About Glossop Sailing Club
Glossop Sailing Club operates on Torside Reservoir in the Longdendale Valley, a stunning Peak District National Park setting. The club runs sessions for sailing, windsurfing and power boat training . The club is open to all and is RYA recognised.
Glossop Sailing Club Description
The club was originally formed in September 1970 by a group of local enthusiasts who had attended a sailing course at the Glossop Centre. They approached Manchester Corporation with a view to sailing on one of the reservoirs in the Longdendale valley.
Sailing began in a small way, using boats made available by Derbyshire Education Authority through the original course and by accepting invitations from local clubs to try out boats owned by their members. Application was then made to use Torside Reservoir, which appeared to offer the best opportunities for development. However, Torside Reservoir could not be made immediately available and in the Autumn of 1972, Manchester Corporation offered the club the use of either Vale House Reservoir or Bottoms Reservoir as a temporary home. The 30 members of GDSC reviewed their options and settled upon Bottoms as their first home.
On Saturday, February 17th 1973 the first working party commenced. By June 1973 the members had installed the necessary facilities. This included access roads, dinghy park, slipway, car park, main drainage, septic tank, settling tank, water main and clubhouse (the clubhouse having been dismantled at its original site at Denton and transported to Bottoms for re-assembly). Several tons of hard-core and gravel were moved by shovel and sailing started on June 17th.
By July 1978 the members were pushing NWWA for permission to try sailing at Torside although the AGM of that year felt that the costs involved in moving were prohibitive. The AGM in 1981 finally voted upon the matter and a Committee was established to manage the move. The first full sailing day at Torside was on 15th of August 1982 and continued in an ad-hoc fashion during the 1983 sailing season, in parallel with the building of a new clubhouse. The club began full sailing at Torside on April 1st 1984, 14 years after its formation.
During the many years sailing at Torside, the club has continuously improved its facilities through the efforts of its members and with assistance from the Foundation for Sport and Arts and the Lottery Fund. In the Spring of 1995 we laid the foundations of the new Race Control and Boatstore which we completed by the end of the year. Since then there have continuing improvements to the safety boat fleet and the slipway. The club can operate even with the reservoir 8 metres below full.
Since the year 2000, there has been a great emphasis improving training facilities particularly for junior sailors. The club has built a fleet of optimists, toppers and fevers to develop junior racing. For adults, the ageing GP14 fleet has been replaced with modern asymmetric training boats.
Since 2008 the club has offered windsurfing training. Although long popular as a Windsurfing venue, the club needed RYA recognition for training. The instructors and equipment are now in place.
The club has worked closely with regional and national RYA initiatives. The club is part of the On Board scheme for junior sailors, the T15 scheme for junior windsurfers and is an aspiring Volvo Champion club for junior racing. As recognition of this effort the club was a runner up for the club of the year title in 2011.
What about the Spa? The natural peat in the reservoir water is claimed by some to be great for the hair!