You need to register your interest in attending to myself and/or Gemma and Nicky. Those that do not register will not be admitted.

This is the time that we look back and celebrate our achievements, reflect on the low moments and look forward to a an excellent 2010. Part of looking forward is for the team to meet the committee, elect new committee members. We will also introduce the races and discuss events for 2010.

There is a current vacancy on the committee, we really do need a Ladies Captain, it is a role that I have been looking to fill for over a year. We need a strong person, with good people skills, this role requires dedication and supports the team captain in a leadership capacity. If you think you could do this role or would like to nominate someone then please email me before the 6th

It is the first time that the entire committee has offered their services for a second term. Let me take this opportunity to thank the committee for their drive and dedication to their roles throughout 2009.

This situation has not happened before and bearing in mind that we have a very strong and pro-active committee I would like to ask the team to support the committee. If you would like to join the committee and think you can contribute to one of the roles below, then you can nominate yourself to standard for a role. Please email me your nomination stating the role

Team Captain – (Paul)

• Generally motivates and organises the whole team
• Deals with Race entries and deadlines in conjunction with Team Secretary
• Ensures team follows all SAVA/SDBA rules (In conjunction with Coach)
• Attends Race Draws
• Makes team selection for Regattas with Coach and Vice Captains
• Co-ordinates team at practice
• Co-ordinates team on race day
• Deals with any serious issues within the team
• Liaises with coaches regarding training sessions

*Paul is prepared to continue in this role*

Men’s Captain – (Andy)

• Supports the Team Captain role
• Co-ordinates any Men’s joint paddling events with other teams
• Assists Team Captain with any serious male issues within the team
• Assists Coach and Team Captain with team selection for Regattas

*Andy is prepared to continue in this role*

Ladies Captain – (Vacant)

• Supports the Team Captain role
• Co-ordinates any Women’s joint paddling events with other teams
• Assists Team Captain with any serious female issues within the team
• Assists Coach and Team Captain with team selection for Regattas

Treasurer – (Mel)

• Collection of money from Haberdasher and Assistant Treasurer
• Collects subs at race weekends/practice
• Prepares yearly accounts for submission to the British Chamber
• Presents a financial update to the team at the AGM
• Pays all bills & named bank account signatory
• Liaison with British Chamber of Commerce

*Mel is prepared to continue in this role*

Assistant Treasurer – (Currently Mifie)

• Supports the role of Treasurer
• Collects subs at race weekends/practice
• Updates Team Secretary weekly with all new members email addresses

*Mifie is prepared to continue in this role*

Team Secretary – (Rebecca)

• Reads and replies to all enquiries received from the website
• Writes and sends the weekly email to all paddlers
• Updates the web e-mail with new paddlers details received from Treasurer
• Collects team members details for Regattas
• Organises all Regatta race submissions in conjunction with Team Captain
• Writes and sends the Regatta instructions e-mail prior to race day (after meeting with Committee)
• Updates website with the non design matters
• Updates events Calendar
• Main point of contact for SAVA/SBDA
• Takes minutes at monthly committee meetings

*Rebecca is prepared to continue in this role*

International Representative & Barbarians Representative – (Currently Adrian)

• Attends monthly International meetings and updates Secretary with any events coming up
• Acts as representative for Barbarians and organises the British Team for Barbarians trips outside Singapore
• Supports the role of International Representative and attends monthly International meetings in the absence of International Representative

*Adrian is prepared to continue in this role*

Sponsorship Liaison Secretary – (Kevin)

• Co-ordinates renewal of current sponsors and receipt of Sponsorship money:
• Notifies Sponsors of any coverage during the year with a copy of the article or link to the coverage
• Organises a Sponsors Day Paddle with the Social Secretary
• Checks that all banners are up to date and received in time for Regattas plus ensures that all Sponsors are fairly represented
• Approaches/sources potential new Sponsors
• Ensures all specifications of sponsors agreements are met
• Provides point of sale material for relevant sponsors outlets
• Race date liaison (organise sandwiches, food, beer and giveaways from sponsors)

*Kevin is prepared to continue in this role*

Social Secretaries – (Currently Nicky & Gemma)

• Arranges water/100+/ice for practice each week
• Orders sandwiches for race day
• Organises all team social nights out in with the help of volunteers from the team
• Organises after race party at Bar Sponsors venue
• Organises casual events with other teams (i.e. events not covered by International Representative)
• Organises monthly beach and beer BBQ
• Arranges leaving do’s for team members departing

*Nicky and Gemma are both prepared to continue in this role*

Team K.E.O – Kit & Equipment Officer – (Currently Kenny)

