ABOUT US / HISTORY
Why become involved with Agecroft Rowing Club ?
Agecroft Rowing Club is not what you may think of when considering the sport of rowing. It is not elitest, welcomes all and the sausage butties are top notch. The club strives for success at all levels. From beginner to what has been described as 'semi-professional' with almost 100 wins every year. With over 60 members the club consistently performs to the highest standard at the key events in the sport, from the upper Thames at Henley Regatta to the Irwell in Salford.
A few facts about Agecroft.
There has been rowing in Manchester and Salford since 1823, with more than 15 clubs during the 1860's. Agecroft was formed by the gradual merging of these Irwell based clubs. Agecroft was formed in Oct 1861, which makes Agecroft one of the oldest open membership rowing clubs in the world. The club house was originally in the ground of Agecroft Hall (now the site of a power station), and has moved twice on the same river since it's foundation. The old Club house at Littleton road is no longer used for rowing, as the river has become impossible for eight's and fours to pass due to the encroachment of weeds and river life following the clean up of the environment. A new arrangement exists to boat from Salford Quays. We offer high level coaching and equipment for those who wish to succeed and we also cater for recreational rowers and complete novices. The club has a large fleet of boats including 3 newly purchased this season. We cater for all levels of rowing having strong veteran and women squads as well as senior men. When the new boathouse facilities are finalised we hope to be able to extend our junior squads as well as offer rowing to the physically handicapped in the community. There is no bar or club lounge at present, but we hope to remedy that with a more permanent arrangement on the Quays.
Agecroft Rowing Club and Rowing on the River Irwell from 1840 - By Kevin Maynard and Denis O’Neill
Like the majority of the country’s “working” waterways, there were professional Boatmen/Rowing on the River Irwell (which separates the cities of Manchester and Salford) since the start of the Industrial Revolution (circa 1750)
With the growth in prosperity of these two cities, the gentlemen of that era sought manly pursuits on which to spend their leisure time. Ishmael Lythgoe, founder of Agecroft Rowing Club, said of rowing: “So favorable to the development of the human frame and good fellowship, no pastime can equal rowing for either strengthening the limbs or drawing out those social qualities of the heart”
During the period 1820 – 1870, the Irwell saw an explosion in “Gentlemen Amateur” Rowing clubs. Some were merely a one rowing boat club; others such as Nemesis and Minerva were at the vanguard of the sport.
Ishmael Lythgoe, who was a member of Nemesis at that time, displayed foresight in the summer of 1860 when he decided that the green and pleasant surroundings of the river Irwell at Agecroft (6 miles upstream from the City) was where he wanted to row. Initially there was some resistance from a local landowner to the proposed formation of rowing club. However, this was overcome in the summer of 1861 and Agecroft Rowing Club was formed. The first boathouse, in the grounds of Agecroft Hall, was swept away in the floods of 1866 and a new replacement brick boathouse was built a year later near Douglas Green weir. The club was based there for 70 years and the members also maintained a summer residence called Giants Seat House at Ringley.
Nemesis 1847 – 1920 (and before that “Clarence Rowing Club”) were one of the main organisers behind the Manchester and Salford regatta 1842 – 1863. At the time, this regatta rivalled Henley Regatta. (Records show the construction of over one mile of boardwalk and seating for 50,000) They had to vacate their boathouse at Pomona to make way for The Manchester Ship Canal in 1890 and moved to New Bailey Street Landings, now the well known Mark Addy Pub - named after a famous local professional oarsman (1838 – 1890), awarded the Albert Medal for saving 50 people from drowning.
The disruption caused by the new Manchester Ship Canal, pollution, developments along banks of the river and the loss of many members during the First World War, all contributed to the demise of Nemesis, the last surviving rowing club in central Manchester.
In 1925, another famous Agecroft character, Maurice Rothwell joined the club. He was to be a member until his death in 1992. He left the Club a substantial legacy which was put into Trust until needed.
In 1934, Agecroft agreed to sell their boathouse and moved half a mile upstream to the opposite bank adjacent to Kersal Cell (an old monastery and later home to John Byron the poet). Two years earlier, Agecroft had encouraged the formation of Manchester University Boat Club, and they remained in the old boathouse until the Luftwaffe kindly remodelled the building in December 1940, whereupon they moved back in with Agecroft until their own current Boathouse on the Bridgewater canal was completed in 1963.
After the departure of Manchester University Boat Club, Agecroft set about encouraging the eventual formation of Salford University Boat Club in 1965 and the Northern Universities Boat Race in 1972. About this time, the club started to struggle to find new members. There was little activity on the river and the sporting and financial future was uncertain.
In 1974, the boathouse was sold to Salford University and Agecroft became tenants. This was the Club’s darkest hour.
Four years later, some young, enthusiastic members including Steve Hitchen and Kevin Maynard, joined with the aim of rebuilding the club. They inherited a Club with no boathouse, few boats and only 7 active members.
Initially, their efforts were directed at increasing equipment, members and re-establishing themselves locally. As the fleet increased, so did the standard and the active numbers. This led to appearances in various TV programmes, including BBC’s “Changes” which helped bring about the development of Salford Quays. The Club’s first eight also rowed Loch Ness, in record time.
The eighties saw the revival continue – the Club started to win nationally and a very successful women’s section was formed. The boathouse was bought back from Salford University and completely refurbished and extended. In the 11 years, 1985 – 1995 Agecroft won the prestigious North of England Head 9 times, winning Tideway’s Jackson Trophy in 1994 with yet another top 20 finish. Several Women’s Henley titles and national medals were also won. The Club flourished under the leadership of Mike Parsons.
