Author: lucy.crunden

Ticket sales for RRC Christmas club races and lunch close end of day Wednesday 13 December (tomorrow) if you want to have food for your lunch.
Friends and Family are welcome to come enjoy some Xmas cheer and cheer some club racing.
WHEN: Sunday 17th December
Club races from 9:45am, Christmas BBQ from 12pm
BBQ Price: includes Gourmet BBQ and Salads (please advise Barry Campbell of any dietary requirements at time of booking)
$25 per person Tickets can be purchased via Trybooking: https://www.trybooking.com/338721
Drinks: RRC Bar open post club races –Drinks at bar prices
We look forward to seeing you there!

It’s that busy time of year again when we earn money to purchase new equipment and generally support the rowing club.
We recognise that this comes at some inconvenience to members but believe that the benefits it brings are worth this.
We charge hirers commercial rates for using the boathouse so please help us present professionally by:

• Using the rear stairs only for access to the boathouse
• Staying out of the corridor when a function is in progress
• Leaving the bathrooms in a clean state after training

During functions members continue to have access to the changerooms and gym.
Thanks,
Lucy

If your fob ends with 79, 77, 66, 65, 54 or 49 please contact Lucy, the Facilities Coordinator by email: [email protected] . These fobs have been turned off as the system does not list a user. We will turn them on again as soon as we know who has them.
Thanks,
Lucy

Thanks everyone for your patience while the kitchen and bar are refurbished.
The builders now expect to complete all works on Thursday 19 October so use of the main hall will return to normal after that.
The hall can be used this weekend as it has been cleared for a venue hire but the builders will need to use the hall again next week to store some of their materials and equipment.
Thanks,
Lucy

A reminder that the building works for the kitchen and bar start on Thursday this week.
During this time the hall is a building site and the builders have requested that members do not access the hall as it will not be left safe for use by members.
From today member access fobs will not access doors into the hall. To get to the terrace, please go through the MLC classroom (all member fobs will work for the classroom door).
The renovation will only take 4 weeks and then we can all be back to normal use of the hall.
Thanks for your patience and we look forward to celebrating our newly refurbished bar soon!

We have now signed contracts with Visual Builders for the kitchen and bar refurbishment. The works will commence on 14 September and will be completed by 12 October.  During this time members should use the classroom in preference to the hall.
We will need some assistance to empty the kitchen and bar of all items the club wishes to keep. If you are available to assist on Tuesday 12 September, please let Lucy know using the [email protected] email.
If anyone is interested in purchasing the fridge and dishwasher in the kitchen from the rowing club, please make an offer by emailing [email protected]
 

We have been working on designs for refurbishing the kitchen and bar. We wanted to refurbish these when we did the major renovation in 2014 but simply did not have the budget to do so. Our strong venue hire revenue in the last 3 years has positioned us to be able to do this refurbishment now.
What will change?
Firstly the look of the kitchen and bar area will change.

The kitchen is being extended so that caterers can use the kitchen for most events. This will mean fewer disruptions to rowing when caterers use the gym, classroom or boat bay as food service areas.
The furniture store will be removed and become part of the kitchen. A commercial oven, domestic oven and cooktop, underbench fridge and sinks will be fitted along the back wall. Catering trestles will be purchased for flexible set up of the kitchen. The floors and walls will be stripped and re-finished.
The bar service space will be extended by removing the door into the hall. A new dishwasher / glasswasher, sink and ice maker will be fitted along the back wall. A new bench will be fitted along the front of the bar with underbench refrigeration. The floor and walls will be re-finished.
The kitchen and bar will be joined by a sliding door making access more discrete for caterers and allowing the two rooms to be joined together for larger events.
When will it happen?
We plan to sign off drawings and specifications this week and for builders to provide quotes by mid June. The timing and duration of the works depends on builder availability and we will let you know as soon as we have selected a builder. Our hope is that we can get the works completed during the winter period.
How much will it cost?
It is difficult to give accurate costs until we have quotes from builders. We have worked with the caterers and our building designer to ensure that we are being as cost effective as possible while creating a kitchen and bar that will be workable for both venue hire and club events.
Any questions?
We will provide another update when we have quotes from the builders. If you have other questions before then, please contact Lucy on the [email protected] email address

With only a few weeks to go until the trivia night, we are desperate for items to auction on the night.
Here are a few ideas for items you could donate for the auction: holiday houses, a few years ago I sold a weekend away for $1500; wine, who doesn’t like a good drop of wine; tickets to events; sporting goods, including old rowing kit; food hampers; and any unique item that attracts a bit of interest, for example, Canter’s freshwater pearl earrings cultivated on an Olympic rowing course.
Another idea is to donate your time.  Handyman, house keeping, gardening and babysitting services always attract good bids as do professional services, including, tax returns, legal wills and life coaching.
Have a bit of a think about what you could donate to raise money for the club.  When you have made up your mind, send us an email ([email protected]) with the details and we will add it to the items to sell at auction.

We are booked every day this week so please make sure you are using the back stairs to access the boathouse.
Two events that will be a bit more intrusive than normal to be aware of.

1. Masterchef is filming an episode at the boathouse on Wednesday 30 November. It’s a great opportunity for us to promote the club but it does mean that from 5am until about 6pm the boathouse will be crawling with film crew and all the extra staff that go into such a production. If you can avoid the boathouse during these times, please do so as there will only be changeroom access.
2. On Sunday we are hosting a charitable event. Sunday hires are unusual for us, but this is for a charity and, being not for profit ourselves we try to support such events when it is reasonable to do so.

As Karen said in her blog, we appreciate your patience at this time of year as the boathouse is heavily used. It’s great to see another brand new boat being added to the fleet this year and we hope that the current hall hires will support buying more equipment next year.

We have a busy day at the boathouse tomorrow with the regatta and a wedding reception in the evening. The lucky couple have started to set up for their reception tonight so please can I ask that if it looks like decorations / furniture have been already set up for the function, that you please leave them as they are and stay out of the hall area if it has been set up.
Our cleaners will be coming through at about 11am. Please would you help us keep the boathouse clean and tidy by ensuring you put rowing gear in the changerooms and not leaving any rubbish or water bottles lying around.
The caterers and other suppliers will start to drop off things from 4pm tomorrow. There will be no access to the hall, classroom and terrace from that time.
Many thanks for your help. Next year we will leave Henley Regatta day free of venue hires!