• Responsible for ordering and sales of race kit and drinking shirts
• Responsible for all kit held in stock and provides stock and sales figures to Treasurer
• Deals with any changes to kit and logo design.
• Paddles (Counts, maintains & arranges repairs/replacements)
• Life jackets (Counts, maintains & arranges repairs/replacements)
• Boat (Incl head, tail, drum & seat) makes sure all are in good working order and not missing.
• Ensures all equipment is returned after practice

*Kenny is prepared to continue in this role*

Marketing & Recruitment Officer – (Caroline)

• Ensure Brand awareness of the team is reflected throughout all our promotional materials (leaflets, cards etc for tent during race weekends)
• Co-ordinates, designs & prints promotional posters to be displayed at our Sponsors Notice Boards
• Responsible for recruitment drives
• Co-ordinates any write ups in press/magazines

*Caroline is prepared to continue in this role*

Website Maintenance & Design – (Currently Graham)

• Creates, designs and keeps the website update
• Assists Secretary with any complicated updates/changes that cannot be dealt with by Secretary
• Creates new e-mail systems to incorporate dragon boat mailing list and straightforward updating
• Cooks a mean BBQ

*Graham is prepared to continue in this role*

Team Coach – (Currently Jason – SAVA)

• Provides and conducts a structured and formalised Training Programme consisting of:2 weekly training sessions (Wednesday & Saturday) with provision for additional sessions prior to Regattas
• Provides competitive coaching and team motivation
• Sets realistic targets for the team
• Makes team selection for Regattas (together with Captain and Vice Captains)
• Raises the team profile and creates positive awareness of the team

It has been my pleasure to lead this team and if you would like me to do this again in 2010 then I will do it with pride.

Thank you and see you on March 6th

Paul

Don’t forget there is no Wednesday training!

I have been handed the reigns for the newsletter this week while Rebecca is off on her great adventures!

TRAINING

A lot of people were asking over the weekend about training dates over Chinese New Year…so here goes:

• Weds 10th Feb – Training is on as normal
• Sat 13th Feb – Training is on as normal
• Sun 14th Feb – For those not being all mushy, training is on as normal (We will take numbers on Saturday to ensure there is enough of us to get the boat in the water)
• Weds 17th Feb – NO TRAINING (Pool is closed)
• Sat 20th Feb – Training resumes

The website calendar has been updated accordingly.

SOCIAL

1) CNY Party @ Mels house – Monday 15th Feb 2010 – 12.30 onwards

For those not jetting off to beautiful beaches or other exciting cities this CNY, you are invited to the East Coast to see in the year of the Tiger…..grrrrrrrrr at Mel’s:

Call Mel if you get lost!

Please bring something to eat for the “pot luck” tiger table and booze/mixers (I have plenty of JD).

Pimms & Lemonade will be served on arrival.

There will be fun & games on the Wii….so get practising on your bowling, tennis & boxing skills over the next few days.

Please also bring your swimming togs in case you fancy a dip in the pool later.

Please RSVP to let me know you are coming mel [at] britishdragonboat.com

2) Caroline’s Birthday Dinner – Saturday 20th February – 8pm

Caroline is celebrating her birthday with dinner at Brewerks, Clarke Quay. If you would like to join the celebration please email Caroline at cholt [at] eagle.org

That’s all folks, have a good week and see you at training

A couple of Social Announcements from Gemma which you must READ and RESPOND to NOW (to the emails provided below).

Sausage Sizzle- Saturday 6th February

BBQ this Saturday after training, beer will be provided courtesy of the Pump Room. Also bring a bottle of whatever you like to drink, as the beer won’t last all night! Please bring $10 to cover costs and if you have not already let Gemma know you are coming (also any special dietary requirements) please email her now at pepperpot95 [at] hotmail.com

Caroline’s Birthday Dinner- Saturday 20th February 8pm

Caroline is celebrating her birthday with dinner at Cafe Iguana, Clarke Quay. If you would like to join the celebration please email Caroline at cholt [at] eagle.org

Thanks!

Gemma xxx

Well we are back people, and back with a vengeance, we need to beat last years medal tally and have many great events throughout the year, not to mention the overseas trips.

Very important you read the following, if you don’t understand any of the below or have questions please ask Paul, Andy or Adrian at training.

BOROCAY
On that note please note that the Borocay trip is on and you need to register your intent to participate with Adrian Zuber (International Representative) adrian.zuber@gmail.com ASAP.
Borocay 2010 – Thur 22nd April to Sun 25th April (some of us will stay on a few extra days for a bit of a break)
All persons wishing to travel on overseas trips have to be approved by each team Manager / Captain before being allowed to participate.
More information will follow to those that register their intent, regarding flights / accommodation etc.

