Who are we?

We are a friendly and welcoming Cornish Pilot Gig rowing club that gives people of all abilities the chance to experience gig rowing, including racing at regattas and attending social events. 

We are a thriving club with competitive race crews of all ages, ranging from juniors to masters (60+), and everyone in- between! 

We previously ran a very successful crowdfunding campaign to help raise funds to support the club through the Coronavirus pandemic. A huge thanks to all who supported us! Your contributions were an incredible help, covering our overall running costs and enabling us to purchase much needed new equipment. 

We now have a very exciting new project that requires funding...our new boat house! 

Why are we crowdfunding?

We have recently been granted planning permission for a boat house in Summerleaze Car Park, Bude. This is a HUGE milestone for the club. 

We train at Tamar Lakes, a 10-mile drive from Bude and our wooden gig boat has no permanent home and has to be stored in a club member's farm shed. 

Because of the drought, Tamar Lakes is now closed and we have to train at Roadford Lake, 20 miles from Bude! This is having a huge impact on training attendance!

The new boat house will be hugely beneficial to the club and community. It is hoped that the new boat house will:

• Provide a permanent, safe and dry home for our wooden racing gig 
• Make gig rowing more accessible to the local community, including juniors
• Encourage more people to try gig rowing 
• Provide an indoor area to train on rowing machines
• Create a central, sociable hub within Bude for all club members 
• Allow for far greater sea rowing opportunities for all club members
• Increase club membership 

Community impact

We want our club to become a central hub of the community, bringing people from all ages, background and abilities together to enjoy this brilliant sport. We know rowing is fantastic for improving mental health, and we are desperate for more people to reap the benefits, both mentally and physically, from our amazing sport. 

We usually train at Tamar Lakes, 10 miles drive from Bude. The club is disconnected from our hometown and is only accessible to those who can drive / have access to a car. 

Sustainability is at the heart of our club. We want to ensure we are creating a club that is sustainable for the future. This includes reducing our environmental impact and ensuring our membership fees are sustainable for all. Driving to the lake increases our club's carbon footprint, and increases the costs for our members considerably. 

Although we have a thriving junior section, it is reliant on parents driving their children to the lake. With a boat house in the centre of town, we hope to attract more juniors as they won't need transport to get to us. 

Creating greater access to the sport for the younger generation will help to ensure the long-term sustainability of our club and sport.  

Super-Vets and Masters:

Gig rowing is a fantastic sport for all ages. Our Men's Super-Vets teams (Over 50's) are extremely successful, placing third in the recent Super-Vets championship and reaching the quarter finals in the Newquay Open championship, competing with men half their age! Our oldest rowers are in their 70's!  We are, however, struggling to reach ladies in this category, we want to reach out to this demographic. 

The gig shed will make the club far more visible to the community and aim to reach those men and particularly ladies we are missing! 

Cost of living:

We pride ourselves on providing a sustainable and affordable membership. The rising cost of fuel is now a huge consideration and many people in the community will struggle to afford the costs of driving to the lake on a regular basis. By having a boat house in the centre of town we will be opening up the sport to the whole community. 

Bude is on a bus route between the wider community / towns and villages, so those who can't drive will be able to reach us via bus. 

Winter facilities:

At the moment, we rent the sports hall at Budehaven for our winter training on the rowing machines. The boat house will provide a permanent facility to house our rowing machines and open up greater opportunities for training, without the cost of renting the sports hall. 

Within the boat house we plan to create a space bringing together all members of the club be they active rowers or social members. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

All of this comes at a cost! We need a minimum of £40,000 to pay for the construction of the project. We are bringing together all of our skills within the club to help to reduce the costs, but materials are currently very expensive, and we will need to hire local builders to construct the shed. 

We have a fantastic fundraising committee who are running several projects to help raise funds, including:

• Quiz Night
• £200 sponsored challenge for each club member
• Running the London Marathon (Well done Paul!)
• A pop-up shop 
• Christmas Party
• Running a regatta 

The Crowdfunding campaign is only one element of our long list of fundraising plans! 

How our project will be United by Birmingham 2022

This year Birmingham hosted a phenomenal Commonwealth games. Our club aims and goals for our new boat house align perfectly with the objectives of the Commonwealth games:

• Delivering a legacy of promoting and celebrating diversity and inclusion in the West Midlands and the Commonwealth
• More engagement in sports and physical activity resulting in the improvement of underrepresented groups getting involved and/or participating in sport
• Ensuring the Games are accessible and inclusive for everyone: athletes, team officials, volunteers, spectators, media and our key stakeholders.

In line with the Commonwealth Games, our new boat house will remove the barriers to our sport, it will create greater engagement opportunities for everybody. 

We hope to create a space that's inclusive and inviting for all members of the community. 

The club would be honoured to be associated with the Commonwealth Games, leaving a lasting legacy in our small Cornish town. We will endeavor to provide a sporting facility that welcomes all. 

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. If you are a local business, get involved by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Our Supporters: