“We’ve multiplied our club membership seven-fold since the pandemic:” Derby RC’s Learn To Row boom
Fergus Mainland hears from Derby RC about how the club has transformed following the Learn to Row grant funding
In recent years, Derby RC has gone from strength to strength. Membership figures for the club on the banks of the River Derwent have skyrocketed, and the club now needs waiting lists for its Learn To Row Courses. That hasn’t always been the case.
The global pandemic decimated club numbers, and prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the club relied on people coming to the website or enquiring on social media about learning to row in Derby, and members wouldn’t tend to stay longer than a year. This left the club in a difficult situation, having to review the finances and try to balance the books.
“At that point, we knew something had to change, and we knew that we had to build the force back up again,” said Derby RC Captain, Martha Nutkins.
“At that point, we launched the biggest Learn To Row programme we ever had. We taught, I think, 98 members how to row that summer, and I think we retained about 70, and a lot of those people are still members today. That kick-started this huge process, and we realised that we need to keep doing that. Last year, we had 64, and this year’s one was 69 people.
“We first received the grant funding last year. We applied to British Rowing, and it was a support grant to fund equipment or coaching, or help run our Learn To Row courses. As part of the grant funding, you had to say how many people you were committing to teaching and what kind of new and innovative things you would like to do. We have a fantastic adaptive athlete at the moment who has got a couple of silver medals at the British Rowing Club Championships, and we wanted to grow that area.
“We committed as a club to spending the money on equipment these people would end up using. We bought additional floats to sit on the Wintech boats so that we could do that for them, and we bought some thinner buoyancy aids. We always put our newer members out in life jackets, but the ones we have are pretty bulky, and they get in the way of the blades. We bought some slimline ones and we bought a new to us, but quite second-hand, Quadruple Scull to use for the Learn To Row courses just to increase capacity and to make sure we had something for these guys to move into once they had completed the Learn To Row course.”
As well as the grant funding, there was also additional support from British Rowing. Part of this was helping with marketing and advertising. As a result of this, Derby RC have seen a much greater footfall on their website to the extent they have been inundated with people who want to learn to row and they’re having to operate a waiting list.
The club, which was founded in a pub by friends in 1880, also won British Rowing’s Club of the Year Award in 2023. This saw them go one better than 2022, where they were commended in the category.
“That went to local news and to the radio, so all of that has helped to increase exposure as well, explained Martha.
“More than anything, though, it’s word of mouth. We’ve probably multiplied our club membership seven-fold since the pandemic, and with people talking about it to friends and family, it just leads to exponential growth; that’s how word has gotten out. We’re trying to do more with the community; we’re trying to work with a visually impaired group at the moment to get them out rowing and trying to work alongside the council. Derby has just become a city of culture, and they want to increase awareness of the river, and we’re trying to work with them about how we can do that.”
With a growing membership comes increased logistical challenges, especially for a club that is completely reliant on volunteers to keep it chugging along.
“We have a lot more footfall and a larger demand for boats. We’ve now got a Development Captain who does all the communication with the athletes, and we also have a new coach, and this process has inspired him to move into coaching rather than rowing. He has done his Level 2 coaching qualification, which is pretty cool, as I don’t know if he would have done that if this group wasn’t there for him to coach, so that’s another positive. I take a lot of pride in all of this, as it’s great to see a hive of activity at the rowing club.
The Derby RC 3rd VIII at HORR 2025 was full of people who learned to row less than 6 months before.
“As well as the financial aspect, which gave us additional equipment and more capacity, the fact that British Rowing did all the marketing just increased the exposure. The biggest thing at Derby RC that we see, even though the river runs in the city, is that not many people acknowledge that there is a rowing club or that they can learn to row.
“The biggest difference we’ve seen is bridging the gap and British Rowing helping is to bring these people to the door and just completely change the whole landscape of the club. It’s a completely different demographic and size, and it’s really good.
“Of the people that learned to row last year, last year was the first year of our development squad, so they singlehandedly filled that development squad and have gone on to race at the British Rowing Club Championships and gone to the events and gotten stuck into racing, that group has just grown and grown.”
At the time of interview, Martha and Derby RC were gearing up for another Learn to Row Course, this time with a group of 10 12-16-year-olds. Derby’s Junior squad is one of the areas that is flourishing the most. It’s a squad that has never had more members.
Over the last 10 years, one of the biggest lessons learned has been about the importance of retention and transforming people into club members for life.
“Sometimes they sign the dotted line of a membership form, and sometimes you’re forgotten about or fade into the background, but the reality is they need a lot of support and focus. I’d rather teach 20 people how to row and have them enjoy it for years to come than teach 80, but they just do it as a one-off.”
British Rowing is pleased to announce the launch of further Learn to Row grant support for the summer and autumn 2025 season, which clubs can apply for now.
This is an open application process for both clubs that have already taken advantage of the Learn to Row support and new clubs to the scheme. Clubs can apply anytime from 8 August through to the 31 of October 2025 – support is available for Learn to Row experiences across indoor rowing, river, coastal, or a combination.
