Renegades: Going with the flow

Renegades go with the flow…

England may be yearning for dry land after such a soggy winter, but not the Renegades Youth Club! The young members have been dipping their collective toes in the sport of canoeing.

Since the club was able to buy a fleet of canoes with a generous grant from the Postcode Society Trust, the new year has started with weekly canoe sessions thanks to the Wey and Arun Canal Trust.

“We have started the year with a vengeance trying out our new boats,” says Group Leader Gareth Miller. “But even I’ve been surprised to see the willingness of teenagers to drag themselves out of bed early on a Sunday morning, though the bribe of a hot drink has been a must.

“I think they have enjoyed seeing us struggle to reverse a trailer the size of ours up to the slipway on Drungewick Lane. It’s a good job my ego was crushed by the kids long ago!”

The young members have been learning how to handle the boats both in and out of the water. They have started learning the five main strokes of paddling, but it seems the hardest lesson is getting in and out –Gareth has already gone in headfirst.

“It’s been a joy to have a paddle and view the world from this angle,” says Gareth. “The best moment was when we all strapped together under a bridge for a chat only for my fellow leader Damian Dixon to get caught up in a branch. He fell backwards in his canoe and then lay there like a stranded turtle unable to move.

“We could have helped him, but unanimously decided to photograph him instead. Something I regretted the following day when I fell down a muddy bank into a brook as I was recounting the story… buckets of schadenfreude then.” As the year warms up so will we. We will be reinstating our adventurous activities from archery to a new zipwire, beach trips to camping weekends, art and cooking to carpentry and go karting. If you have an activity idea, have something we could use or you would like to have fun with us, please just give us a call.

The Renegades is a Registered Charity. Membership costs £10 a month. Please contact Gareth Miller on 07801 862550 or Damian Dixon on 07484 130189 for further information. Vanda Rumney

Photos: Gareth and Renegades stop below a bridge… before Damian shows how NOT to do it!

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