An Introduction to the AWCC

What is the AWCC?

The Association of Waterway Cruising Clubs (AWCC) is a grouping of individual and independent clubs which offer their members facilities related to boating on the inland waterways of the United Kingdom. Membership of the AWCC is open to all properly constituted UK clubs in this sphere, whether they have a defined physical location and base (i.e. moorings and/or clubhouse) or comprise a looser grouping of individual boaters with a common interest. Membership of the AWCC is not open to individual boaters other than by being a member of a club that is an AWCC member. Clubs pay a modest annual fee for membership of the AWCC that then entitles all their members to take advantage of the facilities that the AWCC offers.

What are the benefits of AWCC membership?

There are benefits from membership of the AWCC for both clubs and their individual members.

For clubs, membership provides access to the expertise and shared experience of both the national AWCC officers and members and officers of other member clubs. In particular, the AWCC has experienced officers who can represent the interests of member clubs, either individually or collectively, with other organisations and government departments, including the Canal & Rivers Trust, and the Environment Agency. The AWCC have officers who sit on a number of national waterways advisory bodies and can thus represent the interests of member clubs in those forums.

For individual club members, the AWCC offers reciprocal arrangements with other member clubs, including emergency help whilst out cruising, access to temporary moorings for overnight or longer stays, as well as use of other facilities and clubhouse access. Clearly these facilities will depend on what each club is able to offer, and each club is free to determine their own rules and charges for use of the facilities. Contact details for each club for making arrangements prior to visiting a club are included in the AWCC Handbook which is produced each year, and which is available to members of AWCC clubs for a small fee, as well as being available in the members area of the AWCC website. Version 1.4 (20-11-2019)

AWCC Management Structure

The operation of the AWCC is divided into 6 regions. Each club should have appointed a representative (AWCC Rep) to attend the regional meetings, to represent their club’s interests and to channel information between the AWCC and their club. Each Region appoints a number of regional officers at their Regional AGM, including a Chairman, Secretary, President and Treasurer, to manage the regional business, two of which then represent the Region on the National Executive Committee (NEC). Whilst many of the regional officers may start out as Reps for their Club, this is not a requirement and nominations are welcome from anyone keen to support the work of the AWCC. The NEC also consists of a number of national officers who are elected at the AWCC National AGM, again without the requirement to be a Club Rep. A full list of all national and regional officers is available in the Handbook and in the Members Area of the website.

This structure allows clubs to raise issues at a regional level which can then be escalated to the NEC for further national action where relevant. If you have any issues with the management of the waterways or other boating matters that require action and which fall outside individual club responsibilities, pass these to your club’s AWCC Rep for them to take to the regional meetings from where further escalation can be managed where appropriate.

AWCC Website

The AWCC maintains a website at http://awcc.org.uk. This comprises a public area, which gives general information about the organisation and summary information about its member clubs, as well as a password protected members area where more detailed information about the member clubs and their contacts, access to the AWCC forums and other information such as regional and national meeting minutes is available.

All current members of a Club that is a member of the AWCC are entitled to a login to the Members' Area of the AWCC web site.

As the AWCC itself has no means of establishing whether an applicant for a login is a current member of one of its member clubs, the creation of these logins is handled by officers of the club itself. Therefore, as a member of an AWCC club, you should apply to one of your club officers (as recorded by the AWCC) for them to create your login record. Details of your login ID and initial password will then be automatically emailed directly to you. The club officers recorded by the AWCC and who should have this ability include the Secretary, Membership Secretary, AWCC Rep, Contact for visiting AWCC boaters and Treasurer. In some cases, further club officers may also have the ability to create the login records. To create a login, the only information that is required is your forename, surname, private email address and the club of which you are a member.

The AWCC Rep for your Club is Brian Hill