Sport England: Active Together has provided £5,000 of match funding
City of Oxford Rowing Club - gym refurbishment
Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
Aim
We aim to refurbish our gym so that all of our club members can get the most our of our rowing club, and achieve a high level of rowing.
Who are we?
Here at City of Oxford Rowing Club we train in the heart of the city and aim to supply a high level of training for everyone, and compete every year at major national events such as Henley Royal Regatta, and Head of the River Race.
Above is a photo of one of our men's fours competing at Henley Royal Regatta this year.
Our club membership is largely comprised of six squads:
- Men's Senior: The Senior Squad aim to compete at multi-lane and other prestigious regattas, and be a competitive force at Henley Royal Regatta.
- Women' Senior: These squads participate at the highest club level, competing at major national and international events, aiming for a high placing at Head of the River.
- Masters: The Masters’ Squad is for men and women aged 27+ with previous rowing experience who wish to be an active member of a close-knit squad.
- Development: This squad aims to provide a learning environment for those new to rowing, enabling them to move up to the Competition Squads or even the Senior Squads
- Juniors: Our juniors range from the age of 11-18. The Junior Squad aim to win multi-lane and other prestigious regattas, and be a competitive force at national events.
- Adaptive: Adaptive rowing is rowing for people with a disability and is about removing barriers to participation in the sport for anyone who has a physical, sensory or learning impairment.
To the left is a photo of one of our adaptive squad scullers competing in this year's adaptive invitational regatta held by our club. To the right is of our women's squad eights racing at Upper Thames Autumn Head 2021.
What do we want to achieve and why?
We want to raise £10,000 to go towards our gym refurbishment and installation of accessible changing and toilet facilities.
The main aim of our new gym will be to make the club accessible to all. At the moment there are no downstairs changing or gym facilities, which means a number of our members are not able to access our current provisions.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic we have had a significant loss of income, as such the road to refurbishment of our gym, and installation of downstairs changing and toilet facilities has been a long one. Donating to our campaign will help us reach our target, and supply every member with the facilities they deserve.
Our fundraising efforts
During the course of our campaign we will be running multiple fundraising efforts such as:
- Christmas Mince Pie Races day
- New training kit
- Buy the name of the single (of which we have two),
- Get your name on a donors board, which will be on the wall of the new gym.
- We are also in the process of speaking to a number of local businesses to organise special offers and vouchers to be offered as pledgers, so watch this space for updates on this front!
All profits of which will go to our campaign.
We also encourage all members and supporters to help us with their own fundraisers they may wish to set up, as well as encouraging friends and family to donate directly to this crowdfunder page.
Throughout the course of this campaign we will post regular updates of our progress on this page.
Any donations big, or small, will enable us to make our club the best, and most accessible, we can, so please get the word out and help us to achieve our goal.
Thank you,
City of Oxford Rowing Club.
Photos of our current provisions:
Upstairs Facilities:
These pictures show our current disabled toilet facility, which, as pictured to the right and below the photo of the toilet, is located up two flights of stairs. Therefore the majority of our adaptive squad are unable to use this facility.
Front door access:
Above is a photo of our front door to the rowing club, as you can see this is currently not wide enough for wheelchair access.
Current downstairs gym:
The top two photos are of our current downstairs gym facilities. As you can see this is a hazard in itself, with improper ventilation, bad lighting, no proper floor, and no weight provisions. The photo to the left shows the door into this gym. This door is far too narrow for wheelchair access, and the grooves in the floor make it impossible to access.
Our lobby way:
Below is a photo of our lobby way. Due to the inaccessibility of the changing and toilet facilities, our members who cannot use them are forced to use the lobby to get ready to train in.
Gallery
Here is a selection of photos of our various squads in competitions:
Rewards!
Please refer to our rewards section to purchase the items listed below, as well as for more details on the products:
- Blueblood Sport Oxford - £40 Voucher
Pledge £30 or more, and have £40 to buy something nice at Blueblood sport shop in the Oxford covered market.
- Buy the name of the single:
Pledge £250 or more to our campaign in our rewards section, and have the pleasure of choosing the name of one of our two Wintech singles which are currently without names.
- Have your name in our new gym:
A feature of our new gym will be a donors board where we can include your name and/or business name for a pledge of £15 or more. Make your mark on our new gym!
- Have 3 German lessons
Ever wanted the learn or improve your German? pledge £10 today and receive 3 German lessons.
- Have 3 Spanish lessons
Ever wanted to learn or improve your Spanish? Pledge £10 today and receive 3 Spanish lessons.
- Have 3 music theory lessons
Struggle with music theory? pledge £10 and you can have 3 theory lessons at any level you may be at.
- Finca La Anita Malbec
Pledge £15 and receive a delicious bottle of Argentinian Malbec.
- Pert portrait
Have you beloved pet's portrait painted by a skilled artist by pledging £50 towards our new gym. please note that this will only cover one portrait of one pet.
- City of Oxford Rowing Club: A History in Boats:
Pledge £10 or more with us on our rewards section and you will receive this handy book, written in 2018 to celebrate 50 years of CORC. Here you can read about the history of each boat in our fleet!
This project successfully funded on 27th January 2022