The most important event in 2023 was the 100th birthday of the boathouse in July this year. This is quite a milestone for the building and one we were never sure it would make. A combination of arson, burglary, vandalism and rot have tested it ever the years. It was actually built in 1922/23 after the club had lobbied the City Council for several years. The opening ceremony was performed by "Alderman H Foster" (in July 1923), who was in turn presented with a pair of bronze candle sticks donated by a club member, Mr W Gardner to commemorate the event. At the start club members rented individual lockers and the Council sent round a rent collector each year to collect the rents from each member. It wasn't until the 1970's that the club as a body rented the whole building. Despite just being tenants, in recent years we have replaced the guttering and repainted the outside of the building to protect it.

This first photo shows the boathouse in the 1930's at which point the public shelter still had its original "as built" glazing panels in the public shelter. Sadly they did not last into the 1940's.

The second photo shows the boathouse in the mid 1960's when the public shelter was still in place. This was boarded up in the 1970's due to repeated arson and vandalism issues.

The third photo shows the boathouse as it is today.

The full history of the boathouse can be read by clicking on the link below which opens up a PDF document in a separate page. The document may be downloaded if required.