It takes a village....or a maybe a Canoe Club!

Another year, and another Waterside Series completed, setting the stage for the DW to come to town over Easter.

The paddlers, young and old, came out in force to tackle the 4 race series which of course is who we do it all for.

But if you don't mind Newbury Canoe Club would like to just take a self-congratulatory moment and a huge shout out to all of the members who have been committed all year round to ensure we can bring the series to you.

A big thank you to Newbury Canoe Club for an excellent Waterside B race. The course was well marshalled and we felt well looked after.

As Newbury Canoe Club has grown significantly in numbers, this has also meant a growing team of skilled and willing volunteers helping to grow the club and the series. As a result the last couple of years have seen a number of changes enabled by the phrase 'many hands make light work'! We are hoping that Clive, who has been at the helm alongside Mike in recent years, can now appreciate the break (although I suspect he will always find something else to put his unbounding energy into) as he handed over the reigns to a team who shared the workload.

The first shift to navigate was the handing over of the website last year so it sat within the club's overall new web appearance and made the link to the Series very much the ownership of NCC. Julie has spent hours working tirelessly in her own time on the new site to get all of the information, rules and updates to you in a clear and efficient way before and during the Series. After the 2024 Series.

Alongside this, and into a new digital era, Andrew has developed his own software that now brings you the results on the rolling screen. But they don't magically appear. This year his youngest offspring was seen running up and down from the finish line to the clubhouse bringing the paper results to Andrew who was hiding away, manually inputting all of the results into his system. Julie is continually badgering Andrew to develop the next step where the rolling live results can be found on the website...but one step at a time!

This year saw the first year where the Series was run by a team in which they have been meeting most fortnightly Monday evenings since last summer. Our chair Ed has overseen Rebecca and Richard's shared leadership role with Mike giving the final approval on decisions due to his vast experience of the series. Equally, voices have come in from Kieron on health and safety, Jo and Lynne on marshalling, Jacqui on catering, Julie on marketing and design, and Andrew on registration and results. No details were left untouched, including which were the best sausages to buy for the paddlers' food!

Awesome organisation as ever thank you Newbury Canoe Club and loved my paddler food

Jo and Lynne had already gotten the marshalling organisation down to a fine art so this transition ran smoothly as ever with Lynne out on the field and Jo at race control managing any issues. As usual we also have to give a huge shout out to all of the marshals who take time out of their weekends to ensure the safe and smooth running of the race itself.

With everything else running smoothly and in place, the only pending decision was that of venue. A final decision was made for the series to move from the Waterside Centre to the Newbury Canoe Club clubhouse. it was a huge step to make but with a strong team of volunteers it felt possible. As the marquee went up, the team started to feel reassured that it might actuallly come to fruition...which it did.

Just to say a big thank you to Newbury Canoe Club with the way Waterside C was laid out today. All the marshals were very friendly and helpful.

By having everything running in one space it provided more of an intimate communal feel in which the volunteers were able to work more closely together to support and help each other, even...dare I say... actually have fun! People, young and old, were offering us thanks and praise for how it had been run and were enjoying the new venue. This hopefully fed into the overall atmosphere for everybody involved. It also improved communication. When one lady lost her bank card on Race B and her friend's phone at Race C, through the power of whatsapp we were able to inform her they were found, whilst she was still sat drinking her tea in the marquee.

"Great series, for me as a decades long paddler of the series and DW. The move from the Waterside Centre to your club house is a logical progression. Its was only C when weather was bad did space get tight!

It also added space for other opportunities, which is where Richard and his wife Jenny decided on running a cake sale to raise funds for the club's new boatshed. With some avid bakers in the club providing the goodies this seemed to be hugely appreciated and so it developed into bacon butties on Race B. Unfortunately this set a precedent and was expected at the start of Race C by those supporters who had been dragged out of bed early to take their partners to the start and left needing to fill time and their bellies. It was decided logistically it could not be organised this short notice...something for next year maybe ;-). With the donation of a huge easter egg by the Lions Club we also had capacity to run a raffle alongside. Many people were just happy to pay a contribution to the club as a thanks for providing them the series to race in, which was greatly appreciated.

The team have been reactive to feedback throughout the series and made adjustments and adaptions where possible throughout. Visual maps were created of the wharf area following feedback that the facilities couldn't be found easily and more signs put up, Decaf tea was provided by race D, a QR code was put up so people didn't need to photograph the briefing screen....just to name a few. Other pointers have been taken on board for next year, such as selling cans of coke to kill the canal germs (who knew this was thing) and much more.

It was all a learning curve but on the whole the general feedback has been extremely positive.

Thank you Newbury Canoe Club for a well organised event today. A very slick operation and you even managed to hold the rain off until we finished. Great job.

Thank you Newbury Canoe Club for another great event….only recommendation maybe is arranging a tow back from Aldermaston.

Massive thank you to the organisers of the Waterside Series! They did everything possible to make it a positive experience for my very young junior team. Every decision they made was to benefit the kids, they could not have been more helpful and accommodating.

This is a blueprint for how kids in our (any) sport should be valued and nurtured!

Even down to after the final prize giving, walking back to the car, one of my kids dropped her prize mug which shattered. Ten seconds later it was replaced by Peter Walker who gave her his own mug!

This series has been overlooked for too long by the clubs, it is a huge opportunity to build resilience, team work and endurance as well as teaching kids to portage in the short space of two months!!

Thanks to Newbury Canoe club for organising. It has been a massive confidence builder for our whole team.

Photos by Jill Priday and others

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Additional thanks go to

Luca and Caitlin for fronting the paddlers food counter

Ena, Jo and Catherine for their concentration on the finish line

Paul - our 'coneman'

Claire and Mike for additional support in the marquee

And of course all of our marshals

If you feel you can offer any useful suggestions for next year please kindly and politely message us. We cannot promise anything but will certainly take any feedback into consideration.

Thank you all for your patience and support this year.

Newbury Canoe Club