April Update
Posted by Kathy Syplywczak
Apr 19th, 2026
Housekeeping notices first:
Membership fees for the year should be paid in the Month of April please. Either in whole or by direct debit. Please ensure you have updated the amount with your bank (£105 adult, £51 junior). The new fees can be found on the membership application form attached.
Junior club starts on Tuesday 21st April. All juniors must have paid their membership fee and have Paddle UK ‘on the water’ license number ready for inspection. Paddle UK must be linked on your profile to Maidstone Canoe Club so all licenses can be verified. New consent forms will also need to be completed and returned.
Fun bits!
So, we have moved the Wednesday paddle to 6.30 so many more of you can come along.
But, more excitingly, we are going to change this up a bit:
The 1st Wednesday of the month will be ‘Give it a go’ SUP style
The 3rd Wednesday of the month will be ‘Give it a go’ Canoe style
We will run these alongside our regular club paddles. It just means that if you fancy trying out a SUP or a Canoe then please come along. We want it to be fun and with the evening getting lovely and light we simply want all our members to have as many opportunities as possible to get out and enjoy the water.
Courses
We have a lot of courses coming up - these are specifically for our members and are intended to help all members to develop their paddling in a variety of areas.
Pool sessions - these are for anyone who wants to practice specific skills like capsizing or rolling - we urge all new paddlers to try and attend one of these sessions so you are more confident when going out on the water. It is also exceptionally useful for those looking towards whitewater events where rolling would be really useful - I believe!!! So do please check it out. Every month on the 3rd Thursday.
PRSC - here 10th May
This is a very much sought after course and we will be providing it only once this year - - there are only two spaces left so if you are thinking about it please book asap.
Explore Courses -
6th May - sign up here
For all those paddlers who may have started last year and have done a fair bit of paddling over the winter months or experienced but not done this qualification yet - please please do sign up, this may not be repeated until the end of the summer - so if you fancy signing up to the many trips and days out on the calendar best to get your Explore Award in!!:
Touring Award - 4th June - sign up here
Many paddlers make great friendship groups at the club and really want to take themselves off on a paddle of their own. This course will enable you to have the confidence to be able to do that knowing that you have the skills and capabilities to safely go out within your group. The dates may seem daunting initially but I understand that these are not set in stone and once the initial participants sign up discussions can be had to see what works best within the group - so please show an interest and sign up so we can gauge how best to deliver this module of training.