OUR HISTORY
The first recorded rowing club in Norwich was the City and Carrow Rowing Club – first records 1882.
This club was dissolved in 1892 and their boats were bought by the C.E.Y.M.S. (Church of England Young Men’s Society) rowing club, which had been founded two years earlier in 1890 and rowed from a boathouse in King Street.
Our Club, then known as the Yare Rowing Club was founded in 1911 following the closing of the rowing section of the C.E.Y.M.S. (partly due to arguments about rowing on Sundays). They hired a boathouse near the “Thorpe Gardens” public house (the other side of the railway line, next to Broadland Paddlesports ) until 1915 when the brewers Steward and Patterson erected a new boathouse opposite the “King’s Head”, now renamed the “Rivergarden”. At this time, most of the Committee meetings were held at the Bell Hotel in the city centre.
The first Officers were:- Captain : G.B. Elliott, Vice Captain : L. Bullen, Hon. Secretary : H.G. Loynes, Hon. Treasurer : A.G. (“Dusky”) Grimmer. The Club was granted affiliation to the A.R.A. in 1913.
Soon after the move to the present site, the Club started a swimming section with some hardy members swimming in the river all year!
After this, there was not much activity for about three years as most of the members were called to serve in the 1st World War.
It is recorded that in 1921 the club had “100 members and a large fleet of boats including an eight”.
Norwich School rowed with the Club from about 1915 to 1926 and then re-started in 1948 under the guidance of Ken Willmott, who had to give up a year later due to ill health and it was then run by George Cooper until his death in 1979. George was the instigator of the country’s first long distance sculling race, the Norfolk Long Distance Sculling Championship in 1948 (from Surlingham ferry to Whitlingham) and was also Club secretary from 1951 until 1960.
In 1973, the Yare Club split, with many of its members joining the newly formed Norwich Rowing Club at Trowse. However, a core of members remained and took over the lease. The Club changed its name to the Yare Sculling Club.
Thorpe St Andrew School also rowed with the Club under the guidance of Owen Thompson and later Robin Howes until finances and revised school timetables forced them to give up in 1995.
In 1980, the Club once more changed its name and became the Yare Boat Club as this better reflected the activities of the members.
On 23rd July 1997, the main boathouse was completely destroyed by arson, with the loss of 19 boats, 2 of which were privately owned. The construction and fitting of the replacement building was completed in 1999. The new £80,000 boathouse was opened by Jim McGivern, regional director of Whitbreads, on 15th May. The boathouse was built by Fernbranch Developers Ltd. of Bluebell Road, Norwich. Managing director Nick Hovey had the idea of using a floating swing bridge as a solution to the problem of shifting 350 tons of cement and building materials over the 20 metre span of the river onto the island. Foreman Keith Seabrook estimated he crossed the bridge well over 1,000 times in the course of the building work.
All the equipment in the main boathouse was destroyed in the fire. Insurance covered only replacement value. At this time, by coincidence, Winchester College was re-equipping its rowing fleet and the Club was able to purchase 5 wooden boats (3 singles, 1 double and a quad) and blades.
On 11th December 2019, the club became a limited company, Yare Boat Club Ltd. So it is now run by a Board of Directors.
In March 2021, Broadland Boat Club (formerly Norwich Union Rowing Club) merged with Yare Boat Club after the lease on their previous site expired. The Club is still called Yare Boat Club. The merger has resulted in an expansion of the membership and the arrival of considerable additional equipment and a significantly enlarged fleet of boats.
A new boathouse was therefore designed (by a club member who is an architect) to house the expanded fleet from both clubs. Following successful grant applications made by yet another club member, building work started in late 2022. Following the initial installation of 60 screw piles, the wooden building and metal clad building was then erected. As with the 1998/9 build the main issue was getting all of the building materials across to the island. This included over 20 tonnes of timber and 350 metal cladding sheets. Once again, a floating pontoon bridge was used, but in this case the same pontoon from which club boats are used. All of the material was taken across by club members in an amazing series of sessions.
The building work was then completed by a small team of 2 carpenters and various club members at a cost of approximately £140k during the autumn and winter of 2022. This, in essence, self-build allowed the costs to be kept to an absolute minimum, meaning that despite being 25 years later the costs are not significantly more than the 1999 construction.
During 2024, the front boathouse was refurbished to enhance facilities and offer a club house for members. This includes a changing room, shower and toilet for both the men and women, as well as a disabled access toilet. A kitchen area, storeroom, gym area and large club space have also been created. New lighting and plumbing throughout as well as a fire alarm system have been fitted too. Again, this work has been mostly completed by club members at a cost of around £42k.
Finally, the oldest building, which houses all of the quads, has undergone a significant facelift in 2025. The old asbestos roof was removed and replaced with a metal sheet one, the asbestos sheet walls have been painted and sealed on the outside and new main doors have been fitted.