MACAU
Secondly SPC is sending a combined crew of paddlers from all expat teams in Singapore to the Club World Championships in Macau. Please click on this link to read ALL the information (including and Q&A) pertaining to this. This is sanctioned and supported by each team captain and SPC’s intent is not to conflict with other team training and events.

http://www.singaporepaddleclub.com/paddle/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=89

You must register with Adrian Zuber your intent that you would like your name to be put forward for selection. adrian.zuber@gmail.com ASAP, there will be time trials to be part of the team going to Macau and it will be the most intense training and requires a lot of dedication in order to go!
All persons wishing to travel on overseas trips have to be approved by each team Manager / Captain before being allowed to participate.
NOTE – There is a training tomorrow at 2pm at Kallang under SPC, for those wanting to participate in Macau.

MR 500
The first race in Singapore is Sat 27th and Sun 28th please register with me Paul Robinson (Team Captain) dragonboatcaptain@gmail.com your intention to be part of this race before the end of January.

Well done for those of you that started back to Wednesday night training, see you all and everyone else tomorrow Saturday and on Sunday. OH YES BRING IT ON PEOPLE!

All the very best and looking forward to seeing you all again.
Paul

Hope you’ve all had a lovely break. Just a quickie from me to say that training resumes TOMORROW at Farrer Park Swimming Pool at 7pm (I hope) and from there on in, it’s training all the way.

And a note for the Ladies… As you all know (or you will know now), the lovely Matt and Gemma are getting married this year. I shall be using my organisational best to organise a weekend away in Bintan for the lovely hen (also known as Gemma) for the weekend of 24th-25th of April. Please can the interested parties EMAIL ME asap (or press reply to this email) so that I can figure out preliminary numbers/cost and inform people accordingly sooner rather than later. You have until THIS Saturday 9th January to let me know.

And for our male paddlers: I hope that you take Matt out in suitable style while we’re away, no leaving him tied up in some remote part of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve after a few beers…

See you all very soon, Rebecca

I’m relaying the information sent through to me on the upcoming mixed-team Christmas Eve Paddle:

The Christmas Eve Singapore River paddle is something which has been going on every year since 2005 (see picture of the pioneer crew from ‘05). Please show up at 3:00pm on 24th so we can push off by 3:30pm and reach Harry’s at Boat Quay by about 4pm. It’s a group effort with no organisers. Everyone needs to know they are participating at their own risk.

What has happened in previous years and seems likely to happen again is that we meet, wear Santa hats and other Christmas attire (once there was even a Christmas Tree mounted on the bow), paddle to Boat Quay, sing Christmas songs with lyric sheets provided by a kind elf on our way there, and have beers at Harry’s.  And sometimes Brewerkz.  If there are two boats, one will probably go back early around 6. The other one returns later.

Hope to see you this Thursday at 3pm, Rebecca

And a message from one of our former captains, who remembers the Christmas Eve Paddle well…

Hello Rebecca,
Forgive an old paddler his inability to shut up, but I saw your letter and thought you might like to know more.

As far as I’m aware the Christmas paddle was well established when I joined the club in 2002. Previously it was not on Christmas eve, but earlier so that those going away for Christmas could join in. The standard format consisted of: dressing up in christmas garb (full fancy dress if possible), paddling to boat quay (normally singing christmas songs, normally out of time and not in tune…), quaffing a few seasonal ales at the relevant bar of choice (in those days, Penny Black as one of the paddlers ran the bar) and then racing/ambling/sleeping back to Kallang. We seemed to usually return to Boat Quay, perhaps after a while spent at Wong’s fabulous restaurant next to the boat park.

The hats began as a forfeit for anyone who had not brought their own fancy dress.. Ellie noticed a stand selling them in large quantities at the Queen street market behind Bugis.
The christmas tree was introduced along with an inflatable (and squeaky!) Father christmas, I think in 2003 – one mounted at the front of each of our two boats so that santa could race against the tree. When we paddled up in 2003 or 2004 (alcohol tints my memories) we were particularly well dressed and ended up spending a great deal of time at Boat Quay and then stopping under the Merlion for a shower on the way home. Another year (possibly ‘05 which I was away for) I believe they sank, although you can ask Helen, David, Mark, Pauline, or other old timers about that. I think Jason was involved that year, so it might be the one from your photo.!
You might also be interested to know that for some time there was a tradition of throwing the captain off the boat – which happened to myself, Paul Richards, and then Paul and myself when I returned on holiday (although that was mostly my fault!). Don’t know whether that is a tradition worth reviving…?!

