The next Annual General Meeting (reporting on the 2017 season) will be held at Chichester Yacht Club (in Chichester Marina) in the Upper Deck Room

at 11am on Saturday February 24th 2018.

You can attend just for the AGM and light lunch on the Saturday, or take part in any of the various activities which have been arranged for the AGM weekend. See below for details.

There's a booking form below this posting, so please fill it in with the details of which events you’ll be attending. In the meantime I hope you’ll enjoy reading about the weekend and planning what to come to!

ACCOMMODATION

If you are staying for the weekend, it is suggested that you book early to take advantage of favourable rates. You may be able to find good rates through some of the hotel price comparison sites such as hotels.com, trivago.co.uk or tripadvisor.co.uk.

There are a couple of hotels in the centre of Chichester, including:

Travelodge Chichester Central  and

Chichester Harbour Hotel  (N.B. this is in the city itself, not by the harbour!)

There are also some on the outskirts, including:

Chichester Park Hotel  and

Premier Inn Chichester 

And there’s also one about half way between the city and the marina:

Crouchers Hotel 

There are also some very nice B&Bs in and around the city and nearby villages.

ACTIVITIES

Friday 23rd:

New Park Cinema is a delightful small independent cinema, more intimate and welcoming than the average huge multiscreen complex. On the evening of Friday 23rd at 1800 they will be screening “The Mercy”, an excellent new retelling of the story of Donald Crowhurst’s attempt on the 1968 Golden Globe round-the world yacht race, starring Colin Firth as Donald Crowhurst and Rachel Weisz as his wife Clare. A block of seats for PSSA members has been reserved at this screening, which will cost £8.50 per person. We expect this to be popular, so if you’d like to attend, please tick the appropriate box on the booking form as soon as possible, and no later than January 31st please, so that we can advise the cinema of numbers.

Saturday 24th:

1030: Coffee and biscuits in the Upper Deck Room, Chichester Yacht Club, Chichester Marina.

1100: Annual General Meeting commences.

1245: Buy drinks at the bar downstairs.

1300: Light (finger buffet) lunch. Cost will be £16.50 per person, payable preferably in cash as you enter. Please indicate on the booking form how many will be attending, and any dietary requirements, e.g. gluten-free.

1400 (optional): After lunch is cleared away, for those who wish to stay on and see it, we will be putting on a screening of “Vanishing Sail”. This will be shown in the same room as the AGM. “Vanishing Sail” is a visually exquisite documentary film of about an hour and a half, telling the story of the last builder of traditional wooden sailing boats on the island of Carriacou in the Grenadines, as he sets out to build one last boat before he retires, in the hope of persuading his sons to carry on the tradition. PLEASE NOTE that in order to cover the cost of the necessary performance licence, we are obliged to make a small charge of £5.00 per person for this, but this will only be just enough to cover the cost and no more. If enough people stay on for this, the cost may be less.

If you’d like to stay on to see “Vanishing Sail”, please tick the box on the booking form.

Evening: A block booking will be made at a local restaurant. Please indicate on the booking form if you’d like to attend.

Sunday 25th:

There is a 2 hour bird-watching trip departing from Itchenor at 1100 aboard “Solar Heritage”, Chichester Harbour Conservancy’s solar-powered catamaran. There will be two bird experts aboard to point out and provide commentary on the rich and varied bird life in Chichester Harbour. Cost is £12.50 per person. Please book direct with Chichester Harbour Conservancy on 01243 513275, but indicate numbers in the box on the booking form so we have some idea of how many to expect. Wrap up warm!

Alternatively, weather permitting, we might suggest a walk from Chichester Marina (perhaps commencing at the Boat House Café) over the lock and along the harbourside path to the Crown and Anchor in Dell Quay for lunch, followed by the walk back to work off your lunch… (Bring wellies or footwear suitable for a path which might very well be muddy in places).

Alternative activities you might wish to consider in the local area include:

Tangmere Aviation Museum 

The Chichester Walls Walk 

Novium Museum 

Chichester Cathedral 

Fishbourne Roman Palace 

South Downs Planetarium 

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in Chichester then!

All the best

Graham Ellison.

The AGM at Chichester Yacht Club is promising to be a good weekend, and it's great to see such a good crowd already booked in. So far we have 25 gathering on the Friday evening at New Park Cinema for "The Mercy", 52 attending the AGM, 30 staying on afterwards for "Vanishing Sail", 25 for dinner on Saturday evening, and 15 of us wrapping up warm for the birdwatching cruise on Sunday morning.

