DCC accreditation as a Quality Club

In 2011 and 2014 DCC was awarded Clubmark, the Sport England standard for well-managed sports clubs. In 2020 Clubmark was replaced by British Canoeing’s new Quality Club which established new good practice criteria for club governance and safeguarding. Quality Club is part of a three-step scheme that starts with the basic standard for affiliation, then quality club standards, and finally recognition as a champion club in specific areas of excellence.

After several months of review and action planning the DCC committee unanimously agreed that we had met the Quality Club standard and our submission to the British Canoeing Clubs Team was accepted. James Hinves from British Canoeing presented the award to Mark Bouch, Club Chair at our annual awards evening at Braeside House.

Mark commented “The QC process flushed out one or two areas for improvement including some things where we didn’t have adequate policy coverage. We now have a much better system for policy ownership and management, with more people involved. I believe this has strengthened the committee. We are proud of what we’ve achieved and it’s rewarding to see more people stepping up, contributing their ideas and getting stuff done”.

So what’s next?  The committee has already agreed to work towards the Champion Club status in Talent Development, so that is our next priority. In 2022 we also have additional Quality Club criteria to meet as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion standards are featured for the first time. Jon Scaplehorn will be leading our review and action planning process. If you would like to get involved, please get in touch. Jon will welcome your support.