As we were!
As we were!
Alan Whitham had a thriving group of keen canoeists at Peveril School and decided that to let them keep canoeing after they had left school, there needed to be a canoe club in Nottingham so he looked around for somewhere to start and found a place in the caves under the Gresham hotel - so NKC had a home!
Alan looked for a better place and found a plot of land squeezed between the boatyard and Nottingham University Rowing Club. The members put up an old contractors site hut.
So you think boat racking at the club is a bit of a problem?
There was a corrugated iron fence and a heavy rusty old gate making a compound round the club . No water, so no showers, no toilets, not much heating. A gas fire & a gas stove to make tea.
When we were saving money to build the current clubhouse/boathouse we had an old contractors mobile site van to store what we collected (newspaper was a thing at the time.)
Once we pulled the old wooden hut down all we had for changing was the same mobile van along with a couple of tons of newspaper. No water etc. and no gas fire or stove!
So next time the water is off or the showers need fixing it's still luxury!
Banbury Buildings put up the shell the members built the internal walls, welded the boat racking (still in use) painted, plumbed, wired and ... we had water, toilets, heating and a electricity.
The caravan in the background was a café at the boat yard.
The boat yard next door changed hands and eventually became the rowing centre that's there now.