“Our VISION is of the Marine Lake & the adjoining Salthouse Fields as a water & waterside playground for Greater Clevedon. It should be pursued through a joint project with Clevedon Town Council, North Somerset Council, Schools, Clubs, local experts & enthusiasts and the School Sports Coordinating Partnership. Annual maintenance & repair of the lake rests with North Somerset Council.”

Progress in 2008 towards accomplishing this vision:

• A year-round programme of canoe training for schools, clubs and the North Somerset "Get Active / Sport Unlimited" scheme which introduced 310young people from 11 schools to canoeing. Of these 240 achieved the nationally recognised BCU Paddle Power Certificate and 74 the BCU Paddle Power Passport or 1 Star. Secondary schools included Backwell, Bristol Grammar, Clevedon, Nailsea and Rathbones; primary schools were Mary Elton, St.John's, St.Nicholas Chantry, Tickenham, Yatton and Yeo Moor.

• A similar programme of sail training for schools leading to nationally-recognised RYA certificates, plus adult and cadet training for Clevedon Sailing Club members.

• Clevedon Canoe Club held regular Saturday morning sessions throughout the year which members of the public were encouraged to join in.

• Over 200 people, of all ages, were able to have a taster session at the Marine Lake Festival in September or at the canoe club saturday morning training sessions.

• Open water swimmers used the marine lake to train for long swims.

• An open “Aquathlon” (swim & run) event on 13 July, jointly organised with Clevedon & Portishead triathlon Club, brought in competitors from beyond Clevedon. The 2009 Aquathlon will start at 10am Sunday 21 June, so be there to compete, help or cheer.

• Fitting out and lighting of the Community Boat Store, which is now officially the home of Clevedon Canoe Club with community trustees drawn from both MARLENS (Joe Norman) and the Canoe Club (Gavin Price). This sits alongside continuing community use by the Clevedon Sailing Club Sail Training Centre and Clevedon Model Boat club.

• Another Marine Lake Festival, complete with a “Schools Day” on the Friday and public have-a-go sessions on Saturday and Sunday. This was a wet weather challenge - the sun shone over the weekend, but previous rain had softened Salthouse Field to the point where we had to cancel the fairground and improvise the layout of the festival - but activity on the lake was non-stop and the “village street” of community & commercial stalls was popular with both the stallholders and the customers.

• Clevedon Model Boat Club held regular sailing sessions and mounted a spectacular illuminated night sail on 20 December as a free show for the people of Clevedon.

Generous donations to MARLENS in memory of Arthur Knott were used to erect a plaque to Arthur as well as to expand the community fleet with two open canoes and two Pico 2-person sailing dinghies. These additional boats have been used to broaden the training provided.

MARLENS has been successful because we have engaged the active support of the wider community in various ways, and this gives us the ability to sustain the improvements:

• The Schools Pilot was achieved through the support of the Sailing Club and the Canoe Club. This developed into regular sail and canoe training for schools. The Canoe Club has continued to organise instructor training for its members at both basic (level 1) and more advanced levels.

• Mike Perrott has linked the canoe training into the North Somerset “Get Active” scheme and ran courses throughout the winter which will continue this summer.

• The Boat Store was designed by local architect John Tranter and built with the aid of grants from YANSEC and Clevedon Town Council, plus active help from N.Somerset. N.Somerset is continuing to support improvements (for example the lighting) as funds become available.

• The Aquathlon events were set up by Marc Molloy, who was working for N.Somerset at the time, and are being carried forward by Clevedon & Portishead Triathlon Club and Clevedon Swimming Club.

• Clevedon Churches provided the stage and the music program for the Marine Lake Festival in 2007 and 2008 which was also strongly supported by the Canoe Club, the Sailing Club and the Model Boat Club.

• Other local community, sports and charity organisations responded enthusiastically to the offer of a free stall and brought a new dimension to the festival. We will renew the invitation this year.

Looking Forward

What should be MARLENS priorities for 2009 and beyond?

These are our priorities at present.

Are we on the right track? What do you think we should focus on?

Maintain the lake itself:

A realistic N.Somerset approach to maintenance of the marine lake itself, which is the key to all this activity. We will work with N.Somerset officers on a “Management Plan”.

Maintain the community fleet:

Keep the boats and equipment up to standards. This may require replacing boats from time to time.

Physical improvements, for example:

• Disabled ramp at the Salthouse end, to improve wheelchair access.

• Concrete the unusable small pool at the Little Harp end to provide a hard-standing off the walkway for boats and equipment, and include a safe, shallow toddler pool.

• Public walkway around the outer wall of the marine lake.

• Public changing shelter, to improve conditions for schoolchildren and others using the lake.

• Public slipway from the lake access ramp.

• Steel container near the lake (like the playgroup container on Salthouse Field) to give secure storage for activity equipment such as buoys & anchors, pontoons, raft-building materials...

Expand the range of activities, for example:

• Help schools further away to use the lake.

• Special facilities for youngsters with physical or mental difficulties.

Continue to run the annual Marine Lake Festival as a showcase for Clevedon Marine Lake. The 2009 festival will be over the weekend 11-13 September.

“Many hands make light work”.

If you are asking yourself “How can I help?” how about the following:

Sunday 21 June - Aquathlon, Salthouse Field:

• Help to put up a tent to shelter the event “office” at 7:30am & take it down afterwards.

Saturday 4 July - Clevedon Lions Fair at the Community Centre, Princes Rd:

• Man a MARLENS stall and sell raffle tickets for a couple of hours between noon and 4pm.

Friday 11- Sunday 13 September - MARLENS Festival:

If lots of people help for a couple of hours each it makes a big difference.

Raffle tickets: Take five books and sell them. Repeat.

Join MARLENS and pay your subscription:

This gives us working funds and also strengthens our influence with the local authority.