Recreational rowing on the Thames. Beginners, new members and visiting clubs welcome.
With autumn drawing in and the bridge at Whitchurch closed, we are drawing Thursday evening sessions to a close. We are still happily rowing on Saturday and Sunday mornings. As part of the bridge replacement, Pangbourne lock will close in early November, so for a special session on Saturday 26th we plan to row up to Gatehampton to see our (hoped for) new home .
If you are free on Sunday, please come along to our special Club Meeting session at 10am. We will be having some fun racing around the island in scratch crews (rowing v sculling), offering coffee and Danish pastries, and sharing the latest information on the boathouse planning application. For those of you who live south of the river, the bridge at Whitchurch will still be open – it closes on Thursday next week. Everyone is most welcome, whether you want to row or cox or scull or just eat Danish pastries …..
Sue writes: I’m sorry to say that the river will be awash with canoes and kayaks on Sunday morning so we won’t be rowing.
But I’m happy to say that this means we are going to devote some time on Sunday morning to maintaining, rigging and doing basic repairs to some of our boats……..and we need your help.
If you can spare an hour or so please come along to the boat club at 10am as usual on Sunday morning and give a hand.
Also, Andy McKenzie, our Captain of Boats, is keen to put together a team of boat repairers who could give him a hand from time to time to keep our boats in working order. Being stored outside takes a toll on the woodwork and general state of the boats so if you feel you would be able to lend a hand occasionally, please let Andy know on Sunday. Or if you can’t make Sunday, but are interested, please e-mail Andy andy@mckenzieweb.co.uk. You don’t need prior experience as Andy will oversee the work.
A special Club session is planned for Saturday 31st August starting a little later than usual at 10am. Our friends from Adventure Dolphin will be paddling down in their kayaks for an “exchange visit”. You will have an opportunity to try out canoeing under their guidance and supervision, and then we will try to teach them to row. Bacon rolls will be provided by the Purley and Pangbourne scouts in return for a small donation. It should be a fun morning so please make a special effort to come along.
On Wednesday August 7th, Olympic Champion Helen Glover and Goring Gap Boat Club hosted a “Join-In” morning at GGBC’s facilities near Pangbourne. Join-In have produced an official video that you can view here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dqoc8BxZ9Q&feature=c4-overview&list=UU4UgBNXFpza9AUT4l_s9Yzw. Local people were given an opportunity to give rowing a try, with Helen offering encouragement from a coaching launch and even serving them tea afterwards. Earlier Helen had made presentations to some of GGBC’s longest serving volunteers.
Goring Gap Boat Club has previously benefited from the support of other Olympic champions such as Sir Steve Redgrave and Zac Purchase, who last March launched the Club’s fundraising campaign for a new boathouse.
See the Reading Chronicle’s report on the event, with video
