IT has a been a hotbed for rowing talent since it first opened its doors in 1846, and now Scotland's oldest open amateur rowing club is looking to the future with a new £1 million boathouse in Edinburgh.
Former Olympic gold medallist Dame Katherine Grainger will be the guest of honour at the St Andrew Boat Club (SABC) today as she officially opens the sports hub.
READ MORE: Prince Andrew relinquishes honourary R&A membership
Organisers hope that the development, which has been a decade in the making, will enable the 176-year-old club to live up to its slogan, “Rowing for all”, by offering opportunities to many more athletes of all ages in the coming years.
The club currently has around 140 members, with active rowers ranging in age from 13 to 82, who mainly train on the 1500-metre stretch of the Union Canal.
A view of the old Hermiston boathouse, used by the club during the first half of the 20th century
The new facility replaces an existing boathouse used since 1984, which was no longer fit for purpose.
SABC president Sarah Whitley said: “After over a decade of planning, this is a great moment in the club’s proud 175-year history.
"The new facilities will be a game changer for us and allow us to offer many more opportunities for people to experience rowing on the Union Canal.
"Our ambition is to build the best club in Scotland, in terms of supporting top-class performance but also giving people from all backgrounds the chance to try out rowing. The new boathouse will help us do that.”
An SABC crew on the canal, 1938
The new boathouse sits adjacent to the club’s current home at Meggetland on the Union Canal, and hosts space for dozens of boats, as well as changing facilities and social space.
The landmark build was financed through fundraising initiatives by club members – from a 16-hour non-stop row by the club’s junior coordinator, to a 75-mile cycle by a member who is aged 75, to the sale of boathouse bricks and foundation stones.
The development, which sits on land leased from Edinburgh City Council, was also supported through investment from sportscotland and donations from charitable trusts.
READ MORE: Scots rower Katherine Grainger delighted after being made a Dame
Six-time rowing world champion Dame Katherine will cut the ribbon to the new boathouse today, and the first boat - named in her honour - will be carried into its new home by club members.
The former Olympian and chair of UK Sport will then go on a tour of the new facilities, which also include 20 indoor rowing machines.
A group of rower circa1890, believed to be posing outside the club's original boathouse between the Leamington and Viewforth bridges
Glasgow-born Dame Katherine, who is one of the UK’s most successful Olympians of all time with one gold and four silver medals, is an honorary member of SABC, having actively rowed for the club and represented the club throughout her Olympic career.
Generations of rowers have since aspired to follow in her footsteps, and many have honed their skills in her namesake boat.
The club has produced many international class athletes, and has been going from strength to strength, with members representing Scotland and GB at junior and senior level.
The new boathouse, pictured earlier this month, which will officially open today
Stewart Harris, chief executive of sportscotland, said: “We are delighted to provide investment to St Andrew Boat Club to enable them to create a boathouse that not only reflects their proud history, but also means they can build on the success of the club and offer more and better opportunities for participation.
"Projects like this demonstrate the importance of clubs to communities, to the development of the sport of rowing, and to supporting athletes on their sporting journey, at every level.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here