Queensferry Rowing Club

Due to the Met Office forecast of gale force winds on Saturday, all rowing that day is cancelled.  Sunday still looks OK at the moment.

Mark is also delaying the turning over of Ferry Lass for maintenance work until Sunday, just before social rowing – the more people that help the easier it is!

Lorna B writes: For those of you who are going to Stranraer in July, the SCRA have posted a provisional schedule, reproduced below:

Sunday 7 July 2019:
Practice Day and Welcome Ceremony

Monday 8 July 2019:
Men Under 40; Women Under 40, Women Over 60; Men Over 60

Tuesday 9 July 2019:
Men 40+,  Women 40+;  Mixed 50+

Wednesday 10 July 2019:
Mixed Over 40 (heats); Mixed Over 60/ Mixed 280+  ; Open Men

Thursday 11 July 2019:
Men Over 50;  Women Over 50; Open Women; Mixed 40+ (final); Mixed U17

Friday 12 July 2019:
U19 Boys, U19 girls, mixed open A (heats)

Saturday 13 July 2019:
Mixed Open B;  Mixed open A (final); U17 boys; U17 girls; U19 mixed.

There may be minor changes to this schedule, depending on the number of entries for each event. In categories with a large number of entries the final may be run on the day after the heats/ repechage.

Rachel writes:  Now that the club is up and running with the Green Flag aim, we can fill you in with the wider plans. Marianne and Dónal are helping to co-ordinate this and Keith is willing to help with 45ft logs!!

Marianne has come up with our slogan: ‘Take 5 for the Forth’. There is a clean beach initiative in Australia called ‘Take 3 for the Sea’ , so QRC has taken up that idea and extended it. As a crew we are 5 and while we are on the Forth, we can take 5 mins to collect 5 pieces of rubbish/plastic from our coastline and take it with us to dispose of in the proper manner: recycling in a clear bag and rubbish in the general waste.

The aim is to be aware of rubbish while out on the water or stopping on the beaches, and to ‘Take 5 for the Forth’ as a matter of routine.

Keith would like to carry out a ‘Breakwater Blitz’ at low tide, with 5 club members taking 5 mins or more to remove the litter we so often see washed up there. Dates will be arranged, and photos taken as evidence.

We can also take part in the Community Clean-up at the marina, on a date to be confirmed. I spoke to James from Port Edgar Watersports about the picnic area in front of the QRC shed. They are about to start a new season and we discussed appropriate recycling bins.

I then spoke to Russell Aitken, our landlord. He is  “delighted” we at QRC are taking a lead on recycling and he explained the marina’s environmental arrangements. There are two large red BIFFA containers towards the top carpark entrance.  One is for general waste, the other for dry mixed recyclables.  Whatever we collect as recyclable must be in a clear bag to be accepted from that container. Russell has agreed to look into getting recycling bins for the picnic area, and these will be emptied by the marina maintenance staff in the normal manner.

In our shed we now have a new bin, fitted with a clear bag, marked Dry Mixed Recycling for our own materials, to be taken away to the appropriate red BIFFA. When it’s full, please feel free to drop it in on your way home!
In the bow of each of our boats, we have an orange bag containing rubber gloves and a roll of bin bags – they will now be part of the boat’s regular kit.

As we start to plan our own regatta for 1st June, we can make arrangements to be as ‘Green’ as possible.

Thank you everyone! If we all help with this, we will be making a difference to our coastline, and we will have enough evidence to submit a report in October to apply for our Green Flag.

Photos and evidence are vital for this, so please take note of what we are doing as we go along. Any more ideas, let us know.  Prize up for grabs for the most interesting /unusual item found!