Sportsperson of the year, which was won by Addlestone racing team member Emily. We are so proud of Emily and the work she has put into developing herself in the sport since she came to her very first try-it day at Addlestone 7 years ago. Emily is a committed junior member of ACC and trains 5-6 times a week all year round. During 2022 she won a medal at the National Championships Sprint events in Nottingham and was selected to represent Great Britain at the Brandenburg International Regatta in Germany. She is also the youngest GB athlete to be selected to participate in the Olympic Hopes regatta. Emily also volunteers at the club in coaching our younger juniors.

Another proud moment came when ACC Head Coach Neil was highly commended in the category of ‘Coach of the year’. Neil took over as Head Coach at Addlestone Canoe Club during the pandemic and has since set a new standard when it comes to organising the training and development of coaches which has been a massive benefit to the club and its members.

Our final prize of the evening went to ACC (Chairperson) Carol and (Coach) Nick, who were presented with the winner’s award in the category ‘Changing peoples lives’. We originally nominated ACC for Club of the Year, however the judges decided that although a worthy contender in that category, Nick & Carol were genuinely changing lives and should be recognised as such. In addition to the wonderful achievements that they have accomplished with the club they also undertake many canal clean-up campaigns and are proactively working with local families, youth groups and schools to provide training on water safety and encouraging residents to get involved.