I would like 
to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your lovely messages and collection when I left BSC. I was truly touched that so many of you came to see me in the office or at my leaving drinks party or sent messages thanking me and wishing me well in my new job.
For a lot of you the only contact you had with me was when I was sending you bills or raiding your Bank accounts for payments so I wouldn’t be surprised if you were glad to see the back of me! It was a wrench to leave BSC but I have now settled in and I am learning all about the motor trade. It’s a bit of a change from my work at BSC.
I learned such a lot whilst working at BSC. I knew nothing about sailing when I started and although I never learned to sail I think I can now, at least, identify different dinghies and know which end is the bow or the stern (see I didn’t even say front or back!) I did get one opportunity to sail a Scow and ended up sinking so I think I’m best to stay in motorboats or on dry land. I still feel bad for Max Rivers, (our SI at the time) who was with me in the Scow.
Luckily Rod didn’t need to rescue us but was standing on the end of the pontoon with the keys to ‘Delta’ in his hand.
One of the joys was seeing small cadets grow up year by year. Some were barely visible above the counter when they first came into the office and now the same ones need to duck to get in the door. When snacks were available in the office often all you would see above the counter would be two little hands. One grasping a Curly Wurly or bag of Bacon Fries and the other with a members card or money. It was great to see how excited they were to meet up with their friends and go sailing.
During my time at BSC I worked with six different Commodores, three different RCF’s and many other Flag Officers. I would like to thank them all for their support and kindness. They put in an enormous amount of effort and time to make sure the Club is such a wonderful place to visit. My particular thanks go to Charles McGregor, Jim Conybeare-Cross and Chris Halliday who I worked with on finance and who had to interpret my reports and present them to the Committees and members.
I was also so fortunate that the two Club Secretaries I worked for were amazing people. Daniel Jehan and Gemma Wall are such dedicated and hard-working individuals. The job is so pressurised and wide ranging that they need to be experts in all aspects of running a business whilst smiling and being welcoming at all times! My other colleagues over nearly 9 years are too numerous to mention but, on the whole, it has been great to work with them all. I wish all of the current staff well and ask you all to be kind and patient with them during the busy summer season.
On my first day Mike Samuelson came into the office and ask what I was doing. I proudly announced that I was the new Financial Controller. He burst my bubble by saying ‘Good luck with that, no one has got the finance under control before’. I hope I proved you wrong Mike. Thanks to Mike and Caroline for all their help when I started and instilling into me the high quality of work that was required to maintain Club standards.
Now back to that fridge door – Shortly after I started someone thought it would be a brilliant joke to put a very realistic looking rubber snake in the snacks fridge in the office. Unfortunately, it was Caroline that opened the door and had the fright of her life. I can only say if it had been me, I would have run for the hills and probably not returned!
Although I could probably not identify all of you, I feel I know you, on paper at least, from the amount of times I have trawled through member lists checking subscriptions and account balances. Therefore, from Charles Abel Smith to William Zlattinger and everyone in between, I thank you and hope that you have a wonderful summer.
