The club originated in early 1975, when the Thames
Water Authority called a meeting at Slough Town Hall. This was to
discuss use of sporting facilities at their soon to be completed
reservoir at Datchet.
A disparate group, several hundred strong, turned up. They
represented a wide range of interests from golf to caravans, horse
riding to sailing. The sailors were later called to a meeting on May
28th, 1975 at Datchet Mead Hotel, at which volunteers were sought to
form a Steering Committee to negotiate a 'Head of Agreement' with the
Thames Water Authority and to organize the proposed club.
The Steering Committee of eleven, under the Chairmanship of Vincent
Blake, and representing Sports Council, The Royal Yachting Association
and the volunteers who had been elected at Datchet Mead Hotel; met for
the first time at Bisham Abbey on June 23rd 1975, later meetings were
held at the Holiday Inn Hotel.
Having no funds, for stationary and the like, would-be members of the
club were invited to 'donate a fiver' to prime the pump, raising some
£650. With no clubhouse and no agreement as yet, a Newsletter 'Datchat'
was launched to keep people in touch while the long process of
negotiation was started with Thames Water Authority. The Steering
Committee started putting a club together from nothing - an organization
had to be planned, rules written and subscriptions worked out. The
selection and purchase of buoys to race round, piers and pontoons to
launch from, Committee Boat, rescue boats, flags etc.; all very
time consuming. A Burgee had to be designed - it represents, to quote
the original 'Datchat'
"The Water of the Reservoir, with the white strip
its edge and the sky above. The castle is the round tower of Windsor
Castle, one of the few buildings that can be seen from the
clubhouse."
On February 29th 1976 (a leap year, so the club only has a
birthday once every 4 years) the first meeting was called in the
near complete clubhouse at which the club was formally set up - with the
Steering Committee, or six of them being elected to Council. Those
present were invited to join the club and in a very short time
membership was on forecast and well in the hundreds. Club sailing
started a few weeks later.
To pay its way Datchet had to be a large club, it is now one of the
largest in the country with a membership of over 900. Founders of the
club, mostly having come from small local ones, were determined on two
things:
- one to maintain the friendliness they were used to
- secondly not to let any preconceived ideas or class of boat
dominate.
They wanted the club to develop in ways that its members wanted.
So today - the big fleets are the boats members want to sail. There
are minimal restrictions,
Datchet has grown since its formation in 1976, into one of the most
successful sailing clubs in the country. Within its 3.2 mile boundary,
which is 66 feet above the surrounding ground level, there are some 475
acres of sailing water (8,300 million gallons when London is not too
thirsty!). It is deep - 75 feet maximum and offers excellent sailing.
The club is managed for its members by Council consisting of four
Flag Officers - Commodore, Vice-Commodore and two Rear Commodores - The
Honorary Treasurer and nine Council Members; all elected from the
membership at the AGM held each year in November, on the second
Wednesday of the month.
Council delegates to the paid
Secretariat and to the various club committees - General
Purposes, Harbour, Junior
and Race Management (the
responsibilities and composition of each committee can be seen by
following the links) - authority to run their respective parts of the
club and they in turn answer to and report back to the Council.
Thus Datchet continues to evolve, as it started, as its members wish.
