Date 26 April 2023
Time 6.30pm
Woodbridge Community Centre, IP12 4AU Continue reading
Suffolk – A Haven
By Nick Cottam
Sir Nick Young, recently retired from the Red Cross, Macmillan Cancer Care and other charity work tells Nick Cottam how walking beside the Deben gave him the strength to face challenges and organise help for the victims of disaster.
The recent earthquakes in Syria and Turkey were a stark reminder of the need for emergency aid. Getting swift and effective help to where it was needed was a priority – and indeed a logistics challenge. In a new book about the Red Cross, Sir Nick Young, who lives near Woodbridge, enjoys walking beside the Deben and was Chief Executive of the agency for 13 years, provides his own take on the challenges of distributing and managing aid in the aftermath of large scale natural disaster. Continue reading
A Circular Walk from Hemley Church
By Sue Ryder Richardson
Looking towards Waldringfield from Hemley.
Walked in that no-mans-land of time ‘twixt Christmas and New Year, when weather can be as tiresome as the turkey left-overs, but on this day the sun shone, the west wind blew sharply into our faces, the dogs ran, and the tide was low.
‘La Mouette’: a Seagull’s Story
By Matt Lis
The vintage Everson-built 11 footer (Blue sail) with award nominated replica ‘La Mouette’ (Red sail)
A little over a year ago I was asked to write a piece for the RDA Journal covering the work carried out in restoring a yacht named ‘Falcon’. ‘Falcon’ had been shortlisted in Classic Boat Magazine’s annual awards in the Restored Sailing Vessel Under 40ft category and my piece began “An International One Design is not a typical Deben boat” but this year I am pleased to say that I am writing about a very Deben boat. Continue reading
Learning more about Transition Woodbridge
By Julia Jones
Transition Woodbridge is a name that keeps popping up. They’ve reminded us to publicise the ‘Great British Spring Clean’ and we’ve been working together with them and other organisations on ‘river cleans’ as part of the plastic prevention project. I hear about their Repair Cafes, I notice people in gardening clothes in the boatyard, clutching shrubs. Who are these people and what’s the ‘Transition’ they are seeking? Continue reading
Litter Pick – Tue 14 Feb and Sat 25 Feb
What a happy bunch of liitter pickers! We had a tremendous turn out on the 29 January at the Melton Riverside Litter Pick and thank you so much to all of you who came out. We were over 30 in number and had a great couple of hours of clearing the riverside environs.
Please join us for the half term session on 14th February, meeting at Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club at 10.30. Continue reading
Advice for Newbies
By Alice Thorogood
When your child starts dinghy sailing for the first time, it can be daunting to know what they need, especially if you are not a sailor. Credit: Alice Thorogood
Before my children joined the cadets I had very, very little experience of sailing. Everything was alien to me, from the sailing language, the kit they needed to what it meant to spend a day out on the water.
Continue readingWho owns the River Deben?
By Sarah Zins
Few people, busy tacking their boat round a buoy or walking along the river path, stop to consider who owns the river, but once the seed of the question is sown, it becomes a source of fascination.
And the main answer is an easy one, but the little issues round the edges (sometimes literally) are knottier. So to the Easier One – the river is owned by the reigning monarch “in right of the Crown”, which means for the duration of their reign. It is not, however, the monarch’s private property and cannot be sold by them, nor are its revenues theirs. As you might imagine, the monarch is not rolling up their sleeves to discuss matters estuarine on a daily basis, so The Crown Estate is tasked with managing rivers and much other property in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is a separate Scottish Crown Estate which manages seabed and coastline around the Scottish coast. Continue reading
Litter Pick – Sunday 29 January 11am – Melton Riverside Car Park
The RDA is running the first of three litter picks on Sunday, 29 January, as part of the Plastic Prevention Project being led by the Essex and Suffolk Rivers Trust (ESRT). Continue reading
East Coast Shrimper Rally 2022 to the Medway
By Robin and Gillie Whittle
The proposed plan for the Medway rally, Thursday 14th to Friday 22nd July, was to sail to or launch on the River Crouch for a night at Burnham Marina, then onto Queenborough via Havengore Bridge. After a visit to Chatham Dockyard the plan was to explore the River Medway up to Tonbridge.
Route to the Swale
We had already enjoyed a rally in May, 2009 which had the same plan and we decided that we would explore the creeks around the Swale instead. In order to make the journey from the River Deben to Queenborough more balanced we decided to spend the first night at Bradwell Marina. Continue reading