photo of LSC clubhouse

Members voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing City Livery Club members to become associate members of the LSC at the special meeting on 15 June. We will welcome our new members at a reception on Wednesday 15 September (18.30) in the clubhouse and hope many existing members will be there in support.

Commodore David Roache opened the meeting and invited Iain Muspratt, vice commodore south coast, to summarise the proposal for creating this new class of associate member. Iain set out our desire to continue to enjoy our "super premises" and how sharing our facilities in this way would offer a number of advantages. These include:

  • raising awareness of our club in the City of London
  • increasing use of the bar and restaurant and thus our share of catering profits
  • fees of at least £30,000 per annum for 10 years with a break clause after five years to help us cover the running costs of the clubhouse.

 

Iain said that CLC members had already approved the plans.

Whilst CLC members will have use of the clubhouse with certain conditions, they will not be able to attend Tuesday clubnights unless invited as a guest of an existing member in the normal way. They also won't be able to join in training and rallies. We will alter the clubhouse so that CLC silverware and books and furniture are on display. Part of the club office space will be set aside for CLC staff. Further details of the arrangements can be found in the papers prepared for the meeting.

A number of members expressed their support for the proposal. In particular, they noted how important it is that we continue to demonstrate our welcome and commitment to these new members. A formal vote of welcome was proposed and endorsed wholeheartedly by the meeting.

Two other resolutions were passed - one ensured that the Rules and House Rules will work properly now that we have the CLC associate members. The other amended the wording of the club disclaimer on rally flyers, at the request of the club's insurers.  This is so that skippers are aware that their boat insurance, owned or chartered, should have the correct geographical coverage and sufficient third party liability cover (minimum £2 million) for any rallies they attend and that it is their responsibility to arrange it. This latter resolution produced some lively questions but following clarification from Mark Turvey, the club's honorary solicitor, it was passed.

The formal part of the meeting then concluded with thanks to Val Tunmer and Bernadette Knee for all their help. Iain Muspratt thanked members and board members for their assistance in developing the CLC proposals, particularly Albert Levy for suggesting they become associate members of the LSC.

Iain explained that the clubhouse will be closed to members between Monday 16 and Monday 30 August inclusive. It will reopen on Tuesday 31 August. This is to allow for maintenance work to take place. If any members are free and have skills to offer such as painting, polyfilla application, polishing etc they should contact the club office.  The office will be open as normal during this period.

David Roache drew attention to his half year report, available on the website here. Don Shackley reviewed the half year results, referred to in David's report. Don noted how expensive our maintenance and repairs can be and that these cannot be put off indefinitely - some essential items will be sorted out in August. David said the board is considering how to reduce some of these costs for the future.  The clubhouse needs continuous maintenance.

The meeting closed with a vote of thanks proposed by Hunter Peace to all the board, and especially Iain Muspratt, for all their hard work. All present agreed.

The meeting closed at 1925 hrs.