We have a new Commodore! Welcome Mark and thank you Simon...

There was a mixture of sadness, relief (!) and a subtle sniff of change at our annual general meeting last Sunday. Our club says thank you to one of our longest standing Commodores, Simon Lidbetter, who served the club for over 6 years, leading us through a period of great change at GTSC, not least the pandemic. He stands down at a time when it remains a thriving, lively and results driven sailing club with a strong membership.

The official handing over of the keys to the club (😉) was held at the annual general meeting on Sunday 26 November, to a long standing member of the committee, Mark Hayzelden. Mark has a keen eye for detail and is a great contributor to not only winning a serious amount of silver each year (winner of the Commodore's cup this year) he also meticulously records and publishes the racing results each year, reporting back to the club membership and our annual prize giving.

So with a wide smile on both faces, here we see the safe transfer of the lead to Mark. We thank Simon for his 'commodoring' and welcome in our new commodore and wish him well. It is worth saying that Simon has kindly agreed to remain on the Committee.

At the same time, there is another announcement. Rob Jones (vice Commodore for many years) is known to most people as the one who motivates just about everyone at the club to sail, volunteer, race, cook, rig, de-rig etc. using his infectious personality and winning smile. After many years he is stepping down as vice and in his place we welcome Don Francis. Don has a natural enthusiasm for all matters related to sailing and has taken an active role in training our juniors as they prepare to take on some of biggest regattas around the UK. We look forward to many more seasons with his continued guidance, experience and knowledge to assist both junior and adult sailing development.

The remaining members of the committee are voted back in for another year and their names and faces can be found on our notice board and sailing calendar.

Thank you to all who attended the AGM and roll on 2024!