Sir, I would like to comment on the ridiculous claims made by Tenby Town Council about the application for a general licence at Tenby Sailing Club. The club was established in its current form in 1936 and has close links with the local schools and hosts numerous sailing invents, ranging from Welsh squad race training to sailing class national championships and the very popular Tenby regatta and round Caldey island race (as reported in the Observer in 1877 - copy in the club), which bring a lot of money into the town. Every dinghy equals two families (unless single-handers), who, while their relative partners are out on the water, walk round and spend money in the shops. Several comments were made which I think your readers should know are totally false and have upset the members of Tenby Sailing Club in the brick wall that has been put up without understanding the facts and not asking the relevant people about it and how the members are trying to bring the club forward. The first thing is that Tenby Sailing Club is primarily and will always be a members club, run for the members by a committee of members for the interest of the whole. In that way nothing is going to change. Changing the licence from a club licence to an open one will negate the need for filling out more paperwork and sending off a rather large cheque for permission to open to the public, which we already do and have done for many years, such as the Summer Harbour Spectaculars and the only free venue for the Blues Weekend. As for the comment about an extra 50 events, that would be nice. However, I think you will find that outside of what we normally apply for we have very few events. We do have birthdays, Christenings and, yes, in the last year a wedding. The club is available to the members for their use, as any club would be. I have been a member of the club for 31 years and I can safely say that the members do not leave the club making a noise, not even on NYE, and to my knowledge there has never been a complaint about noise due to our members. Also Harriet's House on the harbour had a successful charity night in and hosted by the club (I wonder if they agreed to use their name in vain). As for the licence to be enough at 2300 hrs, I think the council need the facts in front of them first, as the club has always had a licence until 0000 hrs, which in fact is adhered to. As for advertising it, I do believe it was done in a paper that has a wide circulation and a large amount of readers and totally correct, and it was advertised on the sailing club, as they say, all legal and above board. The weddings on the harbour have nothing to do with the sailing club. The big marquee and bars are run by outside caterers and the club has not supplied anything to these events. These are between the council and the relative families, not TSC. TSC is one of the oldest buildings in Tenby; it has been a sailing club since 1936 and I hope it will remain so for many many more years to come. If it was ever sold, it could only be done by the county council as they own the building and it comes within the harbour assets. If they did sell, then the next occupant would have to apply for a licence, so that could be turned down. It would be a shame to lose such a homely, friendly and welcoming club that only wants to allow its doors to be opened to the town during the day. The long and short of it is the club will still be a members club. However, in the summer months, if we would like to open our doors to the residents of Tenby so they can enjoy a nice drink, overlooking a beautiful harbour, then I think we should be able to make that choice. With times changing, rents going up, old buildings needing more and more maintenance, we need to diversify (unless you're already a publican). It seems to me that Tenby Town Council is anti-business as there always seems to be a small-minded attitude on the council about businesses wanting to set up, expand or diversify. This includes the St. Catherines Island project. The council just doesn't want to see that the town is dying, just look at the empty shops.

Tenby Sailing Club member.