Progress Photos here

Formal Opening  of Changing Rooms - 1100  March 9 - don't miss it!

Latest Photos - 9 March 08

Development Committee Update - 8 Jan 08

Changing Rooms Scheme

This scheme was delayed during November and December by poor floor drying conditions. The knock on effect prevented the vinyl floor being laid, the electrician and plumber were unable to get in and as a consequence very limited toilet accommodation was available for the Christmas party. Work is now proceeding rapidly with the floor complete apart from some minor attention, wall and floor tiling is complete, doors are starting to appear and during the next two weeks the plumber and electrician will have completed throughout.

We now have an operational Race Office upstairs where the computer, radios and race equipment is now located. A radiator will be fitted next week.

 

Naseby Lodge

This facility has performed well during the autumn and Christmas period and is a credit to those members who completed it and were rightly recognised at the Christmas Party. The cladding on the wall facing the car park will be replaced shortly.

 

The Grounds

A small group of trees has been removed near the Strowbridge property. This will make space for 30 small bird friendly trees currently planted along the fence line. The tree area will be protected by logs.

John Strowbridge has provided a small kerb to divert heavy rain into the drain at the bottom of his drive. The drain was cleared out during the early January work party.

Development Committee Update  - 17 Dec 2007

The new steps from patio to roadway have been constructed.

 Painting is largely complete but cannot be finalised until other contractors have completed. The painter is finishing off the Race Office today (Wed December 19^th) so that we can move the computer equipment and desk up there on Saturday.

 Flooring work will be substantially complete by Thursday December 20^th following the drying out marathon. The delay on the flooring has had a serious knock on effect on other trades trying to complete. The plumber has been the most affected and as a consequence we don’t yet have toilets fitted ready for the Christmas Party. However, don’t despair! The intention is that WCs will be fitted in the Disabled and Gents on Friday (December 21^st) and we propose these be for the use of Ladies. The Gents can use the excellent facilities afforded by the Naseby Lodge. There is the little matter of doors for the WCs but I’m sure we’ll have sorted something by Sunday.

Development Committee Update  - 22 Oct 2007

Changing Rooms Scheme 

Work is progressing well on the Changing Rooms. We have a complete new roof and cladding of the exterior has started. The inside of the changing rooms has been completely stripped out and the flooring removed.  A new floor surface has been provided which slopes towards the new drainage channels. No more puddles here.

This week new internal walls are being provided ready for the electrician and the plumber to start work next week.

A further enhancement for the scheme has been agreed within the agreed budget. This will provide a new patio as big as the existing veranda area with drainage and should be an attractive area to chill out in. Another little extra is the provision of a tap for boot washing on one of the supporting columns. No excuse for dirty boots in the club house in future. This tap will also replace the one by the waters edge for boat cleaning and shrub watering. 

Naseby Lodge

The floor paint in this building was applied so beautifully that it was difficult to walk on safely. An anti slip surface has now been provided by David Blackbourn which is much easier to navigate. Care still needs to be taken, particularly if mud gets walked in.

We are having slabs laid around the Naseby Lodge on the main walking areas using slabs already on site. This is in readiness for the main room being used as a Training Centre. 

Grounds

During a day with a very cooperative JCB driver we able to spread the leftover piles of soil to even up the Sailboard prep area and the adjacent foreshore. The area by the Handicap slipway was also smoothed out and all areas were seeded and are thriving. The area behind the Naseby Lodge was also smoothed out but needs a bit more wood removing before it can be seeded.

Some more spoil from the clubhouse scheme will need to be hidden and Pete Jordan and David Blackbourn recovered a bit more land behind the handicap slipway to facilitate this.  

Mike Pipes

Development Committee

 

Development Committee Update  - 24 Sep 2007

 Changing Rooms Scheme 

The old changing rooms are now closed for refurbishment and are expected to remain out of use until the end of November. Alternative facilities are provided in the Naseby Lodge.

The gas connection to the Naseby Lodge will be completed this week to provide hot showers for weekend sailing. The Naseby Lodge provides plenty of changing space but there is only one shower in each of the ladies and gents sections so users will be encouraged to be quick!  

Wall heaters will be provided in the next couple of weeks. 

