Welcome!

Welcome to the website of Lee Valley Paddlesports Club
Proud to be the resident club at Lee Valley White Water Centre

The Centre opened its doors to us for our first Club Night on Wednesday 7th May 2014 and, with your involvement and support, we continue to develop and deliver part of the 2012 Olympic Legacy.
Our vision is for a vibrant, friendly club offering a full range of paddle sports. Whether you are a beginner, or a world champion, we welcome you to Lee Valley Paddlesports Club!

Club News Headlines

!!UPDATE!! URGENT MESSAGE FOR OUR CLUB MEMBERS 13th March 2024

AS OF 1445 TODAY WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO ACCESS WEBCOLLECT AGAIN. SO PLEASE BOOK YOUR SESSIONS FOR TONIGHT IF YOU CAN SO AS TO SAVE TIME ON ARRIVAL AT THE CLUB TONIGHT.

 

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The provider of our booking service WebCollect suspended their service for maintenance and upgrades at the weekend. Unfortunately, as of 0830 this morning 13th March, the service has not been reinstated. We are therefore not able to access WebCollect at this time to book for Club Night tonight.

Do please keep checking your WebCollect account during the day as we have been promised the service will be reinstated. HOWEVER, if it is not, do please be reassured that Club Night is taking place today, and you will be able pay to get on the Club sessions at our reception desk – so please don’t forget to bring a means of payment with you and allow a few extra minutes before the start of your session so we can book you in.

Thank you. See you tonight.

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LVPC Member Survey – January 2024

Thank you to the 146 Club Members who responded to our recent club survey. You represent about 50% of our membership so this is a good response level. The Club’s General Committee wanted to share some key messages with you, and we’ll come back with further actions once we’ve had more time to discuss options.

First up, it’s clear from the feedback that you value and appreciate the Club, the opportunities it offers, and the growing sense of a paddling community. 95% of you would recommend the Club to a friend. Thank you for the messages of support, and Pam was suitably embarrassed at your kind words such as “Thank you for all the
volunteers making it happen! Especially Pam! Such a hero!”

We learned that about two thirds of our members learned to paddle elsewhere, most often with another canoe club. Less than 5% joined the Club as complete novices. The majority (66%) of you do not see use of the Lake as important, so we need to be highly focused in how we use and pay for any activities on the Lake.

81% are active at Lee Valley Whitewater Centre outside of Club Night, with 60% paddling ‘public’ whitewater sessions at least once a month. It was also apparent that some Club Members may not be aware of the relationship between the Club and Lee Valley Whitewater Centre (run by GLL). To clarify, LVPC is the resident club, and we hire the course and facilities from GLL for our activities. These take place currently on Wednesday evenings, and slalom training takes place through the week in collaboration with British Canoeing. This means we are subject to GLL’s costs and
contractual obligations, which at times limits what we would like, or can afford, to offer onsite.

The changes that you asked for were ranked as follows:

  1. 55% asked for more trips and peer paddling outside of Lee Valley. We’ve already made a start, with a series of local paddles over the Christmas /New Year break. More trips are planned.
  2. 19% requested additional Club sessions, specifically on weekends. Interestingly, a Sunday evening Olympic session was often mentioned. We have made regular requests to GLL for weekend water access; however, it
    is only possible very early or very late on weekends outside their peak hours.
  3. More coaching. There’s a thirst for more progressive coaching, especially post-Legacy Assessment and on the Olympic course. Jon and his team are busy with a plan to offer structured coaching, linked to British Canoeing
    Awards where possible.
  4. Club Environment and Communication. Several requests came under this heading, including more social engagement, more activities off the water and having a group chat or messenger board to help organize trips and get to know other paddlers. Last year’s fun session was highlighted as a great Club mixer. We clearly need to improve how we make coaching and other events available on WebCollect as this is not always clear or transparent.
    Volunteering and bank safety attracted contrasting views – several people wanted a fairer system to spread the load evenly, while one or two people would clearly prefer not to do bank safety at all, to the extent of paying to opt out of bank safety duties. I can’t see this becoming a reality, as it goes against the Club ethos. After all, if everyone contributes it means doing an hour every 3 months or so, in return for a free paddle.
  5. Lighting system in the equipment shed needs improvement. Yes, and the main limitation is that we have been unable to secure a mains power supply, but we are continuing to discuss this with British Canoeing, who own the shed.
  6. Cost and Membership Stability. The cost of living is impacting us all, and several members were concerned about possible price rises. Yet some also said they would be willing to pay more, because the Club represents great value to them. Clearly, we need to be price sensitive, however we must also face the reality that the Club pays GLL for all the water time and facilities we use.

Some of your suggestions are outside the Club’s control, but we can raise these with GLL. These include parking permits, cafe opening hours, a better lay out of the Legacy for freestyle and access to the kayak cross ramp.

If anyone is interested in seeing the full survey results let me know.

Thanks again for helping to make this a great club, and as always please get in touch if you’d like to get more involved.

Jonathan Males
Chair, LVPC
29 January 2024
lvpcchair@gmail.com

 

First Aid Course For Club Members (9th/10th March)

For details of this two day course available to Club Members please follow this LINK

 

Quality Club Award

We are delighted to announce that LVPC was, for a second year running, awarded ‘Quality Club’ recognition in 2023 by British Canoeing. Follow this LINK for more information.

 

 

Join our Slalom Programme

We are delighted to be offering a programme to our Club members who are interested in the discipline of canoe slalom. Our programme is designed to meet a range of needs, from those who would like to improve their boat control by learning slalom technique, to people who are keen to start training and racing.

Whether you are a beginner or already have experience, or whether you are a ‘senior’ or a ‘junior’, please have a look to see if there is an option that you are interested in.

For further details please click and follow the link HERE

 

Membership Applications

If you are looking to become a member of Lee Valley Paddlesports Club, please contact our Membership Secretary (Pam Phillips) in the first instance, at  lvpcmembership@gmail.com for more details about joining. Water booking availability may be restricted if membership levels continue to rise at their recent rate – so do please check.

If you are not joining at the start of our Club Year in the autumn, our Membership Secretary will also make sure you have the current information on the duration of new memberships and the associated membership fees.

 

Lee Valley Paddlesports Club Ltd

Lee Valley Paddlesports Club Ltd is a Private Company Limited by Guarantee without a share capital. Registered in England & Wales, Company Number 8905366. As the resident club at the Lee Valley White Water Centre, our registered address is Lee Valley White Water Centre, Station Road, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire EN9 1AB.

Lee Valley Paddlesports Club Ltd is a community-focused club run by volunteers to promote participation in paddle sports and to provide paddle sports opportunities.