Hi All,
We hope everyone is enjoying lots of great paddling and having a good summer. We are writing to let you all know about a significant development for the association. Unfortunately, Marion has decided that due to other commitments she is stepping down as chairperson. We would like to thank Marion very much for her contribution and hard work over the past couple of years.
This means that the chair is vacant and we would like to invite all members to consider filling this position. It is such an important role and we have been lucky to have had a steady supply of great chairpersons in the past from within the association so we are confident that there is one among us who can lead the association and the committee for the next couple of years.
Although there is an established set of procedures for filling roles on the committee, owing to the fact that these procedures have not been in operation for a number of years and bearing in mind that Marion is stepping down with immediate effect, we would like to request that anybody who is interested in putting their name forward for this role to please forward an e-mail to that effect to The Secretary at iskamembership@gmail.com. The only condition is that you are a fully paid up member of ISKA at the time of this communication. The deadline for receipt of nominations is midnight Sunday the 19th of July.
In the event that there is a sole nominee then that person will be deemed elected. If there is more than one nominee we will circulate the names and ask members to choose their preferred candidate. The candidate who receives the most votes will be appointed chairperson.
As we are a small association with limited resources we feel it is appropriate to conduct the process in this instance by e-mail and we will use the most up-to-date e-mail listing on association records. However, there are a couple of members for whom we do not have e-mail addresses and there are bound to be a few who have changed addresses recently and who may not receive this communication. We therefore ask that you mention this to fellow members over the course of the next couple of weeks. To give a degree of integrity to the process we will only accept nominations and/or votes from e-mail addresses that are on record with the Secretary. To update or check your e-mail address feel free to drop Tony an e-mail on iskamembership@gmail.com.
We look forward to receiving your responses and if you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact the committee at iskacommittee@gmail.com.
Thanks,
ISKA Committee
ISKA Chairperson Role
-
Alan Horner
- Posts: 14
- Joined: Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:22 pm
Re: ISKA Chairperson Role
Dear ISKA Committee,
from an ex Committee member from years back.
Historically ISKA changed from it's origins as a mainly Dublin based committee
to a more regional based one.
One of it's aims is the development and promotion of Sea Kayaking countrywide and
to it's great credit ISKA has been a catalyst for development of ECSKC, The WESTIES, CELTIC SEA KAYAKERS
and indeed could maybe take some of the credit for the spawning of Sea Kayaking activities in Cork (Phoenix), Donegal - North west Sea Kayakers, Belfast Sea Kayak club and others in Castlebar, Sligo and spots in between.
Forgive me if I left some out or indeed am being too presumptious here.
Anyhow during my time under chairperson Mary Butler democracy was developed and the committee appointment structure was developed which was to partly select the ISKA committee from member clubs/regional groups and partly from direct election by the ISKA membership. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that has changed in today's committee.
This kind of committee structure should be encouraged as it allows for both clubs and direct membership to have a seat at the table but not to dominate ISKA.
ISKA must adapt and change it's structure to be more inclusive of the growing regional clubs/groups
and I think become the central voice for Irish Sea Kayaking that it once was. Sorry to be critical BUT I think we dropped that ball some time ago.
Anyhow I think it should definitely be restored and in the context of electing a new chairperson we might consider this aspect and ahead of the AGM at the Symposium in October consider carefully how sea Kayaking is growing in ireland, How we as clubs/regional groups give support to our local membership and how ISKA can give support to us and our members and interact on our behalf with the Training Authorities Canoeing Ireland - Training & development Unit (TDU) and of course for Northern Ireland - CANI / BCU.
I have to say I have enjoyed ISKA meets since first starting Sea Kayaking more than 20years ago and it is a fantastic honour to when so ever is elected chairperson.
Wishing you well in the search for a new Queen or King
and happy to support ISKA on behalf of East Coast Sea Kayak Club - Alan
from an ex Committee member from years back.
Historically ISKA changed from it's origins as a mainly Dublin based committee
to a more regional based one.
One of it's aims is the development and promotion of Sea Kayaking countrywide and
to it's great credit ISKA has been a catalyst for development of ECSKC, The WESTIES, CELTIC SEA KAYAKERS
and indeed could maybe take some of the credit for the spawning of Sea Kayaking activities in Cork (Phoenix), Donegal - North west Sea Kayakers, Belfast Sea Kayak club and others in Castlebar, Sligo and spots in between.
Forgive me if I left some out or indeed am being too presumptious here.
Anyhow during my time under chairperson Mary Butler democracy was developed and the committee appointment structure was developed which was to partly select the ISKA committee from member clubs/regional groups and partly from direct election by the ISKA membership. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that has changed in today's committee.