Grounds

All of the grassed areas were mowed and the new areas have had a selective weed killer applied which is starting to have a beneficial effect. Peter Jordan and John Wishart have done a splendid job reclaiming the far end of the trailer park where there is now a view of the surrounding fields not seen for over 70 years.  

Road Scheme

The road scheme is now complete. There is a complete circular road around the main boat park which proved particularly useful at the recent Enterprise and GP14 Open Meeting.

We have also provided new hard surfaces for all boat parking areas. We ask you to keep vehicle traffic down to a minimum on these as they are designed for members to pull their boats back and forth.

We have also provided a black tar road in the new car park to identify the road access more clearly. We ask you not to park on this as no one else can get by in busy periods.

The area around the Naseby Lodge also has a new hard surface to make access easier.

The clay from the Changing Rooms Scheme which was put by the Handicap Slipway has now been spread and provides additional boat parking. This area has been deliberately left higher than the surrounding ground as it is very soft beneath it and we expect quite a bit of settlement.  

We have one more days work to do with a JCB. This will smooth out the area behind the Naseby Lodge and allow it to be seeded. We will also spread the soil scrapings from the road scheme over the Sailboard prep area and the adjacent foreshore to make them more usable. Please bear with us whilst these areas settle down and the grass gets a hold. 

Mike Pipes - Development Committee

Development Committee Update - 1 Sep 07

Changing Rooms Scheme 

Some visible progress here. From the outside the Changing Rooms look like a third world hospital after a hurricane! The old wood and plastic cladding has all been stripped off and is in the process of being replaced by a wooden lining as part of the insulation requirements. The extension is now clearly and the footings some of you saw on Sunday now have a low brick wall emerging from them. The support bases for the veranda are now clearly visible as are the surface drainage pipes which were discovered during the excavation. The external cladding will be available in about the next three or four weeks.

There will be an LPG gas contractor on site shortly and he will remove the gas piping from the outside of the changing rooms and divert the supply into trenches. There will also be a supply trench to the Naseby Lodge which will be dug out and refilled as quickly as possible to maintain access to the rest of the site. 

The upstairs training rooms and store room at the back of the Ladies were cleared last Saturday. Many thanks to the hard working group of volunteers who shifted a lot of material including metal work around the Naseby Lodge. Most of it ended up in the scrap materials area by the fuel store. Green people will be pleased to hear that all of the metalwork will be collected on Tuesday September 11^th  for recycling at no cost to the club. Thanks to Pete Jordan for arranging that.

Naseby Lodge 

I think you will be really impressed by the efforts of Monty Vann’s team. There are some pictures on the website taken from each of the Changing Room doors.  The paint on the floor was still wet hence the external views. There are some minor plumbing jobs to complete and connection to the gas supply but otherwise it is complete. One other job that has arisen is the need to replace the cladding on the weather facing wall which has twisted in the summer sunshine. You remember the summer sunshine don’t you? Begleys will replace it with similar boarding which has been specially treated to stop the same thing happening again. 

Grounds

You will have noticed that the weeds are starting to win in some areas. All flat (ish) areas will be mowed on Friday September 7^th by a contractor with equipment suitable for rough ground. During the next week the areas the mower couldn’t reach will be strimmed and then all weed areas will be treated with selective weed killer which will deal with all identified weeds on site including the brambles which are normally resistant to most treatments. This treatment will be repeated in the late spring which should leave us with very attractive grassed areas next year. Look out for the bluebells planted by Rolf near the new car park.

Road Scheme

The new road scheme will be rolled out on Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday September 11, 12 and 13^th. If you are able to help please contact Mike Pipes on 01788 823139.

 

Construction has started!!

Update 21 August 2007

Work starts on Changing Rooms

On Tuesday August 28^th work will start on the Changing Rooms upgrade and extension.

The main contractor will start by installing a new roof and cladding on the outside of the building. 

We can continue using the existing Changing Room facilities including showers and toilets until the Enterprise and GP14 Open Meeting on Sunday September 23^rd.  

After that changing Facilities, showers and toilets will be provided in the Naseby Lodge.

Work is expected to be complete by the end of November. 

