Club News

For anything published on the Website as a news item.

Stadium Raft Guide Introduction

Exciting Invitation from Mark Underwood, Watersports Manager at LVWWC Stadium Raft Guide Introduction:  2.5 hours £14  This will be a beginner session to allow candidates to understand the basics of raft guiding in a stadium environment. The session will be aimed primarily at gathering interest for more advanced training in the future.  Capacity:   4 or 8 Candidates per group (1 or 2 rafts)  Dates and Timings:  Group 2 25/03/26 @ 1800-2030  Group 3 01/04/26 @ 1800-2030  Group 4 08/04/26 @ 1800-2030  Session Content :  1800-1830: Course introduction including theory around raft design and construction, responsibilities of a raft guide, kit and equipment required, seating positions and crew numbers.  1830-1900: Get on the lake and practice raft guiding strokes and explain concepts and crew commands.  1900-19:45: Explore Ferry gliding at the bottom of the Olympic Course, forward and reverse, beginning to explore eddy making.  19:45-2030: Straight runs of sections of the Olympic course  Moving forward:  For those interested in progressing further, we will gather details and offer further training on weekends across April and May. These sessions would be 2-4 hours long on the Olympic Course fitting alongside our existing Raft bookings. We would charge for these sessions, but look to keep the cost as low as possible to make them accessible.  Ultimately, we are looking for people who would like to become raft guides at the centre and would be able to commit to further training, and potentially join our …

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If your current Club Membership ends on 31st March, you can renew now

Back in September/October 2026 there were two types of membership renewal available as we move our Club Year back to an April start. You could either renew with an 18 month membership to take you to 31st March 2027, or, you could renew for six months to bring you to the end of this month, March 2026. For those members who took the option to renew until the end of March 2026, renewals for the next year until end of March 2027 are now available. The fees for 2026/2027 are as agreed at the 2025 AGM. Full details of prices for whitewater and flatwater membership are available at the ‘my subscription’ section of WebCollect. NEW MEMBERSHIPS are also available for the 2026/27 Membership Year.

Club Night: the end of Winter Hours!

It is the end of the Winter Hours’ start times and session lengths at our Wednesday Club Nights. From 11th March we get back to enjoying more paddling time in what we hope will be warmer and more pleasant weather! There will be two sessions on each course , 6.30 to 7.30 and 7.30 to 8.30pm Club Members: please check WebCollect for the available bookings, and for our wonderful volunteers who help our Club Nights to take place, please check SPOND.

Wild Water Racing

Coming soon — Saturday 14th March. The Sharks are working in partnership with Paddle UK and the Wild Water Racing Committee to deliver a genuine legacy for the discipline. What Is the Lee Valley Legacy Project? This is more than a race day. The Lee Valley Legacy Project is a collaborative white water development experience with Wild Water Racing (WWR) at its heart. It’s designed to bring paddlers, clubs, coaches, and the wider WWR community together to: • Build confidence on moving water • Develop transferable white water skills • Introduce and grow Wild Water Racing • Create a shared pathway from learning → confidence → racing • Establish something sustainable, repeatable, and meaningful This event is about working together — not just turning up and racing. It’s about lowering barriers, sharing knowledge, supporting progression, and creating an environment where people feel welcome, encouraged, and excited to push their paddling a little further — at their own pace. We’re laying foundations. For paddlers. For clubs. For the future of white water paddlesport. Who Is This For? Everyone. Absolutely everyone. Our guiding principle is simple: Start with what you’re comfortable in — then take the next step with support. Progression might …

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First Club Night of 2026

The weather is finally warming up a little just in time for our first club night of 2026, so get out all those welcome thermal layers that Santa brought and join us on Wednesday 14th Jan 2026 for the 90 minute sessions on both courses, 7-8.30pm. Booking via WebCollect now. Bank safety Thanks again to all those who gave their time, expertise and enthusiasm to provide bank safety during 2025. Hugely appreciated of course! Please sign up with Spond if you are able to help this week as we return to Club Night paddling.

