We hope that a start will be made early in 2017 on the road junction to enable access to the site. This is the first step towards the building of the boathouse and will hopefully be complete by the end of February. This will enable access to the site and the commencement of the building work.
We have enough funds, from the club account, grants and fundraising activities, to enable construction of the building but not to complete the building or to carry out the necessary excavations before we can use the site. This will need a further £40 to £50,000.
We need to make a real effort to raise more funds if we are to be in a position to complete the building and make it and the site usable. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to generate matched funding which means that for every £1 we raise ourselves this will be matched so that we can get £2 for each £1.
If every club member could help to generate £100 for the boathouse we could easily raise over £10,000 which would then be doubled to £20,000. Think what we could achieve if every member raised £1,000 (over £100,000 if maths is not your strong point!)
A meeting has been arranged for Thursday 26 January to explore fundraising activities and make plans for this year. We welcome input and offers of support from anyone – club members, friends or family. Do come along to the Going Social club at 7.30pm on 26 January and help us achieve our ambition of the boathouse.
We are also keen to hear from any club members who have relevant skills to offer, such as anyone with a construction background/experience, or anyone with project management skills, or with relevant legal qualifications – as would anyone with a digger, or access to cheap building materials, or with a tractor and trailer, or landscaping experience.
Ros Crowder
Joint Club Chairwoman