There will be a work party on Saturday September 1^st from 10am until 4pm to remove items from the Upstairs Training Room and the store behind the Ladies Changing Room.  

Please come and help if you can  

Mike Pipes

Chair of Development Committee

August 21^st 2007

 

 

Update 25 June 2007

Changing Rooms

We have received a satisfactory quote from Begley’s, the main contractor, and planning permission has been applied for and is expected to be approved late July by Daventry District Council.

We still need to complete the detail specification work for the electrics, plumbing and gas fitting and David Heggs is working hard on this. Once we have this we can obtain quotes from contractors which should confirm the estimates we already have in for them.

A plan has been drawn up to complete the work on the Naseby Lodge and to move equipment from the present Changing Rooms to the temporary changing rooms. We will need a lot of member help for this and we will publish dates of additional work parties when the start of work is agreed.

We have also agreed a work area for Begley’s to fence off. This will involve moving several of the Enterprises on the row nearest the club and some Lasers too.  

Once complete the enhanced building will provide us with a larger ladies and gents changing room, new toilets and a changing area and toilet for disabled people and a new sitting area under the extended roof.

The Grounds

Most people seem to have latched onto the new parking system which points vehicles away from the clubhouse. Mike Playle has marked out the through road in the parking area and the parking spaces. It is usually occasional guests who decide the roadway is a great place to leave their cars!

The grass seed planted during the March work party survived the lack of rain in April and is now starting to look very attractive. A work party in mid June raked most of the heavier wood out of the grassed area so that it can be mowed. Many thanks to those who were able to attend; they worked very hard on a very hot day. Ben and Elaine King provide more wood for members to take away near the fire area.  

We are looking at inviting a local mowing company in to mow the new grassed area using their own equipment and taking the risk on the ground conditions. If any member would like to undertake the mowing please let me know. Frequency and price are all up for discussion. 

Roadways

Construction of new roads seemed to stop at the end of the council financial year and so we were not able to obtain the road scrapings needed for our scheme. You will be pleased to hear that the A14 is to have a good scrape starting on July 9^th when one of the contractors has promised to deliver stone in for us. This will be used for a new road running from our car park along the top of the boat parking towards the rowing boats and then down to rejoin the existing roadway. We will also order in some foot friendly stones for the boat access roads in all areas of the club. This will prevent you slipping on wet grass when pulling your boats up to their parking spaces. The JCB employed for this work will also flatten out the fire area near the car park which we will then seed. 

The Swings

The swings near the dam were condemned some time ago. In the development plan we show new swings located above the Naseby Lodge on the other side of the new roadway. We propose to buy these in from a manufacturer and provide a safety compliant area around them. This will not be cheap and it would be useful to hear views from members about this. We are a club which encourages families and perhaps we need to better cater for children, particularly those who are too young for sailing. Others may say we are a sailing club and we should concentrate our resources purely on sailing related activities. What do you think? Please email me on mike_pipes_uk@yahoo.com  with your opinions. 

Mike Pipes  - Phantom 1276

 

Update at 25 Feb 07

Follow this link to view photos of the club and the new car park taken on 25 Feb 07

Changing Rooms

We now have a detailed plan from the architect which was approved by the Development Committee on Monday February 12^th This will now go to Begley’s (the Clubhouse rebuild contractor) for pricing and we hope to confirm the go ahead to you at the AGM.  The layout of the changing room is attached for you.

 Contractors on site

Contractors are now on site preparing the ground for the new approach road and car park. The approach road is now unusable and we are best to keep away from this work area for the next couple of weeks- apart from the work party day on Sunday February 18^th

Mulcher man

Unfortunately Mulcher Man was unable to attend today and will be rescheduled. This means all boats (sailing and rowing) need to remain clear of the mulching area until the end of the month.

Work Parties

The work party on Sunday February 18^th will still go ahead and there will be access to the club on this date. We are going to use this day to relaunch the committee boat, rescue boats and floating boat houses ready for the new season and make space on the foreshore. We have also arranged a skip so we can get rid of the pile of rubbish by the side of the fuel store. There are other jobs too. Lunch will be provided.

This will leave the work party on Saturday March 10^th available for putting our own boats back in their new positions. 

