Clubhouse work completed to ensure its ready for rowing season PHOTOS

Work to upgrade Newport Rowing Club has been completed, nearly a year after a crowdfunding campaign was launched.

Donations of around £7,000, plus more than £2,000 from Sport England, raised in eight months, ensured the project was finished.

As the County Press previously reported, the crowdfunder campaign was closed in September.

The wooden building, which dates to 1863, sits on the side of the river Medina.

Inside the clubhouse (Image: Newport Rowing Club)

Inside the clubhouse (Image: IWCP)

It is believed to be one of only two boathouses built above tidal waters in the UK.

In August 2023, club chair, Julie Clarke, explained parts of the slipway had been replaced over the years, but with untreated wood.

Its replacement was to cost around £1,000.

"Most of the floor in the boathouse is original, and is such good quality compared to the wood you buy today," she told the County Press.

"The whole building tends to sway a bit, so steel cross beams are going to support the whole building."

The slipway (Image: IWCP)

Newport Rowing Club's new slipway (Image: Newport Rowing Club)

Julie Clarke, at the clubhouse (Image: IWCP)

Inside the clubhouse (Image: IWCP)

The new supportive steel beams (Image: Newport Rowing Club)

Since then, work has included underpinning the building with the steel supports, replacing the slipway, and the refurbishment of the clubroom.

It was carried out by both professionals and rowing club members.