Sometimes our success on the water obscures the fact that the Clubhouse is falling down and we urgently need better facilities, otherwise we will lose these successful and committed oarsmen and scullers.

The rebuilding fund currently stands at just over £30,000, with a number of pledges and likely donations that could take our internally raised funds up to around £40,000. We are adding to this reserve every month.

We are in discussion with the schools and University that use our facilities, and are also applying to various charita-ble funds that have helped us in the past. We can see realistic prospects that would take us over the £300,000 mark by the spring of 2009.

However the current estimated cost of knocking down the current boathouse and building a new one, as shown on previous newsletters, is around £425,000. So we still have a gap of over £100,000. If you know of any way in which we could close this gap, please contact Robert Jor-dan, Nick de Cata, Steve Trapmore or Mike Hendry.

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