Crouch Kayak Club

CKC supporting River Action, a programme being run by Dengie Climate Action Group. A number of members from both the Crouch Kayak Club and Burnham Sailing Club attended the latest meeting of the River Action group on the 11th March, at the Royal Burnham Yacht Club. Quest speaker Eamonn O'Nolan of the Deben Climate Action Centre gave a talk around how we can work together to prevent future river pollution and provided the group with some vital guidance around how their approach could be adopted on the River Crouch to tackle the increased sightings of sewage. The initial focus for the group is the implementation of water test sampling at Creeksea shoreline, as this is an area of the River Crouch that has regular open water swimming. The group are focused on the detection of any unsafe levels of E.coli bacteria in the river as this directly links back to sewage coming from treatment plants upriver. E. coli risks to swimmers in the UK are significant, particularly in rivers and some coastal areas, due to sewage discharges, agricultural runoff, and heavy rain. High E. coli levels, often exceeding safety standards, can cause serious gastrointestinal illness, infections, and in rare cases, severe, life-threatening, or fatal illness. It is worth noting, as a kayak group which travels up and down the river on a weekly basis from Spring to Summer, we have seen the impact that this sewage can cause along the shoreline or in area's of the River Crouch which are sheltered from any strong winds or currents. As a kayak group, we will always do whatever is required to ensure our members are aware of any risks around going afloat on the river, including what we can do individually or as a group to mitigate these risks whilst we are out on our weekly paddles. This year we will focus on the monitoring of any sewage that we witness whilst on the river and raise the awareness of any issues in our pre-paddle safety briefings. Please note, Impact to our kayak members has been very limited around this pollution to date, this is for a number of reasons including that we host our training sessions for water based activities in a swimming pool and also look to limit any time spent directly in the water outside of the kayaks for a normal paddle on the River Crouch. Additional policies like the correct usage of kayak protective clothing and the regular cleaning of our kayaks and associated kit have also limited any exposure to our members. CKC looks forward to exploring how we can work more closely with groups like the Dengie Climate Action Group throughout 2026, additional information will be provided once more engagement has taken place. In the meantime, we are looking to support by spreading the word locally around the focus of this group on the River Crouch. Anyone looking to make a personal donation towards their River Action programme, can do so by the link below. More information about the focus of the Dengie Climate Action Group below, Clean Water, Clear Future River Action is a local, volunteer-led campaigning group dedicated to protecting and restoring the rivers, streams, tidal inlets and drainage channels of the Dengie Peninsula. We work to highlight pollution issues, monitor the health of our watercourses, and push for stronger action from regulators and landowners. By engaging our community, promoting evidence-based solutions, and supporting practical clean-up efforts, River Action strives to safeguard the peninsula’s precious waterways for wildlife, residents, and future generations. We run entirely on volunteer enthusiasm and public donations. Can you help us out? Donate Here Your gift to River Action supports practical, local work towards a cleaner River Crouch 🌱 Together we can restore river habitats, monitor and reduce pollution in the Crouch. We want to protect swimmers, sailors, anglers, wildlife and reduce the degradation of our water ways. Every donation helps fund water‑quality testing, river clean-ups and active pressure on polluters. Give what you can today to back community‑led action along our river. Additional information can be found on the Dengie Climate Actions Website below, https://www.dengieclimateaction.org/river-action Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Bernie Kerr from Dengie Climate Action

Upcoming Wednesday Social Paddles on the River Crouch Starting from the 1st April, Join us for our Wednesday Club Social Paddle Adventure! We set off from Burnham Sailing Club (BSC) every Wednesday throughout the season, which runs from April to October. Our meet-up time is 17:30 sharp, with a goal to hit the water by 18:00. You'll find the Crouch Kayak Club conveniently situated at the entrance of the BSC compound. Each individual is allowed a maximum of three training sessions before they're required to become a paid club member of BSC, (£122 for single yearly Membership), we would also encourage everyone to join CKC (£22 for a years membership), as this means you'll benefit from additional weekend paddles on the River Crouch and other UK Rivers. All required equipment hire is available weekly from CKC for a small fee. The clubhouse amenities include changing rooms, showers, and a selection of hot food and beverages available during the season. Parking is conveniently located within the club grounds. Please note that due to unpredictable weather conditions, there may be occasions when we have to cancel the event. Rest assured, we'll make every effort to keep you informed in such cases. We look forward to welcoming you out onto the River soon. Cheers Dan Photos Supplied: Dan Rodwell

Chairman’s Report 2026 AGM Welcome and thank you for attending. We have had a number of good paddles throughout the year. As well as the usual Wednesday paddles we have had a number of trips around Wallasea and paddles to the mouth of the river as well as trips to and from Fambidge. Away from Burnham we have had a Cambridge paddle, a Medway paddle and a summer camp on the Norfolk Broads. In November Adrian ran a canoe paddle training day on the Chelmer. This was a fun session with all of the attendees taking away some useful nuggets of information. A thank you to Adrian Archer for organising this. The pool sessions have continued over the winter months and are a valuable way of introducing members to rescue techniques in a warm clean environment. Some of the sessions have not been that well attended which is a shame as they cost the club quite a bit of money to put these on. It is important that as a minimum we know that new paddlers to the club can exit a capsized kayak safely and without panicking. Really checking this should be a basic requirement to going on the water. As you know we are obliged to have a first aider on every club paddle and qualifications have to be refreshed every 3 years. This February we decided to run first aid training for all of our club first aiders. This gives us nine first aiders and so we will be well covered for the next three seasons. This year there is a trip planned to Wales paddling the Conwy estuary in June which Adrian is organising. If there is sufficient interest, possibly we might organise a trip to Dorset as well. We will send out a poll soon on this. We would like to put on some more formal training this year. A few years ago the club ran an FSRT (Foundation Safety Rescue Training) course. This is a good base course and is a prerequisite for a number of more advanced PUK courses. I believe we have sufficient new members to make it worthwhile running it again. If there is the interest I will see if there is somewhere we could do this. I would like to thank all of the committee members for their effort throughout the year. Particularly for keeping the club running in the summer when I was distracted with my house move and hospital visit. A special thank you to Andy for keeping everything on track with his reminders and emails. In addition I would like to thank Dee for maintaining the website. This is an excellent website which as a club I think we can be proud of. Also a thank you to Lorraine who has been preparing the minutes for all of the committee meetings through the year. The 2026 CKC Committee Elected at the AGM Chair - John Holliday Vice Chair - Daniel Rodwell Treasurer - Alan Organ Secretary - Andy Coppin Welfare - Andy Coppin Membership - Mark Kendrick Health / Safety - Roger Smith Social Media - Daniel Rodwell Equipment - TBC Minutes Secretary - Lorraine Holliday Other Committee Members.... Sue Quill Chris Brown Clare Albon The new committee looks forward to their first meeting of 2026, at which point they will review the plans for paddles on the River Crouch and further afield throughout 2026. If you would like to get move involved in the running of CKC and be considered for a role on the Committee, please reach out to John Holliday or Daniel Rodwell. We look forward to see all members for the first Wednesday evening social paddle on the 1st April. The membership portals for CKC and BSC are now open for 2026, see below links https://www.crouchkayakclub.co.uk/membership https://www.burnhamsc.co.uk/ Cheers John Holliday Photos Supplied: Dan Rodwell