Boats for the expanding Junior Squad

Aim

This project supports the growth of our junior squad, up in numbers from 64 to 121 in the last three years and still growing.

Who are we?
We are Marlow Rowing Club, founded in 1871, burnt to the ground in 2011 and rebuilt and reopened in 2015 in a state of the art club house.  Since the rebuild we have grown from 350 members to the current  538 and expanded the scope of our activities to reach further into the community.  We take our charitable mission seriously; “the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation by the provision of facilities for rowing and sculling and other sports”.  

Community Impact

We believe that: “a good coach can change a game, a great one can change a life and great club can change a community.”  Some highlights of our impact on the local community:

• We have grown the club an doubled our membership over the last ten years and have an ambition to do the same again. All in support of our ‘rowing for all’ mission
• We teach around 120 juniors to row each year and are close to doubling the size of our junior squad as a consequence.
• We teach around 150 adults to row each year and have an exceptional retention rate
• We have a large para and adaptive squad, one of the largest in the world and are pioneering ways for more athletes to find ways of participating in sport
• We have large and vibrant junior squad with a commitment to develop any athlete who engages with the programme to be the best rower they can be.  
  Many of our alumni are on sporting scholarships in tertiary education and we have two former juniors competing as part of the GB National Squad
•  We have a growing indoor rowing, GoRow group who enjoy the chance for regular exercise and social interaction
• We develop the skills of our members, teach first aid, launch driving and coaching skills to potential rowing coaches.
• We run two regattas a year, each one gives around 1000 competitors the chance to show up and race.

Why are we crowdfunding? 

We have a junior squad that has grown from 64 members in the 2019 season to 121 now and continuing to grow. To support them properly as they move into the racing season, we need two extra boats. 

2023 hasn’t been a good year so far. Our utilities bill has increased by £50,000 and our major fund-raising race event was cancelled due to bad weather, losing us  a potential income of around £10,000. These two things alone have put a major dent in our plans.  We need to focus the funds we have and seek additional funds for development of our Junior Squad rowing through other means –  this Crowdfunder. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

We plan to buy one new coxed quad with funds raised, if we hit our stretch target we will be able to make a move on a second boat. Both are badly needed.

We also hope to apply for supplementary grant aid for bodies like Sport England who may potentially support up to 30% of the cost of a boat provided we raise the balance from at least 100 different donors. 

That’s quite a growth in numbers, what’s behind that? 

We’ve developed a strong cycle of Development and Inspiration: Development of those new to rowing, inspired by older junior athletes who have achieved great results from their rowing journey. 

 We have a policy of deliberately growing our junior squad by developing our own rowers.  We run a large junior learn to row programme (JLTR) over school breaks and recruit for our J13 and J14 squads from the JLTR graduates.  Over time these J13s and J14s have moved up the year groups with the first cohort now in the J18’s.   At the end of the 2019 season the junior squad had 64 members, this has increased with the current squad 121 strong in May 2023 with the prospect of growing beyond 130 members in the 2023- 2024 season.  

 Our junior squad is one of the top three in the country and regularly places in medal positions at championship events such as National Schools, Henley Women’s and Henley Royal Regattas as well as making a significant mark at local regattas and head races.  Our ethos is that if a junior commits to the squad, we will develop them to become the best possible rower they can be. At the highest level, our juniors feature in British rowing’s U19 trials process with a number going on to represent the UK in international events such as the recent GB-France match, coupe de la Jeunesse and World Junior Championships.  Our junior alumni feature heavily in the GB U23 and Senior GB Processes with three of the current GB team targeting the Paris Olympics able to trace their start in rowing back to the Marlow Junior squad.  

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. Get involved if you are a local business 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!

Given the pressure on everyone’s time and funds, our preference is to only run one sponsorship or donation campaign each year and go all in. If you are able to make a donation it will be very gratefully received. Equally if you have personal or business contacts who may be prepared to donate, we would really appreciate your help in spreading the word.  The wider this campaign goes, the more likely we are to hit the target and add to the junior fleet. 

Many thanks in advance.

This project successfully funded on 27th July 2023