I am pleased to inform you that having received a grant of £97,000 from British Rowing (formally the Amateur Rowing Association) the committee have agreed to go ahead with the planned development of the new Gym, extended womens changing room and new foul drainage/treatment system.

The new works will form part of a Sport Development Plan to increase the quality of training facilities for our members and increase participation in rowing.

The gym will allow the removal of the unsightly Portacabins from the car park, prevent the current problems with the under capacity septic tanks and provide additional space for the improvements to the womens changing room.

It will also allow the large function room to be refurbished and once again used for social functions and hiring for outside  functions, something we have not been able to do regularly for over two years.

Our thanks go to our president Cliff Blakeway who handled the discussions with British Rowing and led the team who prepared the application.

Our thanks also go to those many members who have over the past few years contributed to the development fund.

My only regret is that we could not have carried out this work earlier.

We should also thank Spratley Studios and Robbie Kennedy who drew up the plans and documentation for the planning application.

Previous developments of our facilities have resulted in major step changes to our membership and the quality of our participation in rowing, and this project should be no different.

It is an exciting new project which I hope that will benefit all our members, but we must not let it end there.

There are many other smaller projects requiring our attention such as refurbishment of the bar, setting up an office for club administration, improving the showers and toilets in the womens changing room and redecorating the outside of the club.

Your help is requested whether it is using a paint brush, fund raising or seeking sponsorship to help maintain Henley Rowing Club’s reputation as “one of the best organised rowing clubs in the UK”, according to British Rowing.

Other projects ongoing at the club include the refurbishment of the landing stages (nearing completion), with the help of a grant from Wokingham District Council.