Although spending Christmas at the Ewels family castle in Shropshire, we will be driving down to join in our team’s christmas event – the Worcester Dragons Boxing Day paddle, which consists of a 3 miles slog upstream to a pub with no road access and a lot of wickedly strong cider, only served in half pint glasses. Thankfully the way home is downstream… The water may be colder (believe me, it’s a LOT colder!!), but the sentiments are just the same!

The memory of singing or shouting ‘jingle bells’ as we worked our way past astonished pedestrians in Tanjong Rhu will stay with me always! (although we wish you a merry christmas seems to fit paddle rhythm better for some reason)

Wishing you and the whole team a very merry Christmas and a competitive 2010.
We shall drink a toast to you all in the pub.
All the best,
Rob and Ellie

See the recent video of the British Dragons in action at the recent regatta in Singapore’s Boat Quay. Many thanks to Chetan for putting this together!

Had I been any better at Maths, this announcement would probably have been with you in November… To make things a little easier for myself, I’ll list the people that will be attending THIS WEEK’S gym practice (bearing in mind that I do have the names of 32 paddlers who want take part next week (with maximum 14 available slots per session, only 2 sessions available per week and priority to those who won’t take part this week, so please bear with me, I know who you are and everyone will get to have a go at some point, and anyone who can’t face a second session, feel free to email me after Wednesday/Thursday evening with details of your ailments and cancellation notification though technically I hope it won’t be that many, about 4 would be nice).

Anyway, enough waffling from me:

THIS Wednesday the following paddlers WILL be training:

Paul R, Matt, Gemma, Chris K, Stephanie, Phil M, William, Phil H, Anne-Louise, Rob C, Rob W, Emma W, Erica and Chetan.

AND

Thursday, it’ll be the turn of:

Andy, Mel, Mifie, Jayne, Michael L, Shobhana, Tim, Paul M, Rebecca, Gill, Kevin H, Hans, Graham and Carol.

Hopefully you can all find your way there with the use of this map (with location of the gym). If not, it’s literally opposite Orchard Towers, so head there, ask for the Orchard Hotel and the gym is apparently on the fourth floor. What can I say, easy to remember really…

Notes below from Jason, who will be providing this training:

1. PLEASE ASK EVERYONE TO BRING A GYM TOWEL OR HAND TOWEL;
2. PLEASE WEAR TRAINING SHOES…Not slippers/Flip flops;
3. Gym gloves (optional but if you have them, bring them);
4. 1 Very Large bottle of Water.

Current plan for Week 1 (gym) – Trial

• Everyone will be buddied up, preferably same level of strength/bodyweight
• Everyone will do stretches & warm ups at the pool area
• General brief of stations and expectations
• Physical walk through & demonstration of all stations
• Everyone will attempt 2-3 sets per station
• If time permits, aerobic stations may be included.

Please see below on what’s included for training paddlers:

1. Use of all gym equipment within our facilities
2. Use of swimming pool for swimming (Swimming will only be on OTOT basis outside of our training time, unless stated beforehand as part of training)
3. Complimentary towel usage
4. 2-hour Complimentary parking coupon (i have managed to bargain it for 3 hours)
5. Use of lockers
6. Use of shower facilities (comes w/ hot showers and hairdryer) – (there’s only 2 cubicals per gender, so need to organise a little if everyone decides to shower at the same time)
7. Sale of premium sports supplements to them at an unbeatable pricing (you guys can also look out for personal gym trainers if you are interested)

Terms and conditions:

1. Basic gym etiquette and courtesy is expected from all users to make the gym a great environment to work out in
2. The gym will not be exclusive for British Dragon’s use during the period 7pm to 10pm as we have personal trainers, their clients, our members, and also hotel guests using it as well. However, based on our track record, 7pm onwards its normally our lull period.
3. Our gym closes at 10pm, so in the event you wish to run the programme till closing time, please ensure your members leave the gym by 10pm and not stop working out at 10pm, and then demand to shower after that.

I believe our training is only two hours long (7-9) so leaving the gym at 10 won’t really be an issue as we’ll all be having dinner at the nice Thai restaurant across the road by that time (Paul knows which one, he brought us there the last time). See you all soon, Rebecca

There are some important dates coming up. Please see this spreadsheet for details.

A quick summary of what’s coming up:

• Gym session with Jason (Note: both Wednesday sessions are fully booked)
• American Dragons Thanksgiving Paddle
• British Dragons Christmas Paddle
• Pool training (last session for the year is Wed 16 Dec resuming Wed 6 Jan)
• Time trials

Program of training and upcoming events – Excel Spreadsheet.

Cheers

Paul