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The Boat Club opened in October 1983. Its site was originally part of the Independent Gas Works that operated for over a hundred years. The small group of local people who formed the Club spent a couple of years clearing the site, dredging the basin and building the timber A-frame Club Hut. With a dozen kayaks and a team of volunteers the Club opened at weekends and school holidays for local children and young people.
It was an immediate success and very popular. There were (and still are) hundreds of children and young people in the local area (Haggerston) in need of affordable, accessible physical recreation. The Boat Club could offer just that. The kids could burn off energy, have fun, do something constructive … and go away tired , wet and happy.
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29 May 2012
In the early years it was also given two narrowboats , the “Opportunity” and the “Lady Mildmay”, and more recently, the “Martin Sinclair”
With these it was able to run canal trips for youth, community, education and welfare groups – importantly also, local families.This meant that local people of all ages and abilities could come to the Club and get on the water- making a facility for the whole community.
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20 May 2012
