Nbn Southern Meet.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

With the regular spring meet now under starters orders, I thought I'd suggest that we have an annual Southern meet at some time. What do people think?. There used to be 3 or 4 annual meets, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. They were usually held on the southern rivers, mainly because at that time, a lot of members had large sea going craft. These days however, most members either hire, or own boats which can travel the majority of the network, so having regular meets North and south shouldn't be a problem. 

What do other members think?. 

[Polly]

Good plan, however we called off the last one for lack of take-up.  What is the general opinion?

[CambridgeCabby]

We would be interested too, but will add that the Beccles moorings since the refit are not great for anyone with a bathing platform 

[MauriceMynah]

I was at the last Southern waters meet. It was held not long after the Wooden boat show. I was the only member who attended which was a little embarrassing as several moorings had been roped off for us. Still, I had a most enjoyable drink with myself and chatted away for hours.

I think the problem is that there are too many meets from various forums, The Broom owners meet, the wooden boats meet, both at Beccles.

Oulton Broad is another possible venue, but it's not really suitable for BBQs and such.

Finally, there is a tendency for a meet  to dominate a holiday, governing where you are and when. Not a problem for me as I'm on my boat often and long enough for it not to matter, but for those who hire for a week, it's a significant lump of their holiday. This is of course just my take on it. 

[Mouldy]

Wouldn’t be a bad idea.  Brundall to Salhouse is a bit of a trek, especially for a weekend (although I haven’t checked the tide times for May yet).  There must be a few members South, who may fancy it.

[CambridgeCabby]

And of course if on the Southern Broads hopefully Robin will be able to bring Indépendance , I’m sure there are many forum members who would love to see her in the flesh ( well grp at least )

[oldgregg]

41 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

Finally, there is a tendency for a meet  to dominate a holiday, governing where you are and when. Not a problem for me as I'm on my boat often and long enough for it not to matter, but for those who hire for a week, it's a significant lump of their holiday. This is of course just my take on it. 

I think that's a big part of it. The Salhouse meet has always been popular as it's a pretty spot and not far from any of the major hire bases, particularly given that people know there's a mooring waiting for them.

Of course the meets aren't just attended by hirers, but without them the numbers dwindle a bit and that in turn tends to mean less privateers sign up.

[ranworthbreeze]

I am sorry but the May meet is out for me none of my allocations fall into May this year. 

Regards

Alan

[D46]

1 hour ago, Polly said:

Good plan, however we called off the last one for lack of take-up.  What is the general opinion?

I'm very sorry but I've just re read the thread from last yrs aborted meeting and lack of take up was not the reason given by either yourself or the moderator team .

Then again the lack of members attending may very well be the really reason the event was abandoned , but it wasn't the official reason given . 

[ranworthbreeze]

2 hours ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

With the regular spring meet now under starters orders, I thought I'd suggest that we have an annual Southern meet at some time. What do people think?. There used to be 3 or 4 annual meets, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. They were usually held on the southern rivers, mainly because at that time, a lot of members had large sea going craft. These days however, most members either hire, or own boats which can travel the majority of the network, so having regular meets North and south shouldn't be a problem. 

What do other members think?. 

Hello Neil, I think that is a good idea but it is all down to the availability of members of the forum to attend, if I had a suitable allocation then I would certainly attend.

Regards

Alan

[grendel]

that would have been at least 2 years ago as we didnt even plan a southern meet last year

[grendel]

ah yes, it was 2018 that was cancelled, and yes we said that it was because we were unable to get a member of the team to the event, I seem to recall that we had a team member who had been organising everything who dropped out leaving nobody to organise the event, and that there were only a few people signed up to it, who subsequently decided not to attend anyway leaving poor MM on his tod.

I know I for one cant get to many more events than the spring one at present, that is because if I do the spring event, the wooden boat show and lads week, that the majority of my annual leave used up for the year. though this may change in future.

[CambridgeCabby]

I presume , if a committee member is unable to attend a meeting/gathering then there is nothing to prevent an unofficial gathering occurring as long as it is not advertised or represented as an official gathering 

[VetChugger]

I really fail to see the need for any such designation as "official gathering"! After all, its just a few folk getting together for a social event. A few folk club together to book some moorings. What is the need to label it??

 

[CambridgeCabby]

7 minutes ago, VetChugger said:

I really fail to see the need for any such designation as "official gathering"! After all, its just a few folk getting together for a social event. A few folk club together to book some moorings. What is the need to label it??

 

I believe it’s designated this when the moorings are block booked by a representative of the NBN , but I stand to be corrected 

[JanetAnne]

I believe that any official event has to have committee present, a risk assessment etc to be covered by the forum's insurance. To have an official event without the right criteria in place leaves the forum and it's members open to any possible litigation. That meet was called off because the official representative of the committee was called into hospital and had to withdraw. 

