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CHAIRMANS REPORT for 2005
In many ways it has been a good year for the Branch. Despite another crop of unfortunate, and rather too late, cancellations of booked cruises, the number of passengers carried is just over 13% higher than 2004. Our sales of souvenirs and donations have increased accordingly. We owe a special debt of gratitude to David Mieras and David Hoskins who not only spearheaded the winter maintenance programme but also skippered many extra late afternoon and evening cruises. Their individual time commitment has been quite extraordinary.
2005 was a year of very mixed fortunes for the Branch. We lost several formerly active members through retirement (Eileen Murphy, Michael Morris and Tom Wright who gave sterling service as skippers over many, many years. Particularly tragic was the unexpected death of Jeanette Wilson only months after taking over as Bookings Officer for the Branch, then later in the year Mike Hargreaves, a weekend crew member. We were deeply touched by the very substantial donations given to the Branch by their respective families in recognition of the commitment and enjoyment which these two had given and received from their time with the Seagull Trust.
The end of the year also marked the end of an era. The establishment of the very first Branch of the Seagull Trust at Ratho in 1979 was entirely due to the enthusiasm and support of Ronnie Rusack because of his involvement with the Bridge Inn. Over the years, Ronnie and his staff were always on hand to give advice, to “rescue” our boats on occasions when disabled, and to operate the radio backup (unique to the Ratho Branch!) so critically important for safety, especially before the advent of mobile telephones. The Bridge Inn passed out of Ronnie’s ownership in late November together with his two restaurant boats. However, he will still be on hand, will continue to operate the Seagull Trust’s Dry Dock (still the only such facility on the Union Canal), and is on record as saying he is prepared to help in almost any way except as “Santa Claus” during our special Xmas Cruises! We look forward to establishing the same spirit of co-operation and goodwill with the new management of the Bridge Inn in years to come.
Safety continues to be high on our agenda and in September we carried out a joint emergency evacuation exercise with Lothians and Borders Fire and Rescue Service. This involved both our boats and two fire tenders and we think was equally valuable to all those who participated. In similar vein, we have used the opportunities created by cancellations to have a considerable number of crew training exercises, especially for those crew members who aspire to becoming Skippers in due course. We will need a continual infusion of “new blood” as the years pass if we are to continue to provide our service to the community at large.
In the previous report we mentioned the circulation of the Trust’s Silver Jubilee Exhibition around those public libraries with suitable space within Midlothian and then the City of Edinburgh. In 2005, Donald McDonald gallantly assembled, dismantled and transported the exhibition to the remaining 13 libraries in Edinburgh thus bringing the running total of public libraries where it has been exhibited to 25. To Donald and all the other members who turn up week in, week out to crew the boats, our heartfelt thanks.
Once again we also gratefully acknowledge the Order of St John for their continuing support for the purchase of diesel fuel for both boats and tea, coffee and biscuits together with other consumables used on the boats.
The tables below show our cruising figures for the 2005 season. Please note the Xmas figures refer to the Christmas cruises of 2004/2005.
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