October Pool Session
October 15th marks the 75th anniversary of the invention of the oral contraceptive pill.
We will not be celebrating this at the pool session.
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October 15th marks the 75th anniversary of the invention of the oral contraceptive pill.
We will not be celebrating this at the pool session.
Alongside millions of other outdoor enthusiasts, we will be observing a minute’s silence at the pool session on Thursday 17th September, to remember the man who - more than any other - made the British winter less sucky. Robert Gore, inventor of GoreTex, died this day in 2020.
(Hildegard of Bingen - no relation - also died this day in 1179. If you know, you know.)
The mighty Exe & Barle trip is back! - 10th-11th October 2026.
Staying at the Exe Valley Caravan Site in Bridgetown near Dulverton and paddling the River Exe and Barle predominately. This yearly occurring trip has been the first whitewater trip for many members at the club! The rivers are grade 1 to 2 unless in spate, if really big we will choose a more scenic paddle for the less adventurous.
We will be running it as a peer paddle for the already experienced participants as well as a led trip for the less so, all details on the calendar.
Following recent government announcements of the ban on disposable BBQs due to the recent extreme heat and drought we have renamed the Joss Bay BBQ trip to the Joss Bay Picnic & Paddle, please bring a picnic with you, there is a cafe on the beach but being a bank holiday its not gardened to be open
https://maidstonecanoeclub.net/events/d06af205-b869-4444-8c7a-90264bde4bfb/joss-bay-paddle-picnic
Blackberry Picking
One of Seamus Heaney’s most famous poems - “Blackberry Picking” - is set in August.
By an astonishing coincidence, one of Maidstone Canoe Club's most famous events - “Pool Session” - is also set in August, on the 20th. Book here!
Only one of them has a Nobel Prize for Literature though:
https://maidstonecanoeclub.net/events/1ef39f86-5148-4d6a-bdda-9cdd9dcf3ccb/pool-session?instance=1
Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50981/blackberry-picking
We are one again extremely privileged to be able to offer this course to our members - please see all the details on the link here
On July 16th 1439, kissing was banned in England due to the plague. I’ve always thought that the plague was carried by rats so I’m not sure how a ban on kissing was supposed to help, but maybe they were more liberal in those days.
On July 16th 2026, we’ll be holding our regular monthly pool session. There will be no rats, and even if there were, kissing them would still be frowned upon.
Book here
June 18th is the 211th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, in which Napoleon was defeated for the final time by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington and inventor of the eponymous rubber boot. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba, from which he could have escaped by kayak - if he’d only practiced his paddling skills.
Don’t be like Napoleon. See you next Thursday at the Cranbrook pool.
Book here