Wey Kayak Club: a part of Guilford Waterside Centre
Wey Kayak Club describe themselves as the Manchester United or Liverpool FC of competitive canoe clubs, specialising in placid water. They are one of Guildford’s most successful sporting clubs with over 200 members of all ages and abilities.
As a competitive sprint and marathon club, Wey are one of the best in the country. They have members in the GB junior and senior teams and are home to many Internationalists in flat water disciplines, including the current Junior World Marathon Champion.
Until September 2005 when their new clubhouse opened, a casual passer-by would not know that the club was thriving. Their old headquarters they’d occupied since 1972 belied the fact that they were so successful on the water. It is only now that their £million clubhouse has been built that they have facilities to match the best of sports clubs.
Wey Kayak Club originally hoped to apply for funding in its own right and had been working for 10 years on the project, hoping for Lottery money. When this fell apart, they were very lucky CCDP funding came around. Advised that they could achieve more if they joined together with the other users on site, they applied as Guildford Waterside Centre. With the local branch of the British Sub Aqua Club and the Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Group, the clubs’ committees spearheaded the task to build a new clubhouse with fundraising from a wide variety of sources including Sport England, British Canoe Union, Guildford Borough Council, Surrey County Council and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
CCDP Round 1 put £220,000 towards the first phase of the project, the main clubhouse, with phase two of the project, a gym and additional boat storage, soon to be completed in November.
Jim Rossiter, a key member of Wey Kayak Club gives this advise to any clubs applying for grants: “Applying for funding to improve facilities requires a tremendous amount of work. Any club intending on applying needs a good, strong group of people with time to pull it all together. As well as all the coaches needed to run a club, a good background team with professional skills are essential to push forward grant applications, development plans and partnership funding etc.”
In the evenings and weekends, the new clubhouse and the beautiful stretch of the River Wey is alive with members of the Guildford and Surrey communities using this impressive new facility. Not only is it ideal for training, it is also used for meetings, coaching courses and special occasions – both on and off the water.
The Waterside Centre offers a large training and function hall, which can hold up to 200 people, and has been designed to accommodate people with disabilities. There are also, meeting rooms, changing and shower rooms, licensed bar, kitchen and a treatment room.
Since the beginning of the year when the building was finished, all the user groups have seen an increase in numbers, particularly WKC. The club now offers an attractive venue for school groups. Jim Rossiter says: “Previously the building was not suitable for school groups and the Mums and Dads of Guildford were unwilling to bring their children to the club. Now, we’ve seen a massive increase in numbers in this area. Our club is based in what is classed as a socially deprived area of Guildford and so is incredibly accessible to people on low incomes. Already, in terms of membership we are well ahead of our targets.”
www.weykayak.co.uk