This kind of committee structure should be encouraged as it allows for both clubs and direct membership to have a seat at the table but not to dominate ISKA.
ISKA must adapt and change it's structure to be more inclusive of the growing regional clubs/groups
and I think become the central voice for Irish Sea Kayaking that it once was. Sorry to be critical BUT I think we dropped that ball some time ago.
Anyhow I think it should definitely be restored and in the context of electing a new chairperson we might consider this aspect and ahead of the AGM at the Symposium in October consider carefully how sea Kayaking is growing in ireland, How we as clubs/regional groups give support to our local membership and how ISKA can give support to us and our members and interact on our behalf with the Training Authorities Canoeing Ireland - Training & development Unit (TDU) and of course for Northern Ireland - CANI / BCU.
I have to say I have enjoyed ISKA meets since first starting Sea Kayaking more than 20years ago and it is a fantastic honour to when so ever is elected chairperson.
Wishing you well in the search for a new Queen or King
and happy to support ISKA on behalf of East Coast Sea Kayak Club - Alan
Re: ISKA Chairperson Role
ISKA Where to from here? Put the word interacted into the search box above right and see very interesting debate started by Martin Guilfoyle on his retirement some years ago.
As Alan noted maybe Martin's question remains unanswered yet. The aim of ISKA is to promote and develop sea kayaking. It does not indicate how it proposes to do this. There has been a groundswell of positive feeling towards ISKA for many years and it has built up a good number of followers over the year. ISKA members love to meet at ISKA organised meets and renew contacts around the country. Many lasting friendships have been developed in this way. I would not like to think this organisation might become irrelevant over time like the CI has become to many due to lack of insightful thinking and planning its future. If no change is required in the present setup, this decision, I believe should come from a meeting of interested parties after a discussion on the subject. There appears to be a feeling that something needs to be done. Looking back at the comments on the link it is clear that there are strong opinions on many sides and perhaps it is wiser to wait until a new chairman is elected before we have such a meeting. It will take a strong character with vision to grab the ideas presented and run with them. Looking forward to seeing developments.
As Alan noted maybe Martin's question remains unanswered yet. The aim of ISKA is to promote and develop sea kayaking. It does not indicate how it proposes to do this. There has been a groundswell of positive feeling towards ISKA for many years and it has built up a good number of followers over the year. ISKA members love to meet at ISKA organised meets and renew contacts around the country. Many lasting friendships have been developed in this way. I would not like to think this organisation might become irrelevant over time like the CI has become to many due to lack of insightful thinking and planning its future. If no change is required in the present setup, this decision, I believe should come from a meeting of interested parties after a discussion on the subject. There appears to be a feeling that something needs to be done. Looking back at the comments on the link it is clear that there are strong opinions on many sides and perhaps it is wiser to wait until a new chairman is elected before we have such a meeting. It will take a strong character with vision to grab the ideas presented and run with them. Looking forward to seeing developments.
Re: ISKA Chairperson Role
ISKA democracy began well before Alan Horner suggests. The slippery slope leading in that direction began, abruptly, as far back as 1997, well before MaryTButler became Chair. The "benevolent autocracy" that administered ISKA before that suddenly became unsustainable, caused by a chance event actually, not by politics. The details were well and fairly reported in January 1998 in TNdT12, as follows :
A Cautionary Tale - The facts.
We take what is an unusual step for a national sporting representative organisation in issuing a press release in the matter of the physical health of the entire of the committee of the Irish Sea Kayaking Association (hereinafter called "he"). The facts are simple. "He" placed Trasna na dTonnta 11 in the post on Thursday 2nd October at 5.30 P.M., and was hauled into the Casualty Department of the Meath Hospital in Dublin one hour and twenty minutes later. "His" motorbike had broken down on Dublin’s M50 motorway a week before, and "being downhill all the way" ("his" explanation at the time), "he" pushed the BMW 750 in question all the (4 miles of the) way to Ranelagh, suffering a heart attack on Palmerston Road, less than half a mile from home. He managed to explain away the relevant symptoms to the relevant authorities (wife, family, job, friends) by the simple stratagem of saying nothing to nobody. As the symptoms (chest area pain on exercise, with or without breathlessness and/or sweating, which goes away immediately the exercise stops) increased in intensity and frequency, his subconscious started copping on, to the point that when, a week later, he finally obtained a firm grasp of the obvious, he found he had, in the interim, given up cigarettes, and twice asked total strangers on different occasions were they doctors (neither were).
