Royal Appointment As South Staffs SC Named Britain's Top Sports Club 

2011 RYA Club of the Year wins national accolade as best sports club in country

South Staffordshire Sailing Club has a Royal appointment at St James’ Palace on Thursday (19 July) after being named Britain’s top community sports club by not-for-profit umbrella body the Sport and Recreation Alliance.

Representatives from the Gailey Reservoir-based club will travel to London to collect their prestigious Community Sport and Recreation Premier Award, sponsored by the RSA, from HRH The Earl of Wessex.

In a double celebration for the Midlands, they will be joined by members of Staunton Harold SC, from Derbyshire, who will collect the  Sport and Recreation Alliance's 'Green Thinking' environment award. 

South Staffs SC, which in 2011 was named Britain’s top sailing club by the sport’s national governing body, the RYA, has been recognised for the work it does in encouraging and promoting amateur dinghy sailing by providing a safe sailing environment for adults and juniors of all abilities.

The club has some 400 members and its annual Try Sailing Open Day attracts nearly 100 newcomers every year. Its development of junior members and under-privileged and disabled children in the Wolverhampton and Midlands area is unrivalled and it scored highly across all areas of volunteer management, school links, innovative projects and green thinking.

Mark Nichols, South Staffs SC club commodore, said: “South Staffs SC is very inclusive club that is run by our members for our members. We continually strive to better ourselves and over the past year we have continued to develop the programme of activities we offer to our members and the local community.

“We invest in our members by providing a range of courses, some of which are free or subsidised, with the investment being made in the interests of the club's long-term sustainability. The more active and involved someone feels, the more likely they are to develop a strong affinity with the club and the other members and stay involved. We are delighted to have been recognised for this work by the Sport and Recreation Alliance.”

Staunton Harold SC, 2012 RYA Club of the Year runner-up, has won RYA Volvo Eco Challenge awards for two years running. These awards recognise juniors who design and present a programme to address some of the environmental challenges the club faces.

In 2010, young member Hannah Jones won a £1,000 RYA Volvo Eco Challenge award after identifying the need to install a plumbed in water cooler, provide reusable water bottles to all members and plant wildflowers on the nearby river banks to combat soil erosion. Last year, fellow club junior, Cora Kenmiur-Hogg, helped the club to secure another £1,000 to install cavity wall insulation in the clubhouse and changing rooms to conserve energy.

Nick Waters, Staunton Harold SC club commodore, said: “Sailing, by definition, is a ‘green’ sport, using just the wind and the water. Sailing on a reservoir helps us all understand the effect of the weather on human activities, especially the precious nature of water.

“Since 2009, the club has embarked on a programme of modernization and improvement to our main facilities to become more eco-friendly. For more efficient energy usage the heating and ventilation systems have been upgraded, and this, together with the improved building insulation, especially in the roof, has significantly reduced wastage and costs to the club.”

The BBC’s Eleanor Oldroyd, who chaired the judging panel, said: “With London 2012 around the corner it’s a fitting time for grassroots clubs, schemes and projects to be recognised for the tremendous work they carry out in local communities up and down the country. The Olympics and Paralympics are all about celebrating the diversity of sport and this mirrors what the essence of the Community Sport and Recreation Awards is all about.”

Both South Staffs and Staunton Harold SC are enthusiastic participants in the RYA’s nationwide London 2012 initiative, Sail for Gold, celebrating Britain's unmatched Olympic sailing heritage and inspiring more people to get out on the water more regularly.