Register an interest 

 

 

       
 

When John Williams and I were asked to re create the Web Site as it was before, by a large number of ex eoa members, after the Jan 2003 AGM fiasco, we were only too willing to oblige.

So, here it is, 'YOUR' web site.

They also asked John to create a new owners assoc.  He was reluctant to do so, hoping to regain the original.  But as more members resigned or indicated they would never have anything to do with the rude people involved in the old eoa, he realised that was improbable and so, with their help, formed this group.

 'The Eventide Owners Group'.

What were we to do about a committee, a constitution, and the like? These are questions we all pondered over more than anything else you see in these pages. We had no committee, beyond John and myself, we had no constitution, we had no funds,  thus we had no 'members'. What we did have was a lot, an awful lot, of moral support, so John funded the web space out of his own pocket and I set about creating the web site to fill the web space. 

Feb 2005 after 2 years of existence, we have a Constitution, a Steering Group and the offices of Webmaster, Coordinator and Donations Fund Manger.  We now are official!  People join us because they see us as a genuine group of 'owners' enthusing about our boats and wanting to run our own group, not being led by those who did not want to put their money where their mouth was and own one of these craft.  Our rules clearly state you can only be a full voting member if you 'own' one of these craft.  Others are welcome as friends, but they do not run the group.  (Friends are welcome, but there are some of the old eoa committee and their 'friends' who would never be welcomed by many of us who witnessed the fiasco of the 2003 eoa agm, so don't bother applying!)

Why do we say "Enrol"

The simple answer is that as we ask no fee,  'members' have no financial interest in the Group.  It is clear, therefore, that you can't become a 'member', there is nothing (tangible) to become a member of.  Instead you have simple group. 

So, why bother 'Enrolling'?  It is important to us that we know what you think of this site, and we want to know we have your support.  To this end we  seek your ideas and comments and , in due course, the site will become more of what you asked for, and less of what we choose to give you.   (2006, we think it has!) 

Also we offer copies of our own boat plans to other  'members'.  We used to pass the actual plans around, but now we simply can send you a CD with them on.  We have not got them all, we do the Eventide, Senior, Storm, Waterwitch and Riptide at the moment, even the very early version of the Eventide too!  Another 3 designs are on the way!  Plus, we have been offered a ferro-concrete version of one of the designs too!  May 2006, we now have the WW and the designer of the Goosander has donated all his plans to us withdrawing them from the old eoa. In addition we have been promised others, we now have the Junior and  Wild Duck awaiting scanning!  So in the fullness of time we expect to be able to help owners of nearly all the designs.  In addition some early MG drawings are coming to us too!

We will  also listen to any enrolled owner who is willing to make a comment for or against the site. You can phone us, email us, or put your comments on the Forum Pages - you will be listened to. We have, also as the result of requests, started a 'Forum'.  You can simply register, then login to leave comments,  very simple.  (March 2006, we have!)  We now have the option of a password protected part of our site,  perhaps the future home of an on line register of those interested? Already a prototype map of the world, with members boats shown, is being loaded, May 2006.

(Note that after comments about the use of 'Java' the Home page has been altered!  Other pages with Java still on them are being worked on now, 2006, there are so many pages we 'lost' these!!)

 OK, so who are the Eventide Owners Group? Well it's you and me - everyone who has expressed an interest in the Eventide Owners Group. The owners and friends of these designs that support our stance on owners groups.   Those who might wish to own one, or those who once did and for some reason no longer do, but hark back with affection to the days they did.

We have the on-line 'Newsletter', a new edition every 6 months!!,  and the ever growing gallery of photos for all to enjoy.

As to funding, is worth commenting here that numerous registrants have contributed, money or goods to sell on the site to help keep the site going - we are all  indebted to them for keeping the site financed.

Should you have an overwhelming desire to contribute, you can  donate securely via Pay Pal. (just click the Donate button - every little helps.)  You could always see the contacts page for John's address, if you do not already know it, and send a donation that way, payable to the EOG, but we are not begging.  Thanks to the generosity of many, this site will be live for many years.

 (I promise to ensure it always stays live! ..John.  In memory of Barry Sturrock our late webmaster,  who sadly died in April 2005...)

In the meantime John has taken legal advice and it seems we are eligible to register as a charity.  This means our accounts will be inspected with a small 'board of Trustees' or 'Steering Group'  who have now been  be appointed.  We also have a Lloyds bank account,  in the name 'Eventide Owners Group'. In future then, donations, and we thank you for them thus far, can be made payable to that account.

 

Regards

Barry Sturrock (Webmaster)

John Williams (Almost every other job, but with a big thank you to the Advisors!)