However, these successes were at a price. The River Irwell had started to weed up and the top crews went looking for longer and better stretches of water to train on. Although the rowing performances were maintained, the Club lost its roots again as those left behind at the boathouse, drifted away.
In 2000, the club realised that something drastic had to be done. The river was unrowable and the boathouse often vandalised. It was agreed that we must find a new home and use Maurice’s legacy to preserve the Club. The only answer was to relocate to Salford Quays. The original home of Nemesis, vacated by Ishmael Lythgoe some 140 years previously!
In May that year, following negotiations with the Manchester Ship Canal, a temporary tin shed was erected at Salford Quays. This, at last, gives a base back in the heart of Salford, with excellent Motorway links, Metro link and good local transport – plus most importantly, good rowing water and potentially a multi lane rowing course (our next project?).
The decision was taken to relocate to Salford Quays, knowing that probably, members would be lost. At the time, only 12 men, 1 woman and 3 veterans moved to the temporary tin shed. Our worst fears seem to be becoming reality! However, there was no going back.
Links were built with the local community, and new members came from the local gyms. Almost immediately, membership increased and in 2001, the Club had our first novice eight’s win in over 10 years! By the following year, demand meant we were shoehorning 21 boats into our one bay shed! So tight was the racking that on more than one occasion, we could not get all the boats in unless they were carefully put on their preset racks – any variation seemed to lead to a boat left over!
Meantime, our partners, Salford Council were incredibly supportive and were themselves about to build a new £2m Water Sports Centre on the Quays with access to the inner waterways. They agreed to allow Agecroft to build an Extension to their new building. Our building was to include a boat store, large gym, bar/kitchen, and changing rooms. The club designed the scheme, obtained planning permission and then started to fund raise – all at our risk. We also considered the long-term position and got Planning Permission for a second boathouse while we were at it – possibly to house Salford and Manchester Universities and visiting crews one day.
The scheme would cost just under £1m. With sensible foresight, Maurice’s legacy was waiting to help. The Council’s new Water Sports Centre was their flagship project and designed to a high standard in the shadow of the world famous Lowry Centre. This meant our extension had to blend - with a curved roof, glass and steel cladding to match– but we had to fund one of the highest quality boathouses around.
We applied to Sport England for a grant and were shocked to be initially turned down. We heard later that, at the same meeting, Sport England awarded £110m to the ill fated Pickett’s Lock athletics stadium and we were next on the agenda!
With the ARA’s help, we redid our bid. We applied for Project Oarsome. We are proud to have become the 50th (and last) club to win PO. We then approached Salford University who agreed to continue their long association with us and made a generous contribution to the funds. Suddenly, we had potential school and university activity to dovetail with ourselves. Sport England awarded us a 60% Grant – the dream was becoming reality!
In April 2003, we appointed a Contractor who started on site and went bankrupt 6 weeks later! Everything stopped whilst we tried to find a solution. Paying more to another contractor was not an option as we had no more money! It looked as if we would have to mothball the site and try to raise more money. The longer we took, the more inflation added to the problem.
Denis O’Neill, the club captain stepped in and, with tremendous support from Salford Council, Sport England and the club’s trustees, took over as contractor and delivered our boathouse on time and to budget. The boathouse was jointly opened in March 2004 by Denis, Steve Hitchen and Kevin Maynard. All three had worked tirelessly over many years to achieve that day.
At the end of 2004, Agecroft has 80 active members (excluding the fledgling Project Oarsome), with a record 86 regatta and Head wins during the year. The club has continued to produce good crews and recaptured the coveted North of England Head trophy for a record 11th time this year. The gym is fully fitted out with 20 ergos, static weight machines, Olympic weights and Cardio machines. Over 120 attended our recent annual dinner.
We have an ARA Wold Class Start coach based in our boathouse and this should help raise the overall standards of all NW athletes. Our partnership with the Council has extended to running our successful triathlons together and we are now holding our annual Small Boats Head each Autumn.
2005 was another strong year with Project Oarsome becoming established both on Sunday mornings and midweek with local schools. World Class Start continued to grow with 7 athletes training virtually full time. On the Club front, numbers continued to grow and the club's successess continued on the water.
This year, 2006, was an exceptional year in the club's history with the Men's first eight losing a Henley semi final by a foot and winning a silver in the eights at Nat Champs. The Womens four did even better by winning at Met, Womens Henley and also getting a silver medal, missing the gold in a photo finish. They then followed this up by being selected for England. The Head season had gone well with overall wins for the men at Peterborough (Course record), Runcorn, Hammersmith, Chester and Northwich, whilst the women won at Chester and raced well at Trent and Peterbrough. However, both were held up by other crews on the Tideway and were disappointed with their results. The Womens Novice/sen4 eight won Sen 2, Sen 3 and Sen 4 eights at Northwich! World Class Start added another coach and 10 Junior athletes. Membership was up to about 120 with no space left in the boathouse for any more boats.
Click on these two images for larger wallpaper sized versions.
After 33 rescues over a period of 25 years he was awarded the Albert Medal First Class by Queen Victoria in 1878; he had already been awarded the Bronze and Silver Medals of the Royal Humane Society, as well as the Gold Medal of the Royal Humane Society of the Salford Hundred. As an adult he owned the riverside Boathouse Inn. Eventually he succumbed to the River Irwell, when, after his last rescue he suffered a fatal illness brought on by swallowing the heavily polluted waters and he died on the 9th June 1890. A pub bearing his name exists today on the Salford Bank of the River Irwell, just up stream from the Agecroft club house.