For many surfers, their local surf club is the place where they became really hooked on surfing. From groms to veterans, clubs offer contests, coaching, parties and a real place to share your love of surfing with others from your local beach or area.
We are going to be featuring different clubs from across the British Isles, delving deeper into their history, members and what makes them the beating heart of the local surf community.
In the first of this series, we spoke to Molly Blair from Bristol Girls Surf Club to get the low-down on the club and its members.
Club name:
Bristol Girls Surf Club
Your name and position in the club:
Molly Blair – Director of Fundraising and Sponsorship
Where does the club have its HQ?
Bristol
What year was your club formed and who were the founding members?
2020 – Matilda Jackson founded the club as a Facebook group
2023 – The first committee of 11 women was formed to help grow the club
2024 – the club became a registered Community Interest Company (CIC) with a board of directors consisting of Matilda Jackson, Sammie Firth, Ceri Evans, Sophia Massey and Molly Blair. We then recruited an advisory committee and now have a team of four more women helping us out – big shout out to Sophie, Charlie, Zara and Katie!
How many members do you have currently?
Across our community groups we have about 3000 people, and we have 167 paid subscribers.
Who are the youngest and oldest?
Our club is for over 18s and we have people all the way from their early 20s up to their 40s/50s at the moment. But we’re open to everyone and welcome women and non-binary people of any age to join as long as they’re an adult. We also welcome 16-17 year olds to some of our events when accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Who are the ‘club characters’?
Honestly everyone in our club is a character worth shouting about! There is a really strong community in Bristol and something we always appreciate as directors of BGSC is seeing the same friendly faces coming to all of our events. It’s even better when people start organising their own meet-ups and you can see the impact of the club and how members of the community grow in confidence. I wouldn’t want to single out anyone specifically as a ‘character,’ but those who come regularly and make the club a welcoming space deserve a shout out – you know who you are, there are a lot of you!
What regular contests do you hold at the club?
We’re a laid-back club. Being based in the city means we can’t get to the ocean as often as most of us would like to, and when we do we’re all about having a fun time and connecting with the water. Maybe we’ll host some competitions in the future or take part in an inter-club competition, but at the moment it’s all about building community and helping women get into the ocean as often as possible. We’ve got a lot of beginner and improver surfers in our club as well as some pro shredders – we love seeing people discover surfing with us as much as we love to see people improve.
What bragging rights do you have?
When surveyed after one of our day trips, 100% of the women who attended said that they came away with a new friend, which we think is pretty awesome. Since then we’ve had people tell us that they met their best friends in Bristol through the club. Hearing about the impact the club is having on the lives of women in Bristol, not just when it comes to finding surf buddies but overall, it makes it all so worthwhile.
Any successful contest surfers who’ve compete at European or World events?
Not that I’m aware of!
Would you like to shout-out any club sponsors or supporters?
We don’t have any sponsors as such, but plenty of brands have worked with us which we’re really grateful for. In particular The Wave, Bristol’s inland surf lake has been really supportive of the club. The Wave is of course our closest destination to get our surf fix and plenty of our community go there every week. This year we’ve attended all of their Sister Sessions as a club, and the atmosphere on those days is second to none. They also invited us to take part in their Surf Expo in July which was great fun and helped us to network in the wider surf industry.
We’ve also worked closely with Blue Room Hostel in Newquay who have hosted us for all of our weekend trips to Cornwall – Lee who runs the hostel is so welcoming and has been really supportive of our club. Other shout-outs should go to Now Studio in Bristol, Finisterre, Hand Laid Eggs and True Start Coffee.
If people are interested in joining, what should they do?
Firstly take a look at our website – bristolgirlssurfclub.co.uk – where you can find out more about us, what we do and what events we’ve got coming up. We have a WhatsApp group where people connect with each other to go on surf trips, which is a great place to jump in to meet the community. Our email and DMs on Instagram are also always open – so if someone is keen to join but they’re feeling nervous, we encourage them to get in touch.
And finally, in one sentence, why is your club the best surf club in Britain?
Our motto is ‘making the city and the sea a great place to be’ and I think that pretty much sums us up.
Would you like to see your surf club featured? Drop us a message today!