A gathering of like minded individuals does not need such protocols as everybody is responsible for themselves as nothing is collectively organised and no club or organisation is directly involved. 

So yes, if I was to say I will be at such a place anybody like to join me etc, that would be the way to go.

 

[Polly]

Oh dear!! My shorthand! Yes it was committee shortage combined with very low take up. 
Of course, as Cambridge Cabby and JA say, anyone can have unofficial get togethers any time at all, the more the merrier. 
 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

8 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

 Finally, there is a tendency for a meet  to dominate a holiday, governing where you are and when. Not a problem for me as I'm on my boat often and long enough for it not to matter, but for those who hire for a week, it's a significant lump of their holiday. This is of course just my take on it. 

On two consecutive years, Karen and i hired a boat specifically to attend the Autumn meets at the Coldham Hall Hotel. The first year we hired Pacific Emerald, the following year we hired Jay from Maffetts.  I think the CHH would be a great venue for an Autumn meet as i doubt you would want a bar b que in October?. We also attended a couple of meets at Beccles, the first in Swallow, and the second as John and Mary Janes guests on Friday girl. We drove up from Dorset especially for that one, a 500+ mile round trip.

[D46]

To be fair while the first reply to this thread was not exactly the entire story it was last yr and by no means the only post that's inaccurate regarding that particular meeting .

To me there's plenty of scope for a southern broads meet though it does seem that those that if it were to be official are not exactly viewing it in that light as there's very little surgestion that there's a willingness to make it an official meeting .

Given that the sign up is out now for a meeting 4 months away then given that lead in time I expect numbers would rise for a southern meet .

Me I cruise with friends  ( alot of who are members ) all yr round and we make our own entertainment , that said I'm sure we could join in for sure if such meet came to pass .

It just seams to me that there's no interest in the organization of an even by the forum other than individual members .

Coldham hall is a great venue but it's also a wedding venue so planning would be key and don't expect them to turn you away last minute because a wedding has been booked as they make far more money that way , surlingham ferry is another knock out venue and bookable too .

All meetings Carry a level of commitment from both the organisers if there were to be any and also the attendees .

To me it could work there's surely enough support on the southern side .

And that leads me to another thing the divide between north and south , hopefully there's no such thing on here , it exists in none boaty life n I really don't get why but hey that's another subject entirely .

[JennyMorgan]

41 minutes ago, D46 said:

And that leads me to another thing the divide between north and south , hopefully there's no such thing on here , it exists in none boaty life n I really don't get why but hey that's another subject entirely .

That divide does exist, it's called Breydon Water and it's far outside some people's comfort zone. A fear of the unknown is not particularly uncommon! 

Or do you mean the great divide between Northern Nancies and Southern Softees? Living halfway between either, as I do,  I am at a loss as to that one too!

[JanetAnne]

Of course you could also argue that by having more than one meet a year you end up with smaller events but a bigger workload?

The committee are all unpaid volunteers within the various roles and the forum runs beautifully. The three meets a year perhaps stretched them more than we should have done.

I, of course, have no room to talk. I have only managed to attend one meeting in the last five years and that was by car...

 

[ExSurveyor]

Given the obvious amount of work involved in organizing these events and the fact that previously Southern meets have been less popular, it should not be a suprise that only one Northern meet is arranged at the moment

[D46]

17 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

Of course you could also argue that by having more than one meet a year you end up with smaller events but a bigger workload?

The committee are all unpaid volunteers within the various roles and the forum runs beautifully. The three meets a year perhaps stretched them more than we should have done.

I, of course, have no room to talk. I have only managed to attend one meeting in the last five years and that was by car...

 

I wasn't aware there were 3 meets i figured it as only 1 + the southern one .

I agree that while all are volunteers and it's no easy task to organize they proposed the second southern meet if memory serves me right .

One would hope that the annual meetings don't go the same way as another forum's have as in don't exist anymore .

 

[D46]

17 minutes ago, psychicsurveyor said:

Given the obvious amount of work involved in organizing these events and the fact that previously Southern meets have been less popular, it should not be a suprise that only one Northern meet is arranged at the moment

In all honesty it's only the same level of work but on 2 different times of yr surely the team is big enough to cope , however it does depend on numbers on the southern side but that said there are a lot of members on the southern rivers and the northern meeting has reduced in numbers of late .

[D46]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

That divide does exist, it's called Breydon Water and it's far outside some people's comfort zone. A fear of the unknown is not particularly uncommon! 

Or do you mean the great divide between Northern Nancies and Southern Softees? Living halfway between either, as I do,  I am at a loss as to that one too!

Agreed re Brendon , nope didn't mean southern softees n northern Nancy's it was just the impression one gets is one side gets far more support than the other , I agree Breydon can be intimidating the first time but it's really not that bad and those fears would be better to be disapated really .