Boat club turns 75 and raises £10,000 for upgrade

AN anniversary dinner raised £10,000 for Wargrave Boating Club.

About 115 people attended the club’s 75th anniversary celebration at Leander Club last month.

Guests dressed in black-tie and had a three-course dinner and a drinks reception followed by an auction and raffle led by member Matthew Gordon.

Speeches were given by club treasurer Liz Hillier, Lizzie Denham, who is on the organising committee, and chairman Johnny Wyld, who spoke about the future of the club and structural changes to safeguard the building’s future in Station Road. Funds raised on the night supported plans to restructure the club to improve drainage and ventilation with non-porous building materials following flooding last year.

Other changes will include increasing the size of the club room to create a better social space for members which will be decorated in pictures and awards achieved from over the years.

Club chairman Johnny Wyld said: “It has largely been driven by our response to the floods of early 2024 when the waters got so high that they went into the kitchen and changing room. The internal walls of the club are made from breeze blocks which soak up the water and there has been mould in the club ever since.

“It’s the longer-term impact of that moisture, coupled with the fact that the area is not designed to drain, so water was sitting there for a long time.

“For the members, it’s also about making the club a more usable and maintainable space, so that we can do more with more people by having better storage around and reducing the amount of time taken just to maintain and manage the club, to make it easier and more accessible for its members.”

Commissioned pieces by local artists with a connection to the river were sold during the auction, including prints of the club by graphic designer Raymond Ho.

Other auction prizes included a round of golf for four people at Hennerton Golf Club, a Sunday roast at the Bull Inn in Wargrave, an annual family membership for the club, an original oil painting by village artist Shelagh Casebourne and a weekday boat hire voucher.

Memorabilia was also put on display, which included an update 1950 annual chairman’s update, past Wargrave Boating Club regatta photos and pictures of club building projects from the Sixties to the early 2000s.