User:Willbirchall777/ Mersey Rowing Club

Mersey Rowing Club

Foundation
Mersey Rowing Club was founded in Birkenhead in 1854. It was preceeded by seven smaller clubs, the oldest one having been formed in 1840, but who all came together to share resources and equipment in 1854. This was a period of expanding popularity for sport rowing was also around this time that some of the most famous institutions and clubs were founded, such as The Varsity Boat Race (1829), Leander Club (1818) and Henley Royal Regatta (1839). This makes Mersey RC one of the oldest rowing clubs in Great Britain and the oldest in Liverpool. In its early days, Mersey RC were amongst the more successful clubs in the region.

Modern History
Mersey Rowing Club was refounded by David Carter, who had been a coach at Liverpool University Boat Club, and some others from LUBC  in 1986, operating at that time out of a cargo container on the southern side of Wapping Dock, Liverpool. Their first race that year was strangely at the same place Mersey RC had last rowed in 1950s,  Great Float, Birkenhead. In that race they entered five sweep oared eights. Since this time, Mersey RC has served as a community club, attempting to dispel the myths that surround rowing as an elitist sport. Urban regeneration forced the club to shift to the north side of Queen's Dock in the late 1980s. After ten years of temporary accommodation, the club found its permanent home in 1996, moving to the Merseyside Watersports Centre, in Mariners' Wharf. As Mersey RC continues to grow and modernise its collection of boats and with improved facilities and boats to race in, the club is beginning to grow in numbers. New crews have been formed and Mersey are starting to win local races and enter National competitions. With this growing confidence, the club is now focusing on improving the quality and quantity of coaching available and on encouraging local schools to take part. Mersey RC have always felt that in a city the size of Liverpool there must be young people who would like to row but who have not been given the chance. This club proves this is true. We now intend to formalise our approach and to improve our standards of delivery. To this end we are seeking accreditation under Sport England’s “Club Mark” scheme and extending our coaching staff to be able to offer a professional level of coaching to the Liverpool community. We have recently been awarded a grant by the Foundation for Sports and the Arts to purchase a new, improved rescue boat and are planning improvements and additions to our fleet of boats.