A new beginning: With the assistance of grants from Sport England, a number of charities, notably the London Marathon, Hampton Fuel Allotment Charity, the Peacock Foundation and Grange Farm Centre Trust and generous contributions from Members the Royal Canoe Club and The Skiff Club, the Royal Canoe Club is about to start an ambitious development of the site on Trowlock Island, Teddington, which has been the Club’s home for 110 years.

The First Canoe Club: Founded in 1866 the Royal Canoe Club is the oldest canoe club in the world and will soon have buildings suitable for the 21st Century, not just for Canoeing but also for Dragonboating, Rowing and Skiffing and will provide opportunities for social and physical recreation for the local community, in a unique setting on the Thames readily accessible by public transport and fully open for the disabled.

Opportunities: The new facilities will provide greatly improved facilities for club members, Trowlock Island residents and for other community related activities. Modern changing toilet and shower areas, including disabled toilet and shower cubicle, will be compliant with current regulations concerning child protection.

The main coaching/lecture/briefing room will provide a sizeable area for a wide variety of activities, including coaching sessions, light exercise, Pilates, community meetings, etc….

A small kitchenette area will be available, for the production of hot drinks. The heavy weights gymnasium and main building will be one structure enabling easy transition between the two, particularly during the winter months but also ensuring access to the facilities for the disabled user, there being no current access for wheelchairs.

As a result of this redevelopment, the club will substantially increase changing room space and have an extra area for coaching, preparation and other activities. This will enable the club to expand the range and depth of its activities, increasing membership and participation across the range of watersports and other leisure activities for members and the local community.

Youth & Juniors: The club has worked hard in the last 7 years to develop youth & junior membership. However the current building is neither safe nor suitable to cope with the expansion of young people using the facility. The new building will provide safe and suitable facilities for the growing youth membership and enable the club to increase the usage with school and community groups. The new facilities will enable the development of proper winter training for youth and when weather or river conditions are inappropriate will enable the development of skills and fitness on land. The new facilities will also allow the development of programmes and training sessions in line with the BCU Long Term Paddler Development framework.

Women & Girls: The Club been successful in recruiting young girls and women. However, the current changing rooms and facilities are not large enough nor suitable to encourage the retention of women and girls in sport, let alone increase participation further. The new facility with increased changing room and showers will support this need.

Disadvantaged and other groups: The new facility will increase capacity and enable the Club to take watersport to less advantaged areas focusing on participation and encouraging a healthy life style and continue to develop the cultural interest of ethnic minorities. The new access facilities will provide an increased opportunity for people with disabilities to participate in watersports.

Multi-sport Hub: The club has achieved Top Club and Clubmark status in both canoeing and rowing. As a hub club for the area, the new facility will host training and events for local clubs, plus regional coach education courses. The new facilities will further enhance the unique position the club has, where individuals can participate in a range of water sports – kayaking, canoeing, rowing, dragon boating, outrigger paddling and skiffing

Community usage: In addition, the building will enable us to further increase our community links and usage - e.g. for the residents of Trowlock Island for meetings and social functions. We will be able to use the internal space of the new building during the day for small courses (e.g. keep fit, yoga and pilates). This is something we have not been able to consider previously due to the poor state of the building and its present substandard toilet andchanging facilities.