The membership renewals are now due . Your renewal form should arrive  in the post in the next week or so. Please check the details on the form and return them promptly to Pat along with payment to ensure that you qualify for the discounted membership rates.

This year we will be holding an open evening rather than an open day.  We are hoping it's easier for people to get down than breaking up a weekend and with an active trips programme already running weekend time is scarce.

The evening is open to anyone to come along.  We will provide instruction and all equipment - we ask only that you are able to swim and that you wear something that you don't mind getting wet and bring a change of clothes for afterwards.

We would appreciate help from as many club members as possible during the evening - even if you can only spare an hour or so.

 Club Paddling Evening 

Wednesdays 7pm - dusk

Grimsbury Reservoir, Banbury  (Map: http://www.cherwellcc.org.uk/Reservoir/ )

Open paddling session available to all club members.

The trailer will be there most weeks with plenty of boats and kit available for club members to use. Please note that demand for kit may be high during the novice courses and some weeks it may not be possible to have the full range of boats available – please call to check availability if you are going to be travelling and will need to borrow a boat.

We will try to ensure that there is at least one coach available to give guidance to any paddlers wanting to progress their skills. 

For novice paddles wanting to start out with the basics we will be running our usual series of novice courses (see below for more details). 

Polo Training- open to all club members

Wednesday Evenings during open paddling session

Sunday Polo Training

Sunday Evenings 4:30pm – 9pm   

Grimsbury Reservoir from 2nd May onwards

This year we will be running our Youth / Beginners training from 4:30pm to 6pm. 

Youth polo is open to anyone aged 10 – 18 who has basic novice boat skills (forwards and backwards paddling and turning).  We will also be welcoming beginners / new padders to this part of the sessions which concentrates on (polo and general boat) skills.

Following  directly on from this, starting at approximately 6pm, will be our squad members game training session.  This invite only session is for members of the club polo teams and is aimed at more experienced paddlers only.  We will invite people attending the earlier session to join the later one as their skills progress.

Trips – Various Weekends

We plan to run the usual selection of trips this summer including the River Wye at Symonds Yat, The River Avon in Stratford, Surfing and possibly sea kayaking as well.

The programme is published by email a few weeks in advance. If you are not on the trips email list and want to be added or want to find out more details or even suggest a trip you would like to see organised then contact Pat : Trips@cherwellcc.org.uk /  01295 265935

For those new to the sport we will be offering our 5 week novice courses again this summer.  This is an introduction to all of the basic skills needed to paddle safely on sheltered water. It is also an ideal first step for those looking to move onto more challenging paddling on whitewater or the sea or those interested in getting involved in Canoe Polo.

Provisional Course Dates for 2009 

 These will run in parallel with our regular club paddling session from 7pm – 8pm on Wednesdays. The first course will take place at the reservoir but subsequent courses may move to Woodgreen Leisure centre  if this opens as planned . (see below)

 Please contact Michael Punter for more information or to request an application form :  courses@cherwellcc.org.uk / 07779 162484