Redesmere Sailing Club

Towards the end of 1956, during tea break, a small group of Post Office Engineers were listening to one of them describing the joys of dinghy racing. One of the engineers suggested, quite possibly as a joke, why don't we start a club of our own? The first hurdle was to find some water, which involved considering all patches of blue on the Ordnance Survey map. Redesmere seemed a possibility but was on the Capesthorne Estate; thankfully, Sir Walter Bromley-Davenport was willing to negotiate a lease. The first visit to the site was on a cold and blustery day and it appeared to be a very muddy field full of cows. The first minuted meeting was 18th March 1957 at Telephone House in Salford, the Club was named Redesmere Sailing Club and a Committee was formed. The Club had been established, however it had no boats, little money and no more than one or two who knew that a sheet was actually a piece of rope. The Club had one member who could sail and actually owned a GP14, so everyone shared and took it in turns helming and crewing. Toilets had to be a priority, the Club acquired a couple of workman's huts that were used as changing rooms and had a toilet on each end; the OD's first job was to empty the Elsons and recharge them. Boat berths were built and tons of stone was used to build up the bank up to the waters edge. The next project was a Clubhouse, which has been extended over the years, followed by electricity, water, drainage and a bar license. Rescue was always a problem, at first a rowing boat was used, which was nice on a calm day, but on a windy day it was approximately a 3 hour wait for rescue.