CLUB SUPPORT AND AFFILIATION
If you run a club in Wales, there's lots of great reasons to affiliate to Paddle Cymru. You'll get public liability insurance, support from our Development Team to help your club grow and develop, access to Sport Wales grants, free DBS checks for your volunteers, and much more.
Affiliation benefits
By affiliating to Paddle Cymru, your club will receive the following great benefits:
- Public Liability insurance
- Support and advice from Paddle Cymru
- Access to Sport Wales Community Chest and Development Grants
- Free DBS checks for volunteers
- Free and discounted training opportunities and special events
- Welsh Sports Association membership (find out more here)
- Listing in the Paddle Cymru club finder
- Listing of all public club events on the Paddle Cymru website
- Event safety support and advice
- £5 off facility fees at the National White Water Centre for Club Associate members
- 2 free issues of Ceufad, our quarterly magazine
Affiliated clubs - how to renew
If your club is already affiliated to Paddle Cymru, you can now manage your club's affiliation online through our JustGo Paddling Hub. Your club will have an Online Administrator (usually your Club Secretary) who can access the online Club Profile using their normal login. Through our online system, your club can:
- Update your club profile
- Manage your club register
- Pay your annual affiliation fees - via direct debit or credit card, or you can request an invoice
- Purchase Club Associate membership for club members (if needed)
- Upload club documents, such as your Constitution or Safeguarding Policy
If you are your club's Online Administrator, we have produced some videos to help you navigate the system.
New clubs - how to affiliate
Interested in affiliating to Paddle Cymru? We're here to help!
The first step is to get in touch through our
Contact Us page with a little information about your club and how to contact you. We'll then get in touch with you to set up an online account, and once you've logged in you can fill out your club's details, add members to your club register and pay your affiliation fee online.
Club Activity V Peer Paddles
The document below is designed to help clubs to understand the difference between formal club activity and peer paddles. It is also designed to help clubs to understand some actions that the club can take to help members differentiate between the two and understand the implications for any members carrying out peer paddling (as an alternative to club activity).
Need help or advice?
You can find answers to a lot of questions in the Resources and Guidance Section below - including links to guidance about Safeguarding & Child Protection, Event Safety and how to report an incident.
If you can't find the answer on our website or you need some extra help and guidance, get in touch through our Contact Us page and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.
All our clubs are supported by a Development Officer who you can contact at any time for advice and support.
Current affiliation fees
As of 1 May 2021
Club Affiliation: £100 per year
Please note that all club members must hold Paddle Cymru membership in order to meet the requirements of our insurers. If a club member already holds Paddle Cymru membership, there is no additional fee to add them to your club register. If a club member does not hold Paddle Cymru membership, you will need to purchase a Club Associate membership on their behalf.
Club Associate membership (annual fee): £10.50 per adult, £5 per child (under 18)
Please see our club fees guidance document for more information.
If you have any members in your club who live outside of Wales, then you can meet the NGB membership requirement for those members if they hold a valid Paddle UK, Paddle Scotland or Paddle NI full membership. Please note that they will be insured for club activities through their home nation, however, and not Paddle Cymru. If you have members who only paddle within your club (and therefore do not require a full membership) then those members can join Paddle Cymru as a Club Associate, regardless of country of residence.
If your club paddles on any waters that require a waterways licence (for example, waterways managed by the Canal & River Trust) you may also need to purchase a licence for each boat. We purchase these from Paddle UK on behalf of our clubs and they are provided at cost.
Club waterways licence: £10 per boat per year
Affiliation requirements
In order to ensure that our clubs are safe and welcoming spaces for paddlers, we ask all clubs to complete the following minimum requirements as a condition of affiliation.
Safety and governance requirements
Affiliated clubs must upload the following five documents to your Paddle Cymru Club Profile online (Please note, there are templates for each of these below).
- Club Constitution
- Club Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy
- Note: We ask that this policy includes formal adoption of the Coaches Code of Conduct and all Canoe Wales/British Canoeing Child Protection Policies.
