New lease of life on the Thames: Burway RC secures future with the Sport England Movement Fund

Fergus Mainland spoke with Burway RC’s about how the Sport England Movement Fund enabled the club to fund a much needed new landing stage

A brand-new landing stage has helped breathe fresh life into Burway RC.

The club, located on the banks of the River Thames, just outside of Staines, have benefited from the Sport England Movement Fund to help build a landing stage that will last them for decades to come.

The Sport England Movement Fund provided £12,500 to go with the additional £35,000 that the club raised themselves.

“The landing stage was an old wooden one attached to a crumbling riverside,” explained Treasurer & Membership Officer Clive Morris.

The landing stage was essential to the running of Burway RC. However, as it aged and took a beating from the weather, it became clear the club would have to replace it.

“There were sandbags that were crumbling, safety worries about people tripping, and plenty of weeds growing all over the place.”

“The landing stage itself was always going to have a shelf life, but it was beginning to show its age. We’ve had a lot of bad weather on the Thames over the past few years, and our landing stage has been underwater quite a lot of the time, so I don’t think that helped!”

Formed in 1921, the club has been on its current site since 1979 near Laleham Park. With a backdrop of one of the great stretches of river to train on, they maintain their fine tradition of discovering and training National Champions, members of the GB Rowing Team, and crews for Henley. Most recently, Olympic silver medallist Tom Barras, who recently announced his retirement, plied his trade at the club, taking his first strokes when he was 11.

“Seeing Tom develop from an 11-year-old, learning to row here at Burway RC, and following his progress through to him becoming a key member of the GB Rowing Team has been very special. Getting, amongst other things, a bronze medal in the Single Scull at the World Championships, and a silver medal at the Olympics was amazing.

“Now, he is a double Olympian and yet always has time for his old club, becoming a tremendous role model, especially to the youngsters, and a great ambassador for Burway RC and for the sport of rowing.”

In order to maintain their proud traditions, the club would need to start fundraising to secure a landing stage for the future. However, with several of their events that usually bring in income being cancelled, they need to think outside the box.

“We’re only a small club. We were quoted something like £60-70k in the first instance, which was far too much. We started getting some funds together, but we’re always careful with what we do. We’ve probably got some of the lowest subscription fees around, and we could have bumped those up. However, we’re try to keep it accessible as we are a small club.

“We did manage to raise money. We teamed with a local university and other places and got some income there, and then we got in touch with British Rowing to help find some funding. This was where we came across the Sport England Movement Fund.”

The Sport England Movement Fund offers up to £15,000 for physical activity projects in the community. The focus is on people who face barriers to activity and projects designed to help them join in.

“The application was fairly straightforward forward, but there was a lot involved. A huge shoutout to Tabby Mansha because she was brilliant. We had lots of Zoom calls, and she was extraordinarily helpful.

“We had hiccups along the way, and eventually, when we got started in April, it turned out the Environment Agency has a 14-week delay before they look at anything. The patience of Sport England was excellent.

“Every time I wrote to them saying, ‘I’m awfully sorry, I haven’t met your deadline,’ Beckie from Sport England was able to delay things by a couple of months. Thanks to them and thanks to the National Lottery. Without them, we’d still be stuck.”

This work has been essential to Burway RC. At the busiest points in their season, the landing stage is used six days a week. The new addition will mean they can carry on working with a local school and coach some of their children. This means that they will be able to use the landing stage properly, and they don’t have to worry about mould or anything loose and tripping up.

The club also runs Learn to Row courses. As a result of the new landing stage, they will be able to have them in the training singles attached to a rope and walk them up and down the landing stage, providing more stability as well.

As well as celebrating Tom’s Olympic triumphs, the club has been marking its own history over the last few years.

“Recently, we did a row past at Henley Royal Regatta. We were founded in 1921, and sadly, it was COVID in 2021, so in 2022, we had our row past. We cobbled an Eight together from various generations, and we had a lovely day out at HRR.

“We thoroughly enjoyed that. Most of my time has been spent coaching, and my enjoyment comes from seeing people start enjoying the sport and liking it enough to continue. We’ve had so many go on to coach and work at other clubs, and that’s where you get the enjoyment from.”

The Sport England Movement Fund is open to all rowing clubs. It offer up to £15,000 for physical activity projects in the community. The focus is on people who face barriers to activity and projects designed to help them join in.

You can find out more here.