"The Mercy" (Friday 23rd at 1800)

I told New Park Cinema's manager that I'd give him the number of Seals attending "The Mercy" at the end of January, which I've now done and those seats have been booked for us. When you arrive at the cinema, please tell them that you're with the Sailing Group and pay the cinema direct; it's £8.50 per ticket. By the way, there's a nice little bar in the cinema, and you're welcome to bring your drinks in to the screening.

I know you know this already, but just to be on the safe side, I'll mention it anyway... Don't forget that it's New Park Cinema  we're going to, not the Cineworld complex on the other side of town... There's a limited number of free car parking spaces in front of the cinema and a public pay-and-display car park behind it.

If you've yet to fill in your booking form for the AGM, feel free to fill in the box for "The Mercy" (so we have an idea of who to expect), but from today onwards, please book your tickets direct with New Park Cinema. The website to book "The Mercy" for February 23rd is here .

AGM (Saturday 24th)

Belay what I said about ordering drinks at the bar downstairs: Chichester Yacht Club is kindly laying on a bar upstairs for us to save us the risk of spilling any on the way up!

Further updates to follow closer to the date, with details of dinner on the Saturday evening.

All the best,

Graham

"The Mercy" (Friday 23rd February, 1800)

So far we have the following booked in to attend:

Dawn (1), Tiptoe Too (2), Morvoren (2), Indianna (2), Frith (1), Kerenza (2), Phun (3), Breeze (2), Sunflower (2), Penlu (2), Sea Lady (1), Betty Blue (2), No Craft - (John L) (1), + Blue Moon (2), who kindly made his own booking after I'd given final numbers to the cinema.

When you arrive, please tell the box office that you're with "the sailing group" and pay them directly; it's £8.50 per person.

The film starts at 1800 at New Park Cinema , and runs for about 1h40m. Don't be late! They don't spend too long messing about with Pearl and Dean and trailers here!

As of today (Tuesday 14th at 1430-ish) there are very few seats left; I've already given the PSSA numbers to the cinema, so if any more PSSA members than those mentioned above would like to come, please book direct with the cinema here .

I haven't made any bookings for dinner afterwards, so you might want to make arrangements yourselves. Within a few minutes walk from New Park Cinema are, for example:

Carluccio's 

Brasserie Blanc 

ASK  (although NB that we're probably going there on Saturday evening)

Chaba Thai 

Lemongrass Thai 

India Gate 

AGM (Saturday 24th February)

Attendees so far: (bold = staying on for "Vanishing Sail")

Dawn, Tiptoe Too, Morvoren, Elsa, Tara, Ruby Star, Indianna, Selah, Zephyr, Frith, Jans Express, Kerenza, Phun, Grace, Macoma, Breeze, Sandy Lady, Elsa, Abacus, Sunflower, Penlu, Sophia, Sea Lady, Vol-au-Vent, Delphine, Betty Blue, Blue Moon, Mera, Talulah, Speedwell, Magus, Baldur, Liv 2, Lesa, Ambition, NC - John L, NC - John B, OC - John C

Saturday evening dinner

The 29 of us who will be gathering for dinner on Saturday evening are now booked in at 7.30pm at ASK, who offer an excellent variety of menu choices including vegetarian and gluten-free.

Please note that to speed up the process of preparing food for a party of that size, they are asking (very reasonably!) for those attending to choose their meals from their menu in advance. You can find the menu by clicking here . Once you've made your choices, please e-mail them to me at graham.ellison@btinternet.com no later than February 22nd so I can pass the order on to the restaurant (and the chef can go out shopping!)

Birdwatching cruise (Sunday 25th at 1100)

This is now fully booked! The good ship Solar Heritage will depart the public jetty at Itchenor at 1100, with the following well-wrapped-up Seal crews aboard:

Tiptoe Too, Jans Express, Kerenza, Breeze, Abacus, Sunflower, Sea Lady, Delphine and Ruby Star.

Meet up outside the harbour office at 1045. Hot drinks and biscuits are available on board (you're also welcome to bring your own refreshments), as is a toilet, and apparently we will have a bird expert along to help us get to know the birds better. Might I recommend bringing binoculars?

There is limited on-street parking in Itchenor, and your best bet is the pay-and-display car park  at West Itchenor, about 10 minutes walk from the jetty.

That's all for now folks....

Kind regards

Graham