Here’s to 50 years of women at Northwich RC
As the club celebrates it’s 150th anniversary, Fergus Mainland chatted with several pioneers of women’s rowing at the club as they mark 50 years of women rowing on the Weaver
2025 is a major milestone for Northwich RC. Not only does the club celebrate its 150th anniversary, but 2025 marks 50 years since women were able to join the club.
Both moments were immortalised during a row past during Friday’s tea break at Henley Royal Regatta; however, the year has been packed full of celebrations.
When chatting with people about who to get in touch with to tell this story, it became clear that there was no one better than Jo Rafferty. Now a director of Northwich RC, Jo was awarded the British Rowing Lifetime Achievement Award earlier this year and has given more than 50 years of commitment to the club and sport as an elite athlete, an umpire, a committee member, and now a director.
As a result of her lasting legacy of dedication and inspiration, Jo was one of the driving forces of women thriving at Northwich RC, resulting in her being awarded one of the greatest honours in our sport. Her origin story of women at the club is quite a tale and a contrast to the thriving squad the club now has.
“I remember when it was May ’75 and we first snuck out on the river on a Sunday afternoon as no rowing took place then for the men,” explained Jo.
“My husband and another of the members took four of us out for several Sunday afternoons until it was discovered and raised at the committee meeting that women had been out on the river, which didn’t necessarily go down so well with all the members because it was very much a male domain. It was where they went for their downtime, as it were, and I think it was difficult for some of them to accept the fact that there would be women rowing there. At the first committee meeting, they decided we could continue rowing on Sunday afternoons because it didn’t interfere with any of their activities.
“Eventually, at the next committee meeting, it was decided we could carry on rowing, but we absolutely could not be members of the committee, hold office, or vote. This all then came to a head at the AGM later that year. This was against the backdrop of the original Sex Discrimination Act in 1975. There were all sorts of discussions as to whether or not they could stop us rowing. In the end, fortunately, they decided that we could row and that we would pay 50% of the membership rates that the men paid because we didn’t have any facilities.”
“The thing that they provided us with was a dark, dingy, unlit, unheated room with nothing in it apart from a few benches as a changing area. It was talked about as being urgent attention at the next meeting that our facilities should be improved, and then eight years later we finally ended up with showers, toilets, the full works. It took about 18 months to actually get a light in the room. It was as it was at that time. Did it feel like a fight at the time? We basically got on with it because it’s what we wanted to do. I started rowing, and we had our first wins, and that got us going. That led to junior women joining, and it all laid the foundations for women coming through and competing nationally and internationally.”
Over the past 50 years , the club has transformed. Juniors nowadays would find it hard to believe the trials and tribulations that went on to establish a women’s squad at the club, but it is a tale that was so often mirrored on other rivers across the country.
On and off the water, women at Northwich have flourished. International honours have been earned, committee positions have been filled, and women in Northwich have helped to promote the club far beyond the River Weaver.
The first female athlete to represent Great Britain in a Single Scull at the Junior World Championships was Northwich RC athlete Adrienne Grimsditch. There is now a long history of junior success from the club international level.
“We had juniors who rowed at the World Champs, and that was very significant. We started to get a good nucleus of women’s rowing. In the earlier days, once we reached what was then elite status, it was very difficult to find other people to row with. We ended up rowing in a lot of combined crews with other local clubs, and that didn’t go down particularly well because the club wanted the racing and winning to be under the name of Northwich, not shared with other clubs,” said Jo.
In 2009, more history was made as Clare Briegal became the first woman to be elected as club captain, starting off a chain of incredible women who have since held this position.
“If you talked to some of the younger ones now, they don’t really know what you are talking about because it’s not in their lifetime. They turn up, row, and it’s just accepted, it’s just natural, and it should have been all along.
“I think it’s really great, and it’s become normal to see how good women’s rowers can be and how there is nobody questioning whether they should be rowing there or not. It’s just how it was then, but it’s become much closer now.”
Clare was joined by seven other rowers and cox Andy Morrison to row down the revered waters of Henley-upon-Thames to mark the club’s historical moments.
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“It was all these young internationals and me! I think I was subbing for Matt Langridge,” explained Claire, who is now Deputy Chair of British Rowing.
“I was horribly short and couldn’t row very long, but I survived down the course. Thank goodness our stroke, Beth [Dutton], went about 20 down the course. It was lovely because that was a mixed gender crew, and that was really important to us. We have had some fantastic female rowers who have come through the club, and some of them got to be in the crew.
“There’s no one individual in the club who has more say than others. Everybody is a part of the club. It’s got enough strong people across the club, and it survives because it is a club, not just one section.”
At Northwich RC, women are now at the heart of the decision-making process. Much like women across the sport of rowing, the squads at Northwich RC are standing on the shoulders of giants, such as Jo Rafferty, who was a catalyst in transforming women’s rowing into what it is today. At an anniversary dinner, the tables were named after words that sum up the great women of Northwich RC; – Fearless. confident, courageous, determined, bold, and outspoken.
Both Jo and Clare reflect that there is always more to do. They have great ambition for the club that they are fiercely proud to be a part of. After pioneers such as Jo laid the foundations for success, the next 50 years have the possibility of supporting women even more and elevating them to greatness.
Jo Rafferty was recognised at the British Rowing Awards for her contributions to women’s rowing. Nominations for this year’s awards close on Monday. With plenty of categories to choose from, who will you be nominating this year for an award?
Entries close at midnight on Monday November 10.