 

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Two years on ...

 we now have the biggest website in the world devoted to our boats, the largest Maurice Griffiths information base and by far the largest collection of real owners!  It is updated almost daily with information from you, the owners!  Our on line 'Newsletter' is now in it's third edition, and we look forward to many more pages from owners. We have been flattered by the amount of post and E-mail, far in excess of anything I coped with when sec of the old lot.  The support and generosity of owners and friends is astounding, thank you one and all for your support.

John   Dec 31st 2004.

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July 2005.  We are still registering new  people to our cause, many are new owners, but there are a lot that I knew from years ago, who have realised the sad truth of what happened to the old eoa and are pledging their support. 

We have a new database in preparation that when fully updated, will carry information about every Y.M. and MG boat we have ever heard of, this will only be available to the steering group, but via it and them,  we will be able to contact other owners on behalf of anyone, so not divulging personal information and contravening the Data Protection Act.  Your privacy will be assured.  However what we are finding is that small groups of owners are already swapping phone numbers and mail addresses via us and widening the net even further. 

While we are realistic to realise we will never get every owner to register, we hope to have a useful database and list of owners and keep it up to date.

John.   July 2005

 

The new Database is about to be transferred to the safe keeping of John Stevens, the designer of it!  He will keep the records, and in the fullness of time add the members locations to the website map.

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John  November 05,

 

We have now, thanks to our new Webmaster, Tim, a new forum and we have seen a fair amount of tiding up on the site.  The Database is firmly in the hands of John Stevens and is a very useful tool for helping owners.  We are adding new information all the time from registrants and soon will start loading all the historical information we have to hand as well.

The photo gallery has passed the 1000 pictures mark and is still growing.  As a  result the Webmaster is considering radical changes to allow it to load faster for all. 

We are ordering more burgees, as the first batch are nearly all sold!  Fly your colours with pride!

 The events calendar is full again, mostly in the South East again, it has to be said, but that is where the heaviest concentrations of members are, so it is not surprising.

We look forward to another good season and a larger, stronger Owners Group.

John  April 2006.

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We now have scanned almost all our drawings, just looking for a few sheets, the steel versions of some and the Mouette...  we have so many owners coming to join us it is amazing.  All agree with our simple stance and we go from strength to strength, helping others get afloat in these designs!

John  October 2006

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Four years on.......

With our membership still rising at the rate of several a week and the number of previously unknown boats coming forward we realise that in shaking the Eventide organisation up we have done a whole lot of good, so the disreputable individuals who started this in a way are to be thanked!  Odd that!

Never thought I would be thanking them.  Despite that, Mc Nasty, Saymore Jones, Commings, Beaver, Eatless, McNorton and Heart, would never be welcomed to join us, by any of the owners who witnessed their behaviour..... 

One or two others, who sat on their hands and did nothing to prevent the appalling behaviour, still have a chance to redeem themselves, maybe they could publicly sent the promised apologies, to the owners and to the widow of the webmaster....   somehow I doubt it will happen, they have not been rushing to show themselves to be men of honour thus far.......

John  January 2007

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Six years on....

We have now moved to a new web host, as we had outgrown the former host.  The site has grown to a staggering 1.2 Gigabytes and our member ship to over 800, growing by at least one new owner a week still.

We hope we are providing what the owners wanted, a group run by owners and supported by friends.

John Williams  June 2009.

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January 2011.   Why we formed  is now ancient history.  We are enrolling 'owners' at the rate of 2 a week and 'Friends' about the same, many of these 'Friends' are actually then becoming 'full members' as they buy or begin to build these boats.  We have now passed the 1000th enrolment.  We could never have envisaged the support we have got.  Due to the generosity of members, who have sent in small donations, we have also been able to donate to a youth charity sailing group this year. Something we would wish to continue to do in the future.

John

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May 2016. Our membership is now at 1600!  We are still getting one or two join every week.  Great thing is the number of hitherto unknown boats coming out of the woodwork! Seems far more Eventides, Waterwitch's and Seniors were built than we thought!

John

February 2018, we are saddened to announce the old association has folded.  Saddened because the writing has been on the wall for years. 2 years ago we were approached and offered the assets of the old eoa to buy!  We refused as these were donated to the owners, not to be sold as chattels.  We then wondered who would ultimately benefit from this sale?  After the dishonesty displayed by some of the old committee......

Instead we offered the hand of conciliation and asked that they simply joined us on our terms.  They declined.

The end of the eoa was inevitable given the committee did not have the commitment to actually own one of these designs.  The surprise is that it took so long.

RIP.

If you like what we are doing and would like to join us, please fill in the enrolment form.

Click here to go to the Enrolment form.