Events
The British Isles and the rest of the world offer a wealth of occasions and social gatherings to celebrate yachting history. We arrange meetings at which speakers, on a wide range of topics, share their detailed knowledge with others. In addition, we organize regular trips to places of maritime interest, and our past excursions have included Glasgow, Liverpool (twice), Harwich, Dublin Bay, Falmouth, Swansea, Belfast Lough, Dartmouth, Windermere Steam Boat Museum, Greenwich, Chatham, Lowestoft and Amsterdam. More recently we have visited yacht clubs in Ireland and a number of maritime museums in Holland and Germany, with a visit to Italy in prospect.
2023 Annual General Meeting
As notified to members in a recent circular, we are pleased to announce that the next Annual General Meeting will be held at the
Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes on Saturday 25th March, 2023. For Agenda and Programme details
read more here.
This will mark the reinvigoration of our Association after a too long period of dormancy, partly due to Covid and travel restrictions, and partly to the challenges of maintaining an esprit de corps when we cannot meet socially. Zoom calls are just not bonding for a voluntary body of friends with a common interest.
While cutting back on outgoings, and appreciating your support through automated membership subscriptions, we need to rebuild our financial position. Sales of our
Lloyd’s Register
and
The Yachtsman
memory sticks have already recouped the expenses of scanning, and the ongoing income is most helpful, but it needs to be boosted.
Apart from these key inputs, however, your Association NEEDS YOU! Your Committee has been greatly weakened by the deaths of our enthusiastic members Brian Corbett and Vice Chairman Rees Martin.
We need new active Committee members
, and we appeal to you to join us. With your help we will resume our most enjoyable outings, both in the UK and abroad, and, of course, we are planning visits to other centres with significant histories of yachting.
AGM 2021 - a brief overview
The 2021 AGM was held via Zoom on Saturday, 27th March and was attended remotely by 23 members, including the Committee. Several votes were given by Proxy.
The main matters discussed were:
Chairman’s Report
- The financial position of the Association remains healthy as we continue to retain a significant surplus from sales of the
Lloyd’s Register
and
The Yachtsman
memory sticks.
Membership Numbers
- We have 30 new members, including 15 from outside the UK, increasing our international spread, and bringing the current total to a healthy 190. We will be contacting members soon with a reminder about outstanding subscriptions.
Changes to the Rules of the Association
– Various Resolutions were proposed and adopted, including the proposed conversion of the Association into a Charitable Trust.
Changes to the Committee
– Retirements and election of new Committee Members.
Scanning Projects
- Various targets for the next scanning project are under consideration.
AYH Journal 2021
– This was in hand for publication in the Summer.
Programme for 2021
– Possible visits were discussed and once Covid restrictions are eased details will be posted on the website under the Events section.
Volunteers
- The Chairman appealed for more members to become involved in the activities of our Association and noted we especially need a new Honorary Secretary. Two new members from Dublin, Stratos Boumpoukis and Thalia Giannaopoulou, were invited to introduce themselves to the membership.
AYH members may obtain a copy of the full Minutes of the above meeting by contacting
Martin Black
Group Visit to Venice
We are still hoping to re-schedule this trip, postponed from 2019 and now, unfortunately, threatened by new turmoil in Europe. The provisional programme, outlined below, had already been put in place so it should not be too difficult to revive what would undoubtedly be a very popular group visit, so please keep an eye on this website for updates and more detailed information.
Our provisional programme: our initial fact-finding (and, of course, exhausting!) exploratory trip to Venice in 2019 revealed a host of opportunities for us to return to explore just some of the amazing history of this extraordinary maritime city. We were fortunate to meet members of the Compagnia della Vela, the Venice yacht club that has a clubhouse adjacent to Piazza San Marco. They offered to host a reception for us! We also, of course, have a local AYH member Enrico Zaccagni who has been extremely helpful with recommendations. So our provisional programme should include:
• Private tour of the Arsenale, a remarkable reminder of the power of maritime Venice
• Visit to a Gondola “factory”
• Private boat trip to the Lagoon and island of Torcello on a traditional ‘trabaccolo’ – a two mast fishing barge
• Reception at the local Venice yacht club, the Compagnia della Vela.
Group Visit to Cowes 2021
On Friday and Saturday, 24th and 25th September 2021, we organised a very successful joint visit with the Friends of the Maritime Heritage Trust to enjoy the extensive maritime heritage of Cowes and the Isle of Wight.
Read more here
AYH Visit to Northern Germany 5 - 8 October 2018
Read the full report here
