All-day November Meeting (incorporating November Zoom meeting)

Important Note:
We are asking all those who attend this meeting (other than by Zoom!)  to display, on their mobile telephone, a photograph of a NEGATIVE Covid-19 Rapid Self Test (Rapid Lateral Flow Test) which has been carried out within the last forty eight hours prior to the meeting. These tests can be carried out at home and at the time of writing test kits are available free of charge.  You can have test kits sent to your home, or you can collect them from most pharmacies or public libraries. A pack of tests will be taken to the venue for any member attending who has not carried out a test prior to their arrival.

For further information about covid-19 rapid lateral flow tests see here:
Click for NHS web page about rapid lateral flow Covid-19 test kits

To have a free test kit(s) sent to your home go here:
Government webpage to order test kits sent to your home

To collect a free test kit(s) from a pharmacy you first have to get a code – get your code at this link: Government webpage to get collection code

We hope that those attending our meeting will be happy to comply with this plan and that we will all feel (and be) safer at the meeting knowing that the other people present have tested negative.

A whole day of chat and presentations about members’ projects and new developments in sailing! 

Although this is an ‘all-day’ meeting you can arrive and leave as you wish. Bring your pictures/video/posters/hardware to show other members. If you have a more formal presentation you could let the chairman (chairman@ayrs.org.uk) know in advance to be sure we can fit you in, but that is not essential. Presentations by members about their projects has been the main content of these meetings but presentations about sailing holidays or general discussion of boating topics or development of the AYRS are also welcome.  Do also bring along models, items of equipment, books etc.  for members to inspect and discuss during our coffee breaks. We expect to have a PC with a good sized screen available (or possibly a digital projector) so that video and digital pictures can be displayed.

Note that we are holding this meeting at a new venue this year. The Basingstoke Canal Centre is not actually at Basingstoke – it is at Mytchet near Farnborough.  I think this should be a reasonably accessible location for a large part of our membership – driving, it is a few minutes off the M3 and for public transport Farnborough has two stations with quite fast services from Waterloo. Plenty of car parking available at the site.

Tea & coffee will be available through the day.  The Basingstoke Canal Centre has an on-site cafe which is normally open thoughout the day, however our information as at 26th October is that this cafe is temporarily closed but it is hoped that it will be open again in November.  We will update this webpage a couple of days in advance of the meeting to advise current availablity of the cafe.  If the on-site cafe is not open members will need to bring their own packed lunches, (or maybe visit Potters Steakhouse – the pub next door to the BCC)    If any members would like to meet for a meal after the meeting then Potters Steakhouse would be a possiblity for that, they also have rooms available which could be an option if you need overnight accommodation.  For alternative accommodation (for the hardy I think) the BCC has its own camping field and according to their website this is available all the year round!

All our meetings are open to all those who share an interest in the technical aspects of boating, so members and non-members welcome. Donations will be invited to pay for the meeting room and for a supply of tea/coffee.

We will aim to gather from 10:30 to start our meeting proper at 11:00am.

From 2:30am we will broadcast part of this meeting by Zoom for the benefit of geographically distant members.  We will aim for a Zoom broadcast of about one hour and within this period we will attempt to show one or two members projects with remote members being included in questions and discussion.  This is rather experimental, at least for our Society it is, so I hope that members will bear with us if we do find we have problems, technical or otherwise.  It should be good practice for our AGM which we also plan to broadcast by Zoom while also holding it ‘face to face’ for those who are local to the meeting venue.

Holding this meeting at the BCC does not necessarily mean that we will never again hold meetings at Thorpe Village Hall (TVH), but we do need a broadband connection for Zoom, we understand that this is not currently available at Thorpe Village Hall.