Oiseau Rock Squadron Celebrates 1st Life Member Achievement

   A milestone was celebrated by members of Oiseau Rock Squadron on Wednesday, May 26th at their combined AGM, Volunteer Awards, and Change of Watch Ceremony held at the Bear’s Den Hotel in Deep River.

   The evening acknowledged the volunteer efforts of all members of the Squadron during the past year,  members voted on the nominated members for the new executive “Bridge Members”, and formally pledged all the new Squadron Officers for the 2010-2011 Year.  Oiseau Rock Squadron proudly welcomes their new Commander, Ross Judd,  to the top job and looks forward to working with him. 

Welcome aboard, Ross. 

Ross’s first official duty as Commander was to present retiring Commander Colin Allan with a Past Commander’s Flag which he has earned the right to fly from  his boat alongside his CPS Flag.

  The Squadron Change of Watch Ceremony is normally officiated by the District Commander for Rideau District, who this year is Cathie Johnstone.  Due to illness, she was unable to attend so asked her sister, Linda Hamilton, the Past Commander of Rideau District to attend on her behalf.  Two years ago, on this occasion, Oiseau Rock celebrated its 25th Anniversary of becoming a Squadron and we tried to have Evelyn Clue, the Past District Commander of Rideau District(who is Cathie and Linda’s Mother) to attend when we achieved our Charter, but were unsuccessful because of previous commitments.  This year we succeeded.

  The highlight of the evening,  was the presentation of the Squadron’s First Life Member Award to Charles Langlais by Past District Commander Evelyn Clue!  The award consists of a plaque, pin and a special Life Member CPS Flag    A Life Member Award is earned by achieving 20 Merit Marks - a Merit Mark is awarded each year to a volunteer for at least 20 hours of volunteer work for the Squadron and Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons (CPS).  Charles has served as a Training Officer, Executive Officer, Commander, Past Commander, and currently Newsletter Editor and Instructor during the course of his Squadron membership.

Congratulations and thanks to Charles from your fellow members.

  We are always looking to welcome new members into our group.  Full membership in the Squadron requires that you successfully complete the twelve week Boating Course.  Associate membership is open to all that successfully complete the Boat Pro Course, which grants you your Pleasure Craft Operator’s Card (PCOC) that everyone who operates a powered vessel is required to have as of  September 2009.  The PCOC that you receive from CPS has the advantage of being approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) which means it is valid in the US should you decide to take your boat South down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to the Bahamas.