In June 2016 Ben Dunne, then Principal at Penketh High School, and Richard Sinnott of Warrington Rowing Club (WRC), came up with a plan. The aim was simple…

To engage with local pupils who would not normally have access to rowing and take them on a sporting journey with the ambition to change their lives.

The plan neatly coincided with initiatives that were being worked up by British Rowing (BR) and Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust (HRRCT). These ideas fermented into reality and in September 2016, Phil Lyons began his two years as an HSCT Coach, based at Warrington Rowing Club.

A selection process took place to find Year 9 pupils that would take part. All the rowers would be on The Pupil Premium Register. In total, eight secondary schools from the state sector joined the scheme providing enough athletes for a boys and girls quad from each school.

The Schools: Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School, Birchwood Community High School, Cardinal Newman Catholic High School, Bridgewater High School, Penketh High School, Great Sankey High School, Beamont Collegiate Academy, University Academy (to become Padgate High School)

As a Principal, Ben had a direct route into the schools from the top down. This quickly gave the scheme impetus and a timetable was established. The schools deliver their pupils, accompanied by a member of staff, to Warrington Rowing Club for a 2 hour slot. These sessions are during the school day; there is an obvious attraction for the pupils, two hours rowing or double lesson behind a school desk!

As well as racing for medals the youngsters were aiming to get selected to be part of the Warrington Team at the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships in London. This is a huge event, one of the biggest in the world and is staged by our good friends at London Youth Rowing. The WYR team travelled by train to London and had an amazing day, racing hard and making new friends. Ellie Kadir of Culcheth High School even made the medal podium with a fantastic Bronze Medal, a first for WYR.

This year saw a number of changes. We changed our age range to year 8, for a number of reasons. Pressures of the Education System meant that there was a reluctance for schools to release pupils as they got nearer to their GCSE Exams. Other factors weighed in, mainly linked to logistics but it was generally agreed that year 8 would be the way forward. There were changes on the coaching front, Phil had moved on and was replaced by Paul. We also started to bring in more part time coaches to cover the busy timetable of rowing sessions.

This year NJIRC had moved to the Copper Box in the Olympic Park and the new venue really moved the competition on. Ellie Kadir managed to upgrade her bronze medal from 2018 to a silver in 2019.

Warrington saw St Gregs Catholic High School join the scheme, taking our total to 9 schools.There was though a bigger change: we opened a new site in Liverpool. This has become Mersey Youth Rowing, hosted by Mersey Rowing Club and operating from Liverpool Watersports Centre.

This year also saw our young people compete for their schools in our annual indoor rowing championships (held at Birchwood High School Sports Hall for Warrington Youth Rowing and Cardinal Heenan School for Mersey Youth Rowing). In total, twenty two schools and nearly 400 young rowers took part and had a great time!

Sadly, this year also saw us having to temporarily close our doors, along with so many other organisations in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, during the government prescribed lockdown.

However, this didn’t stop us continuing to make great plans for the future and we were delighted to announce that the Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust (HRRCT) agreed further funding to facilitate the launch of Northwich Youth Rowing in September 2020.

Another Covid fuelled lockdown started on the 5th November but WYR managed to carry on as it’s activity was deemed to be an educational activity. During this time, New Horizons (later to become Kassia Academy), a Pupil Referral Unit joined the programme. This was a new direction for WYR and one they were keen to explore. During the last week of the Autumn Term a Capsize Drill was organised and attended by all the schools.

September in 2021 was almost a fresh start for our Youth Rowing Projects. The cloud of Covid, although still lurking in the background, was starting to evaporate.

Embarking on their 6th year in the scheme the Warrington Schools swiftly got back into the swing of things. The youngsters were soon back on the river Mersey, learning a new set of skills that would hopefully, enhance their lives further down the line. Two of our schools valued the scheme so highly that they requested a second session for their new year 9 pupils as they had a Covid interrupted year previously. We were pleased to enrol The Kings Academy, Woolston into our ranks; they are a welcome addition as their school is located within a short distance of WRC.

Mersey Youth Rowing was almost a relaunch with a new cohort of schools taking part. This included a couple of SEND Schools, Clare Mount who are within a mile of the Vics boathouse and Clifford Holroyd based in Liverpool. The location of Clifford Holroyd means that it is quicker for them to get to Warrington Rowing Club and they are enjoying their sessions on the Mersey but they are very firmly under the MYR banner! North Liverpool Academy continue to be strong believers in our project and opted for three sessions a week. The coaching team for MYR is our youngest and they continue to amaze with their energy and willingness to adapt to new ideas and challenges. One of the challenges they face is working on a commercial dock and it’s not uncommon for rowing activity to be stopped to allow for ocean going ships to be docked.