New Grounds Plan

Following a meeting of the Development Committee and consultation with the General Committee members we have a developed a plan which makes better use of the space now available to us.

The plan is attached and is best viewed on screen for better clarity. The key points:

• Laser fleet stays where it is
• Handicap and Solo fleets basically stay where they are but slightly realigned to provide better access
• Mirror fleet moves to new space in the Handicap area
• Enterprises move across to the former Mirror area allowing contractors access to rebuild the changing rooms.
• Toppers move up to provide a new Sailboard preparation and trailer area
• Trailers and dead/for sale boats to be located above Naseby Lodge
• The swings will be reinstated in the new cleared area behind the Naseby Lodge and there is the opportunity to further develop this area for youngsters.
• All cleared areas will be grass seeded.

Improved access to boats in the Handicap area

It is proposed to put a road scraping or rolled stone surface on the access roads in the handicap fleet area. An additional road will be constructed from behind the Naseby Lodge towards the rowing boat area and turn to rejoin the current main road.

All the road proposals require General Committee approval before we undertake the work.

Mike Pipes

Chair Development Committee  13 Feb 07

 

 

Car Park and road construction and grounds work

 

New Approach road and car park work starts 

The main contractor starts on site on Monday February 12^th for approximately two weeks. He will construct a new road and access point into the club and provide an extended stone car park. In addition, new fencing and planting of trees and hedging will be undertaken.

Part of the existing approach road will be converted to grass and during the course of the work and there may not be vehicular access to the clubhouse or boats.

Mulcher Man comes!

On Tuesday February 13^th the Mulcher machine will perform a day’s work for us. This thing will gobble up all remaining logs, roots and tree stumps down to a depth of about 3 inches.  

Special note for rowing club people: this machine will work either side of your scaffold and you are strongly advised to move your boats well away from it as inevitably small missiles will hurtle through the air.

Special note for everyone: please stay away on this day in particular as stray people will delay operations and we may not get everything or everyone mulched that we intend. 

Access will be available on Sunday February 18^th when the next work party takes place. We hope on this day to return boats to the parking areas but this will be confirmed nearer the time. 

All of the area which has been mulched will be grass seeded.

Wood for wood burning Members 

In the meantime, there is a wood lying around which members are welcome to remove. Some at the top of the entrance road has been cut especially for easy removal (by muscular people!) and there is another pile by the gate intended for you as well. 

At the far end of the site next to the rowing club scaffold there is some ash though road access is difficult. (The ash had to come down to save the foul water sewer which was being broken up by it) 

If you would like to make a donation for wood removed that would be very welcome. Just pop a cheque payable to ‘Hollowell Sailing Club’ into the club letterbox in an envelope. Entirely up to you.

 

Mike Pipes

Chair Development Committee

Progress at 21 January

 

Grounds Redevelopment 

Dear all,

 

Thanks to the many of you who turned out  on Saturday  6 January  to move boats away from the tree cutting area. Thanks also to those of you who have moved their boats off site during the work. Fortunately we didn't have to move as many boats as planned. Lots of other things were achieved including getting the remaining boats off the water, bringing the pontoons ashore, digging holes for Monty outside the Naseby Lodge, partially reconnecting the heating system in the entrance area, sorting out the Fuel Store and cleaning up the marker buoys. A great effort and a good excuse to polish off the Christmas leftovers and try to drink Barney's bar dry.

 

Tree cutting should be largely complete this week but then the Mulcher Man needs to come in and mulch. Mulcher Man is a shy creature that has proved evasive this week but has promised to emerge sometime next week to discuss the Great Mulching Question.

 

When Mulching Man has done his bit Car Park Man will appear and create a road and car park for us. Car Park Man can't start until Mulcher Man has done his bit.

 

So for the moment the boats all need to stay where they are and we'll let you know when they can safely go back.

 

In the meantime there will be further work parties on Saturday January 27th, Sunday February 18th and Saturday March 10th. There are lots of things to do and these are listed below. If you are DIY person then please bring some tools or contact Mike Playle for details of some of the clever jobs that need doing.

 

Meanwhile the architect for the Changing Room Project has issued his first drawings so we are starting to make tangible progress at last.

 

Many Thanks, 

 

Mike Pipes