Citylife in Rugeley and Cannock Chase June 2020

Boats on Blithfield Reservoir
Aerial view of Blithfield Sailing Club
The History of Blithfield Sailing Club
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This year, Blithfield Sailing Club
celebrates its 50th
Anniversary of sailing on
Blithfield Reservoir, near Rugeley.
Commodore Anthony Kurcaba tells
us more about the club and its
origins.
Blithfield Sailing Club is one of
several users of Blithfield Reservoir, a
beautiful 790-acre manmade lake set in
the rolling hills of Blithe Valley,
between Rugeley and Abbots Bromley.
The other users being Blithfield
Anglers, Staffordshire’s premier trout
fishery, West Midlands Bird Club and
there are also Permissive Walks
around part of the northern area of
the lake. The Reservoir is divided into
roughly two equal areas separated by
the causeway road bridge and B5013
which runs along it from Rugeley to
Abbots Bromley.
The origins of Blithfield Sailing Club
can be traced back to a meeting in
Rugeley public house on Wednesday,
15th February 1967. This meeting had
been called to form a group to
negotiate for permission to sail at
Blithfield. From this meeting the
Mercian Yacht Club, forerunner to
Blithfield Sailing Club, was formed and
following lengthy negotiations,
approval in principle was received in
March 1969. Further meetings to
complete the details were held and on
24th September 1969, Blithfield Sailing
Club was formally constituted, with
Cal Hall serving as its first
Commodore. Then the lengthy
procedures of applying for grant aid,
preparing plans for the Clubhouse,
raising money from prospective
members until finally all the hopes
were realised with the building and
equipping of the Clubhouse. The
building commenced on 31st March
1971 and was handed over to the Club
on 1st January 1972. Boats actually
took to the water for the first time on
4th March 1972 and the official
opening was on Saturday 20th May
1972 by the late Julian Ward Snow,
Lord Burntwood, former MP of
Lichfield and Tamworth. Organised
racing commenced with the autumn
racing series.
The original classes of boats in 1972
were Fireball, GP 14, Merlin Rocket,
and OK. Today, the main classes are
Merlin Rocket and Laser followed by
RS 200/400, Osprey, Phantom, Solo
and Supernova, and for those who do
not want to get their feet wet, the
Flying Fifteen.
In April 1996, the Club became a
Royal Yachting Association (RYA)
recognised training establishment.
Today the training section, under its
Principal of Training Tim Male, and his
team of RYA qualified instructors,
teaches approximately 20-25 local
juniors per year, from the ages of 7 to
17 throughout the spring and summer
months and also organises Beginners
and Improvers Adult sailing courses in
the spring and autumn, which are
available to both members and also
non-members. The club has an
extensive range of training and club
boats which new members can hire at
minimal cost to hone their new skills,
whilst contemplating a suitable boat to
purchase for themselves.
On 24th May 2000, Sport England
awarded the Club a grant from the
Lottery Development Fund to extend
the existing Clubhouse facilities to the
superb facilities available for members
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