Northwich Youth Rowing was virtually a relaunch with a new group of schools taking part. These new schools included Sandbach Lodge, a unit that works with challenging children. One group of pupils they presented us with were Afghan Refugees. Needless to say, language was a problem, but the coaching team managed to find a way and the smiles from a group of lads that had arrived from the desert was just reward. Knutsford continue to be very enthusiastic and their reward for finding a way to continue in the previous year, was to be awarded the 2021 Roger Chicken Trophy for the best school in the Youth Rowing project.

Under normal circumstances we would have taken a team to the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships in London. This amazing event is organised by our good friends at London Youth  Rowing (LYR). Sadly, they did not feel confident enough to stage the event given the shadow of Covid that was still lurking. They did though organise a virtual event that eventually attracted well over 7000 entries. All of our schools took part, with Padgate entering well over 100 pupils, and it was a great success. LYR also ran their indoor rowing league for schools anywhere in the world and it was good to see Padgate regularly in the top 3 schools.

The new academic year that started in September 2022 was yet another step forward. Greater Manchester Youth Rowing, based at Agecroft Rowing Club sprang into life. Else where it was a case of sustaining and growing our current sites.

The schools in Warrington, some of them now seven years into the project, soon got to grips with things and most of them where active by early October. We lost two of the schools for various reasons and they took a year out but promised to return next year. We did, though, gain two new schools in the shape of Penketh High School and St Gregory’s Catholic High School. The coaching team at WYR is now well versed in the way we do things. They continue to impress with their dedication and willingness to adapt and improvise. The coaching team at WYR was bolstered by the addition of a British Rowing Grow Coach in the shape of Quin Dunne.

Action on The West Float Dock continued at a pace with plenty of action on the water. North Liverpool Academy increased their sessions to three per week and three other schools increased their sessions to twice weekly. We were delighted to be able to introduce two new schools to the Mersey programme. South Wirral High School and Dixons Broadgreen both joined the fold during the spring term. Our student based coaching team at Mersey are performing well and are always up for a challenge, especially as they work on a commercial dock. I’m sure we will all miss the navy ship, that has now moved and was an interesting feature on the skyline.

The river Weaver saw plenty of activity with local schools continuing to participate and utilise the modern facilities at Northwich Rowing Club.

Agecroft Rowing Club now play host to Greater Manchester Youth Rowing, and it is interesting to see the youngsters working alongside athletes that are on the GB pathway. Six schools eventually signed up with five of them coming from United Learning, a large trust with schools all over England. Our coaches at GMYR are by in large young adults and some of them are on the GB pathway. Its great to see these coaches passing on the skills that they have been learning, whilst being coached themselves by GB coaches!

We managed to hold our two Youth Rowing competitions this year, despite a teachers strike on our original regatta date. The indoor competition was held at Birchwood High School on 25th January. We had our biggest entry to date with 375 young rowers taking part.

In July we eventually held our regatta with a slightly reduced entry due to a teachers strike on the original date. We were pleased to welcome along Siobhan Cassidy, Chair of The Boat Race Company as a guest and she was delighted to see so many youngsters taking part in a regatta for the first time. It was a radically altered format and in general it worked well. Knutsford and Winsford were the winners on the day.

September 2023 started with plans for a new site based at Runcorn Rowing Club. Initially, this was going to be called Runcorn Youth Rowing. It was a slow start but by March 2024, it had grown to four schools. It’s hoped that by next year we will be up to seven schools. Like Northwich, Runcorn Rowing Club, is based on the River Weaver which is generally a very well-behaved piece of water, ideal for our young athletes.

In September, we also launched a new site at Rudyard Lake hosted by North Staffordshire Rowing Club. This was not on the agenda, but Macclesfield Academy had initially wanted to join Northwich Youth Rowing and then couldn’t get a timetable slot to fit in with the Northwich schedule. The easiest solution was to open at Rudyard Lake, a beautiful stretch of water near Leek in Staffordshire. This site does need some more schools and more attention from us, but the team at North Staffs RC are doing a great job. More to come here next year.

We had our annual pilgrimage to NJIRC at The Copper Box in London. The team was smaller than the previous year, as the cost was becoming prohibitive. We took the fastest twelve girls and boys from our indoor competition and they performed admirably. This is a fantastic experience, watching twenty four children from a large number of schools bond into one large team. Apprehensive strangers at the beginning of the day, and then frantically swapping phone numbers with other students at the end of their adventure.  Thanks to London Youth Rowing for organising this great event.

The regatta ran on time, following on from the new format that we tried the previous year. Over thirty two schools took part and lots of youngsters got to experience the thrill of a boat race. Salford and Culcheth were the Girls and Boys Champions.