In 1967 Pete Watson formed the Civil Service WSC, affiliated the club to the British Water Ski Federation ( BWSF) and as a result found himself at the inaugural meeting of the NW regional committee of the BWSF.

On the committee was a Bill Holden from the NW Rivers Authority and Brian Parry from the Sports Council both of whom knew about water at Sale becoming available at what was a former wetland known as Sale Ees that was being excavated to provide materials for the M60 and to provide a flood basin to alleviate floods in Flixton and Northenden.

Also following  a separate path was Jim Roberts whose children were both skiing at National level and wanted somewhere to train locally. Jim and Pete were introduced by Brian and we decided to raise our profile by becoming involved in any and every committee which may have influence over Sale.

We called a meeting in Sale where about forty people turned up and expressed interest and paid a fee to show commitment.

For a clubhouse we bought a second hand garage which stood slightly nearer the slipway than the boathouse, this was heated  by an old AGA in which we burnt driftwood, The outside wall got quite warm and in winter the geese used to try to get warm by flocking around.

A four buoy slalom course was made on the local park and members began to realize there was more to skiing than tearing round a lake. Skiing took place behind a volunteer driver and their boat on a rota basis.

The lake was then shut whilst it was extended and during this period some of the keener members sampled competition and bought proper ski boats which when the lake re-opened formed the bulk of the rota. A proper slalom course and a jump were made.

A club boat was purchased with grant aid from the sports council as it was necessary to run on LPG for environmental reasons plus the toll on these few boats and owners was getting hard. Towing Mastercrafts to and from the lake and getting home late several times a week tried one or two marriages.

Thanks to these owners our skiing standards rose dramatically. During this period much background work took place to try to ensure we got a proper lease.