- Generic Risk Assessment
- Standard Operating Procedures
- Health and Safety Policy
Additional Safeguarding requirements
Affiliated clubs must also meet the following three minimum safeguarding requirements:
- Have a named safeguarding officer who is a member of Paddle Cymru with their current contact details on your online Club Profile.
- The club’s safeguarding officer must have completed the Time to Listen training course (more information here).
- The club must be registered to complete DBS checks, and you must arrange these checks for all volunteers with regular or unsupervised contact with children (more information here)
How do we upload our five key documents?
Your club's online administrator will need to upload these:
- Login to the JustGo Paddling Hub using your username and password.
- Under My Club click on Club Profile to see the information we hold about your club.
- Click on Credentials (in the top menu) to see all "club credentials", which means any club document you need to upload.
- Click Add Credential. Then select the type of document you are uploading.
- Click Next. Then add the date the document was approved and when it is due for review, as well as any notes.
- Click Next. Then click Upload to select the file to upload.
- And finally, click Finish to close and save.
What if we need help? Are there templates?
Contact our Development Officer Lydia Wilford (lydia.wilford@paddlecymru.org.uk) if you would like to arrange a phone call or face-to-face meeting for help. There are templates for all five documents below.
How should we tell Paddle Cymru who our safeguarding officer is?
Your club's Online Administrator can do this via your online Club Profile. Once you have logged into the JustGo Paddling Hub, click on Club Profile and then Club Members. Select the club member's name. Then select Club Role in the left hand menu. Then click the yellow Update Roles button. Tick the box for Safeguarding Officer and click save.
It is also very important that your club's members all know who the safeguarding officer is and how to contact them.
Why does our safeguarding officer need to have Paddle Cymru membership?
We require membership so that officers are covered by our liability insurance for any decisions that you take.
How do we find a Time to Listen course?
How do we register to use the Paddle Cymru DBS service?
What if we need more time to meet one of the requirements?
If you need more time to meet one of our affiliation requirements, you must put in a request to the CEO for an extension. Please note that extensions can only be granted in exceptional circumstances.
If you would like to make such a request, email childprotection@paddlecymru.org.uk with the following information:
- Which requirement you need more time to meet
- Why you need more time
- When you will meet the requirement
- What additional support you need from Paddle Cymru to meet the requirement
- How you will ensure the safety and well-being of participants until then
Club policy templates
We ask that all clubs maintain the following five policies in order to ensure your club provides a safe and welcoming environment for members. We have provided templates here to help you to start to develop your own documents. If you need help, please get in touch with your Paddle Cymru Development Officer who can provide advice. We also ask that you upload these documents to your online Club Profile which will help to monitor when they're due for a review by your club committee.
- Club Constitution - Download a template
- Club Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy - Download a template
- Note: We ask that this policy includes formal adoption of the Coaches Code of Conduct and all Paddle Cymru/Paddle UK Child Protection Policies
- Generic Risk Assessment - Download a template
- Standard Operating Procedures - Download a template
- Health and Safety Policy - Download a template
- Club Equality Policy - Download a template
Please note that these documents are meant to provide a framework for developing your own policies and procedures, but that clubs are encouraged to adapt and enhance these templates or to use other templates as required to meet the specific needs of your club.
You can also find a wealth of information from
Sport Wales on their Club Solutions website - full of free downloads, useful advice and an excellent club assessment tool you can use to perform a health check on your club.
Club accreditation
We are in the process of revising our club accreditation process in partnership with Paddle UK to ensure that it is fit-for-purpose and well-suited to the varied interests of our clubs. In the meantime, we encourage all clubs to take part in the Disability Sport Wales insport club accreditation scheme which will support you to ensure that your club is a safe and welcoming place for all paddlers. For more information, contact our CEO Alistair Dickson (alistair.dickson@paddlecymru.org.uk) or click on the link below.
