Saving our Boathouse

Aim

To safeguard our historic boathouse for the next generation. We need to raise money to underpin the building ,and repair the slipway

Who are we?

We are a small rowing club on the Isle of Wight.  We help people learn and improve their rowing from the age of 12 upwards.  Our oldest rower, turned 80 this year. We are proud or our heritage, as the oldest rowing club on the island, and we are still using our original boathouse built in the 1860s. 

Why are we crowdfunding?

COVID 19 had a massive impact on our club. The club came to a complete standstill during the lockdowns. When we came out of lockdown we had only a handful of members. Lack of members, meant lack of funds.  We have worked hard to build up our numbers through partnerships with local schools and learn to row programmes. We have increased our rowing membership by 200% since 2021. We have raised funds to increase the number of boats and replace worn out equipment.  

We cannot raise the money needed to keep the boathouse standing without your help. Our Boathouse is an iconic building on the river Medina.  It is one of only two known boathouses built on stilts across tidal waters. It still houses a number of our regularly used boats, as well as providing a club room.  This is used for social events, meetings, and is the hub for our regatta finish, as well as time trials and winter racing for visiting clubs.  The tidal waters have taken their toll on the wooden structure. Increasingly violent winter storms in recent years have weakened the wooden supports.  The picture above shows a members' working party re-painting the boathouse. We do as much work as we can ourselves, but this planned work needs professionals.

The building is inclined to sway a little in a strong wind! Professionals have advised us to strengthen the frame of the building by underpinning it with a steel frame.  The slipway that we use for launching boats is also rotting, and we need to replace the timbers. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

We have costed the work that needs doing which comes out at £6,000.

£5,000 for the steel support work, and £1,000 for the slipway repairs.  If we really smash this campaign we can also do work to extend the club room, and better insulate it, which would take another £2,000.  The picture below highlights why we need to repair the structure of the building

Community impact

The Boathouse allows us to function as a rowing club providing a focus for sports, physical activity and wellbeing to our members. We have racing crews at both junior and masters level, as well as recreational rowers who enjoy the tranquillity of the river.  We are proud to be associated with the Mermaid Atlantic campaign, who are rowing the Atlantic later this year.  We taught those guys to row. 

We instil our core values of Excellence, Respect and Teamwork across the whole club. As a small club with a wide age range of members we have a strong commitment to helping each other along, and supporting each other as a  family does. 

We are an inclusive club who retain a hardship fund so those that might be struggling in the current cost of living crisis are not excluded from our sport. Without the boathouse we would lose the ability to meet and socialise as a club, as well as lose storage facilities for our equipment.  

We would not be able to run our regatta, which attracts over 300 rowers every year from around the Solent, which is a free community event.

The Boathouse is part of the landscape and history of the river Medina.  It features regularly as a subject for local photographers and artists.  

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. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – 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!

This project successfully funded on 29th August 2023