Leicester Rowing Club is a rowing

Sport rowing

Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...

 and sculling

Sculling

Sculling generally refers to a method of using oars to propel watercraft in which the oar or oars touch the water on both the port and starboard sides of the craft, or over the stern...

 club in Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

, UK formed in 1882 which represents the City of Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 in Regatta

Regatta

A regatta is a series of boat races. The term typically describes racing events of rowed or sailed water craft, although some powerboat race series are also called regattas...

 and Head Races around Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 and Worldwide. The club insignia is based on the mythical Wyvern

Wyvern

A wyvern or wivern is a legendary winged reptilian creature with a dragon's head, two legs , and a barbed tail. The wyvern is found in heraldry. There exists a purely sea-dwelling variant, termed the Sea-Wyvern which has a fish tail in place of a barbed dragon's tail...

 and rowers compete in the club's colours of black and white.

History

Date	Events
1882	Founded at Belgrave Belgrave, Leicestershire Belgrave is an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England, consisting of the Leicester suburb of Belgrave in its entirety....  on the North side of Leicester Leicester Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...  from an amalgamation of three smaller clubs, themselves founded in the 1870s, with the stated aim of representing the City in Regatta Regatta A regatta is a series of boat races. The term typically describes racing events of rowed or sailed water craft, although some powerboat race series are also called regattas...  competitions. The Club initially used the canal stretch at Belgrave Belgrave, Leicestershire Belgrave is an electoral ward and administrative division of the city of Leicester, England, consisting of the Leicester suburb of Belgrave in its entirety.... . The first Captain was Mr. WG Linnell
1885	First competition at Loughborough Loughborough Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...  and District Regatta. The boats were transported on a specially adapted horse drawn dray
1885	First Leicester Regatta held on a river course ending in Abbey Park Abbey Park, Leicestershire Abbey Park is a public park in Leicester, England, owned and managed by Leicester City Council through which the River Soar flows.The park contains the remains of the 12th century Leicester Abbey and the ruins of Cavendish House... . The regatta was part of the Abbey Park Flower Show. A reporter for the Leicester Advertiser noted that he "... never expected to see such excellent boating as [I] had done that day. I was not aware that there were any men in Leicester who could row as had been seen that afternoon."
1887	Leicester sprint regatta over 500 yards established. The races were for pewter Pewter Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and lead. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C ,...  tankards (pots) which were retained and silver Silver Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...  trophies which were held for a year. The trophies were " ...filled with champagne to wet them.."
1888	The club outgrew its first site and moved to a boathouse at Hawley's Dye works. This was still on the north side of the city but on Frog island Frog Island, Leicestershire Frog Island is an inner city area of Leicester, England, so named because it lies between the River Soar and the Soar Navigation... . However the rowing water was limited and for the next twenty years or so the Club's energies were focused on raising funds for a new purpose built boathouse.
1891	Rowing now takes place on the Mile Straight to the south-east of the city centre. The mile straight was widened for flood protection in 1891, eliminating several bends and locks. This reconstruction made the best stretch of rowing water in Leicestershire. Although only 1800m from lock to lock it was wide enough to take two boats side by side and had a metalled towpath over its full length - invaluable for coaching. The sunken water level also meant that the river was shielded from the wind in almost all directions, allowing rowers to venture out in the strongest winds with barely a ripple on the water. To this day Leicester Rowers are notorious for being over sensitive to wind and waves when they travel to less favoured waters.
1906	Construction of a 100 foot wooden boat house at the bottom of Filbert Street Filbert Street Filbert Street, in Leicester, England, was a football stadium, and the home of Leicester City from 1891 to 2002. Although officially titled "The City Business Stadium" in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively by its address, like many English football stadia.- Early years :The club,... , opposite the Bede Island Meadows baths. The boathouse housed 6 fours, 4 pairs, 3 whiffs and 8 tubs on the ground floor and a committee room, dressing room and showers upstairs. The opening ceremony was performed by Lady Faire ".. in the presence of a large and fashionable gathering." The boathouse was funded with the help of local business which contributed to the £250 building costs and the £100 club debt. Sir Samuel Faire, responding on behalf of the supporters that day said "...some people in other towns were surprised that Leicester folk should be able to do anything in the way of rowing, but from what I can hear I think the Leicester Club can show the lead to many other clubs... Boating was a fine sport and those Gentlemen who had so successfully kept it alive in the town deserved to be warmly commended for their efforts in this direction".
1920	Club reforms after the Great War
1940	The construction of a new power station forces the club to move across the river to present site on the southern tip of Bede Island Bede Island Bede Island is an area of Leicester, England close to the city centre, with the River Soar to the west and Grand Union Canal to the east. For many years Bede Island South was a run down area of brownfield land home to Vic Berry's locomotive scrapyard but in the 1990s urban regeneration sought to... . Old swimming lido buildings formed the clubhouse and changing rooms with various temporary buildings housing the boats. The accommodation was noted to be " cribbed cabined and confined". During the War, Leicester City Council records were kept at the Clubhouse, an annexe being built to accommodate a night watchman.
1945	During the second world war a concrete footbridge was built over the regatta course in Abbey Park. The bridge had two piers which effectively made the river too narrow for racing. Since then all regattas have been held on the Mile Straight.
1949	First Leicester Quarts Regatta held in autumn. Autumn regattas had a problem; due to weed growth during the summer the channel was often too narrow for racing and the club had to rely on the weed being cut in order to hold the event. The weed is still a problem in late summer even today. After the war the Club was represented at Regattas all over the midlands. At distant regattas crews would race in "Committee Boats" provided by the organising club and traveled to events on the train carrying their 13 feet (4 m) oars with them.
1965	A new larger boathouse was constructed, mostly thanks to Mr. Pete Barnacle, which lasted until the current boathouse was built in 1996.
1970	Club becomes mixed, first women's crew to represent LRC at open regattas.
1972	The power station Power station A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....  across the river from the club closes down. The good news was that the outflow from the cooling water no longer caused a thick fog in winter or pushed the boats across the river when in full flow, the bad news was that the river now froze over occasionally in winter.
1995	Club is awarded grants from Sports Council Lottery fund and Foundation for Sports and Arts towards the cost of a new boathouse with changing rooms, committee room and bar above. The total cost is around £465,000.
1996	New clubhouse opened on November 23, 1996 by Mr. Peter Haining.

Facilities

The club has a custom build boathouse part funded by money provided by the UK Lottery, which is also houses the fleet of De Montfort University

De Montfort University

De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...

 Rowing Club and University of Leicester

University of Leicester

The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....

 Boat Club.

Leicester Regatta

Held annually at the start of the regatta season. The event is known in the rowing community as the "Henley of the East Midlands".

Racing

The Club competes at Head Races and Regattas all year round, when there are enough active members to fill boats.