Finally, being totally unable to continue a game of tennis, he surrendered to the rollercoaster of ambulances, white coats, and concerned faces all healthy people dread. At first, the medics could not find anything wrong even with stress ECG tests, proving that fitness and health are different concepts. Only a process performed after all other tests had failed, whereby ink is squirted into a chap’s very innards, showed that "he" was "significantly" f#c$ed. He received a reconditioned engine, in the form of a quadruple bypass, on October 13th, and made a fraught partial return to the day job on 15th December.
The purpose of this message is to say that it is as yet uncertain can "he" run the SKA as well as complete a return to ordinary and normal family and work commitments. He would like to continue running this organisation because if he is to have any input at all into Irish canoeing, this is where he would like to do it. This is what he likes doing.
Realistically though, were others out there ready to volunteer to take over, or even help, they would truly be gratefully welcomed. At least initially, help is needed getting the newsletters out. The text of this offering is in place, more or less, for a month, but the effort required in bullying it so that articles start and finish at top and bottom of pages, or otherwise logically, Photostatting, printing the envelopes, matching the form letters, folding, putting in the envelopes, then tucking them in, licking the stamps, and going to the post box, this time just all seemed too much. Anyone out there with computer skills and energy, who can receive a disk (or better still, an email) of a Microsoft Word 6 text file (in a raw form), and run with it, would save me a lot of angst. Realistically, notwithstanding the modern global village, the person concerned would want to be physically located in the Republic of Ireland.
In any event, I am interviewing for the job effective immediately.
The Committee
With benefit of hindsight, my attitude now is that dictatorship is the most efficient way of running a grouping such as ISKA, but its very hard going (on the dictator), and hard on the rest of the people unless the dictator is selected carefully.
DWalsh
A Cautionary Tale - The facts.
We take what is an unusual step for a national sporting representative organisation in issuing a press release in the matter of the physical health of the entire of the committee of the Irish Sea Kayaking Association (hereinafter called "he"). The facts are simple. "He" placed Trasna na dTonnta 11 in the post on Thursday 2nd October at 5.30 P.M., and was hauled into the Casualty Department of the Meath Hospital in Dublin one hour and twenty minutes later. "His" motorbike had broken down on Dublin’s M50 motorway a week before, and "being downhill all the way" ("his" explanation at the time), "he" pushed the BMW 750 in question all the (4 miles of the) way to Ranelagh, suffering a heart attack on Palmerston Road, less than half a mile from home. He managed to explain away the relevant symptoms to the relevant authorities (wife, family, job, friends) by the simple stratagem of saying nothing to nobody. As the symptoms (chest area pain on exercise, with or without breathlessness and/or sweating, which goes away immediately the exercise stops) increased in intensity and frequency, his subconscious started copping on, to the point that when, a week later, he finally obtained a firm grasp of the obvious, he found he had, in the interim, given up cigarettes, and twice asked total strangers on different occasions were they doctors (neither were).
Finally, being totally unable to continue a game of tennis, he surrendered to the rollercoaster of ambulances, white coats, and concerned faces all healthy people dread. At first, the medics could not find anything wrong even with stress ECG tests, proving that fitness and health are different concepts. Only a process performed after all other tests had failed, whereby ink is squirted into a chap’s very innards, showed that "he" was "significantly" f#c$ed. He received a reconditioned engine, in the form of a quadruple bypass, on October 13th, and made a fraught partial return to the day job on 15th December.
The purpose of this message is to say that it is as yet uncertain can "he" run the SKA as well as complete a return to ordinary and normal family and work commitments. He would like to continue running this organisation because if he is to have any input at all into Irish canoeing, this is where he would like to do it. This is what he likes doing.
Realistically though, were others out there ready to volunteer to take over, or even help, they would truly be gratefully welcomed. At least initially, help is needed getting the newsletters out. The text of this offering is in place, more or less, for a month, but the effort required in bullying it so that articles start and finish at top and bottom of pages, or otherwise logically, Photostatting, printing the envelopes, matching the form letters, folding, putting in the envelopes, then tucking them in, licking the stamps, and going to the post box, this time just all seemed too much. Anyone out there with computer skills and energy, who can receive a disk (or better still, an email) of a Microsoft Word 6 text file (in a raw form), and run with it, would save me a lot of angst. Realistically, notwithstanding the modern global village, the person concerned would want to be physically located in the Republic of Ireland.
In any event, I am interviewing for the job effective immediately.
The Committee
With benefit of hindsight, my attitude now is that dictatorship is the most efficient way of running a grouping such as ISKA, but its very hard going (on the dictator), and hard on the rest of the people unless the dictator is selected carefully.
DWalsh