Hi, Well summer is coming to an end, I hope you are all rested and raring to go for the new term.
Thanks to everyone who came to the social, we were blessed with great weather and food, we hope you all enjoyed it.
We start back on the 11th September, our last session before 1/2 term will be 16th October (6 wks), the sessions will be as follows
9-10: Mini Fencers group course with Della
9-9.30: 1-2-1 lessons with Lewis and or sparring*
9.30-10: Adults beginners courses, and if not 1-2-1 lessons with Lewis and or sparring*
10-11: Non-electric group lesson with Della and Gordon
10-11: Teens electric group lesson with Lewis
10-11: Sparring
11-12: Sparring and 1-2-1 lessons with Lewis
1-2-1s and sparring is limited to just one court in the 9-10 session and will be offered on a first-come basis
Fees
Whilst the cost of living is going up, we are lucky to have been able to keep the costs the same again for this term £30/£35. To do this we ask that you make payment for the term asap, this can be done online here http://www.lewesfencingclub.org.uk/purchase/. PAYG is still available to people with their own kit who do not want any tuition and will just be sparring, the cost for this is £8/£10 per week. By making payment asap you are also guaranteeing space in the respective fencing group, keeping these groups full also helps us keep our costs down, we do have a waiting list which we will be emailing in the coming week, so please do not miss out and pay your fees ASAP.
Committee Members and Volunteers
We survive on people volunteering to help at the club, and this does not go unnoticed. Helping can simply be there to layout and put away the kit and pistes, we often have a tight schedule and the quicker this is done the more time we can fence. Or perhaps you would consider looking after a specific aspect of the club and or becoming a Committee member, the latter is not as daunting as it sounds, we normally have one or two face-to-face meetings a year, and the rest is done at the club or on a Whatsapp group.
BFA Membership
Hopefully you will have just renewed your memberships when they expired, if not or if you are unsure please log on to Sport 80 to confirm (https://auth.sport80.com/ & choose British Fencing), the Club has to be a BFA member and part of that requires all our members are also part of the BFA (If you need to change your membership you can find out more from here https://www.britishfencing.com/members/membership-info/membership-types/)
Kit
We have had the used white kit cleaned over the summer, if you still need to borrow white kit can we ask you to come in a little bit earlier so that you can find the correct fitting items. Mums and Dads your help with this would be appreciated.
Competitions
There are a number of local competitions coming up:-
Hampshire Open: 17th September
Sussex County: 1st October
Sussex Open: 26/27 November
British Youth Championships: 28/29 January
Junior Epee: Before May 2023
SE Region Epee: July ish 2023
Details for the first two in Sussex are just appearing online, http://www.sussexfencing.org/index.php/competition-list
Its not just local that you can fence, the BFA has a list of Events around the UK here https://www.britishfencing.com/find-fencing-events/
As we know more we will update you during club time or on Facebook (see below to follow us)
Commonwealth Fencing Games
We hope you had a chance to watch some of the competitions online, I know some of you went to visit, and one of us even competed. So well done to Juan, she came a great 25th out of 63, well done. If you did not get a chance to see any of the events live then the videos are available on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=commonwealth+fencing+championships+2022)
World Fencing Day
World Fencing Day is on the 10th September, you can find out more here https://fie.org/articles/1218
COVID
The BFA has been extremely quiet on the COVID front recently, so we will continue where we left off, and acknowledging your opponent at the end of the match is enough, no handshaking is required and of course, if you have symptoms and think you may have COVID please DO NOT come to the club.
Advanced warning of Next Terms Dates
30th Oct – 11th Dec (7 weeks)
Christmas Social on the 11th December venue TBA
Please follow us:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lewesfencingclub
Twitter: @lewesfencing
Instagram: Lewesfencingclub
Welfare
If you feel something is not safe please tell one of the committee members who will look to rectify it. You can talk to us during the session, or after the session via email, enquiries@lewesfencingclub.org.uk If the issue is specifically welfare, ie child-related or you do not feel comfortable emailing the main email please use welfare@lewesfencingclub.org.uk this will go directly to our Welfare Officer (Claire Cox).
We are looking forward to seeing you soon, and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Claire, Della, Gordon, Lewis and Simon.