New Boathouse Opening

London 2012 Olympic single scull bronze medallist Alan Campbell was the guest of honour as Yare Boat Club officially opened its new boathouse.

Based on an island in Thorpe St Andrew, the club has 90 members – several of whom helped move the building materials needed for the new £130,000 facility across the river over a special pontoon.

The new boathouse is part of the first phase of improvement plans which also included an outreach programme supported by Active Norfolk to encourage young care leavers to take up rowing and sculling.

And, at that time, the club was halfway towards reaching its £48,000 target to convert an existing boathouse into a clubhouse featuring modern changing rooms, showers, and indoor training area.

The club successfully bid for an £80,000 grant from the Greater Norwich Development Board to cover some of the construction costs.

Frances Kemp, fundraising lead at the club, said the project had helped forge a strong team spirit within the club and on on-going collective ownership of all we have done together.