WORK has started on building a much needed shelter to protect Dartmouth’s handsome, sleek wooden racing gigs.

Mayor Cllr David Wells cut the first turf as construction of Dart Gig Club’s boat shelter began on Coronation Park.

Club honorary life member, Kevin Pyne, hailed it a “dream come true,” adding: “It could not have happened without the town council, South Hams Council and the residents of the area getting behind the project in the early stages.

“The wooden boats are delicate and vulnerable. The weather crucifies the beautiful gigs and they need to be kept out of the wind and sun.”

The shelter will be big enough to store three Cornish Pilot Gigs.

Kevin continued: “Accessibility of the boats is essential especially for our youngest rowers who use the boats twice a week during the season.”

Club chairwoman Peta Chivers explained: “The youth of the town are at the heart of our club, our future. We keep joining fees to a minimum to be as inclusive as possible. The benefits of rowing both mentally and physically have been proven time and time again and the club have been working hard since the pandemic to successfully increase its junior membership.

“We actively seek out new members and have good links with the Dartmouth Academy and other local schools where we give pupils the chance to come and see what we’re all about.

“Our junior section has been really successful in teaching dozens of teenagers to row – and learn the value of winning – and losing.

“But more than that they learn life skills, confidence, team building, fitness and social skills that stay with them once they get out of the boat.”

The club, established 26 years ago and now has more than 100 members aged between 11 and 76, which means there is at least one boat on the water every day of the week from spring through to autumn, crewed by juniors, social or competitive rowers.

The club’s new shelter has been sympathetically designed to help minimise any visual impact.

It will consist of a single-story structure below the existing tree line with a sedum roof - with living plants on top - to help blend into the park surroundings and reduce visual impact for homes directly above the site.

Members will help with the build which will include natural cladding using cedar and oak.

The club is “excited for the future and thankful to Dartmouth,” said Peta.

“We have been saving up and fund raising for years to build a shelter, but Covid delayed the start of the project and the cost of materials has escalated so dramatically that we are slightly short of funds,” she added.

The shelter will cost in the region of £90,000 and the club still needs to raise some £30,000 to pay for it and have launched a ‘sponsor a plank’ campaign in a bid to raise the remainder.

There are four levels of sponsorship based on the amount sponsored: bronze £25, silver £100, gold £500 and platinum £1,000.

Members are also planning a sponsored 26 hour row – one for every year the club has been in existence – before Christmas to help make up the shortfall.

Anyone wishing to make a donation or sponsor a plank can email [email protected]