Dartmouth gig club hosted a ceremony to commemorate the opening of a brand new shelter to ensure the protection of their gig boats on June 4th.

The ceremony, which took place at 2pm, saw members of the gig club as well as friends, family and sponsors come together to watch the grand opening of the new shelter, which was opened by Town Mayor Cllr David Wells.

The club have been fundraising since before the Covid-19 pandemic, and have used a crowdfunding scheme as well as events such as a 26 hour row relay to help raise the funds for their shelter.

The shelter will enable the club to protect their gigs from the elements, and ensure that they can continue to be used for a long time.

The club said: “Traditional gigs are very beautiful; they have a history which goes back hundreds of years and they are a joy to row. We can only race with traditional wooden gigs and racing is a focus which holds together the whole club.

“Looking after wooden gigs takes a lot of our volunteers’ time. Gigs must be protected from hot sun and cold winters, and our ‘best’ gigs towed back and forth from a barn several miles from Dartmouth. Currently our beautiful, vulnerable wooden gigs are kept in the open, at the mercy of the weather.

“A shelter… (will) enable us to provide much needed protection from the elements for our beloved traditional wooden Pilot Gigs, it will lessen the work of our volunteers, who can then give more time to people’s needs, and also give the club a base… (it) will protect our lovely boats and free up our volunteers time to take more people rowing.”

The club raised £26,245 through their Crowdfunding scheme, and were supported by charity Sport England, which pledged £8,000 towards the fundraiser.

The club tried to do as much of the work as possible internally, with Men’s Captain James, who works as a carpenter, playing a big role in completing the shelter.

The gig club are a modern Gig Rowing Club based in Dartmouth. The club is completely run by volunteers, who all give their time for free, and aims to make rowing inclusive, ensuring that anyone who wants to row can.

The club said: “We would like to ensure that everyone who wants to row can do so… We have British Rowing qualified coaches, and we have always worked hard to make sure that everyone who wants to row can do so. We keep membership fees low to encourage wide membership, and so must fundraise for large projects… We have over a hundred members ranging in age from 11 to 77 and from all parts of our community. Some row socially, others like to race.”

The club encourage both younger and older generations to get involved with their club and take up rowing, and many of the young people that are part of the club were in attendence at the opening of the shelter.

The club is a key part of the Dartmouth community. They have taken part in various races, representing Dartmouth in the annual World Championships, County and National Championships, and have been involved in friendly regattas across the South-West. Members of the club have also rowed the English Channel in record time, as well as to Guernsey and back to raise funds for a new gig.