LVPC 2025 Year End Message from the Chair, Jonathan Males

Dear Club Members I really enjoyed meeting so many of you at this week’s Christmas meal. The paddling session beforehand reminded me of what makes this a great club – people young and old paddling freestyle, slalom, race rafting and simply having fun on whitewater. As we come to the end of the year and a pause in LVWWC based activities, I wanted to acknowledge and say thank you to: *All of those club members who have volunteered – to cover bank safety, welcome members at reception, coach fellow club members, organise trips and competitions, tidy the sheds, update websites, manage our finances, post on social media… *David Redington and his team at Lee Valley Whitewater Centre, for the welcome partnership and collaboration.*Pam Phillips and all the committee for your work behind the scenes.* Martin Smyth, one of the club’s founding Directors, who will be standing down in 2026. Some Club Highlights of 2025 *The summer inflatables session, where we discovered that pink flamingos are fine to go down the legacy course, but that certain other inflatable items are not (IYKYK !).*The hotdog event, where I laughed more than I have laughed for a long time.* Hosting the successful British Open …

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Club Rep

Club Rep – Positions Vacant We are opening up the list for Club Members to volunteer as the Club Rep on Wednesday evenings for Club Night.  What you get: Free paddling on any course for the evening you are Club Rep. What you need to do: The Club Rep provides a first point of contact between LVWCC and the Club in case of any serious issues. All club coaches are first aid qualified, so you do not need to provide first aid yourself but you may need to coordinate with club coaches / LVWWC reception / emergency services. This requires a level of common sense and maturity to handle unplanned and potentially stressful situations. Thankfully, these are very rare but we need to be ready. If you wish to paddle while being Club Rep, you simply need to wear the purple Club Rep Bib, so that the club’s members and bank safety volunteers can easily identify you if any assistance is needed.  There are two times when you need to be available on land: In the 30 minutes before the first club session starts and the next 15 minutes of the session. To ensure both safety trolleys are set up (throw bags packed, first …

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Membership Renewal: 1st October 2025

A further reminder that Club Membership is now due for renewal. All categories can be seen under ‘subscriptions‘ in WebCollect on the left side of your home page. Your early renewal is greatly appreciated. Please do check if you have outstanding credit which can be used for or towards renewal. If so , please select the cash option and I’ll adjust it for you. Any outstanding balance can be paid by cash or card at the desk on club night. However, if you are not able to renew this year, please do let me know so that you may be appropriately dealt with! Pamlvpcmembership@gmail.com

Winter Paddling

Following a successful trial last year, we will be reducing the paddling hours again this year from November 26th for the winter months until March 4th 2026. There will be one session of 90 mins on each course, from 7pm to 8.30pm. The cost will be as last year, £10 for the Legacy, £15 for the Olympic sessions. There will be a complete break from 17 Dec to 7 January inclusive,  so the last session of this year is the night of our Christmas Get Together on December 10th. (Save the date!) The first session in 2026 will be January 14th . Reducing our winter hours worked well for us last year and certainly contributed to getting our finances in order. We will, of course, be grateful for members’ help with bank safety, which will run in 2 sessions of 45 minutes.

Freestyle Competition: Wednesday 15th October on the 7:30pm Legacy Session

We are organising a pilot freestyle competition on Wednesday 15th October on the 7:30pm Legacy session. If you’ve ever wanted to see what freestyle is about, now is your chance! Anyone can enter in any boat; this is all about having fun and finding out about freestyle. Heats will be in a ‘jam’ style format (a set time allocated for the heat based on the number of paddlers and you just take it in turns getting on the feature). The categories are mixed gender and age but based on ability level: Novice – All fun moves count (think paddle spins, cosmic donkeys, Harry Potters – if you have no idea what these are you’ll learn along the way) Intermediate – ICF moves with flexibility i.e. if you initiate in the feature but flush, you’ll still score it and some flexibility on angles. If you retain in the feature, there will be additional bonuses. Advanced – ICF scoring. Stricter scoring, requiring you to retain in the feature to score the move. There will be a mandatory safety brief in the island on the Legacy at 7:15. Heats will also be allocated at the brief along with bibs. The cost of the …

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