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| 1873 |  |
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Newark Rowing club was founded in 1873. This followed a meeting of intersted
parties in a local public house. The original constitution included the
aim of "furthering the sport of rowing on the River Trent for the gentlemen
of the town." The River Devon offered a backwater suitable for launching boats in short distance from the River Trent and secluded from the commercial barge traffic then plying between Nottingham and the Humber estuary. Originally the Club rented its premises from the Duke of Newcastle's estate and as soon as the opportunity arose the members purchased the freehold to the land, shortly after the Second World War. In the early days the most important competitive races were those between Club crews such as the Clinton Cup and the Farndon to Newark Fours. In addition there was plenty of recreational boating taking place in skiffs. |
| 1945 |
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| Major changes took place after 1945. The old timber boathouse was replaced by the present brick boathouse designed and organised by William Saunders, a member and Club President for many years. William Saunders was a well known local architect and his firm played a large part in the design and building of the new boathouse and changing facilities. |
| 1960 | |
| In the late 1960's the club built an extension to the boathouse with changing facilities for men and women, enabling women to join the club as full members for the first time. |
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On Wednesday
June 21st 1978 the new carbo craft coxed four was christened by vice president,
Harry Nutting. The boats' name, "Spirit of Newark", was chosen
in view of the splendid response by club members and friends to an appeal
for interest free loans of £50. The money to be used in part to
enable the boat to be purchased. A total of 19 loans was received making
a total of £950. A further £800 was raised by the sale of
a coxless pair owned by the club. This was bought by vice preseident Harry
Nutting. |
| 1985 | |
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The Club embarked on its most ambitious scheme in 1985 when it decided to excavate a mooring basin on its' land with a view to offering the owners of large, expensive motorcruisers the opportunity of mooring at the Club in order to provide a steady income stream to finance the future of the Club. Rowing is a very expensive sport to finance, mainly due to the cost of boats and oars and if a club is able to generate income from its' mooring basin then subscriptions can be kept at such a level that members, especially junior members, can afford. The mooring basin was financed by a generous donation from the Saunders family, along with the Club's financial reserves. The income from the mooring basin secured the Club's future and allowed it to plan the next step forward, being the building of the new boathouse and improved changing facilities, and incorporating a decent gym. |
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Architects to the scheme were, of coarse, William Saunders and Partners and armed with the final design and quotations an application was made for a lottery grant. Thanks to a huge amount of work put into the lottery grant application our application was successful and we now have facilities which match any boathouse in the country. |
| The membership, especially junior boys and girls, has increased dramatically and they have enjoyed great success. |
| 2003 | |
| September 2003 saw
the start of the creation of extra landing stage space in readiness for
the 2003 Newark Small boats Head of the River. As the popularity of the
event has increased over the years from a handful of crews to well into
three figures, it became apparent that better boating facilities were needed
to cope with the increased number of entrants. Hopefully waiting times will
be cut on race day for getting in and out of the water. A photograph of the work will follow shortly! Rennovation of some of the existing wooden landing stages has begun as the timbers have begun to rot. This wont affect the normal day to day training at the club as Newark is very fortunate to have a secure concrete landing stage as well as the wooden pontoons. |
