Churchill College Boat Club (CCBC) was established in 1961 to allow students of the College to get the chance to learn to row and compete against the other Cambridge Colleges. 59 years later and the club is still going strong with over 60 members and boats catering for all abilities.
The Club has just enjoyed a very successful Lent bumps campaign, up 11 bumps overall! W1 led the charge in their boat ‘Shall we fly’ and were extremely proud to win blades with the new set of blades generously funded by supporters of our first crowdfunding campaign, ‘Blades for Victory!’. We now want to build on that success and ensure all students can make the most of the rowing opportunities that CCBC and Cambridge have to offer.
Every year, CCBC arranges a training camp outside Cambridge, to experience rowing on different (wider) rivers! This provides invaluable experience for members of the Club as they have whole-day training sessions with volunteer coaches. This year’s training camp is due to take place from the 12th – 17th April and will cost students attending around £200 each, including accommodation, food and transport over five days. Although most students can budget for the cost of attending the training camp, there are a few who struggle to fund it, therefore we are crowdfunding for a £1000 fund to help subsidise training camps for students who cannot find the extra £200. Many of them are students already on bursaries or receiving studentships who are on a tight budget.
This year, CCBC also has two students who are hoping to get into University boats. Trialling at this level costs over £1000 when accommodation and University training camp costs are factored in.
We would therefore like to raise £1000 per year to help fund students who incur significant extra costs whilst trialling to represent the University.
Where will the money go?
Churchill students eligible for support will receive grants of up to £150 towards the cost of attending the April training camps. Grants of up to £500 will also be made available for our most talented rowers in their bid to trial for one of the University boats. This support will ensure that Churchill rowers will be able to access all the opportunities available to ‘win on the water’ regardless of their financial circumstances. Any funds not used this year will help grow the Train and Trail Fund for future years.
We have some fab rewards to thank everyone who donates, whatever the amount you might give. Please visit our new crowdfunding page to find out more! We will also be giving away a small number of limited edition Chubacker rocket enamel pin badges in Churchill branded colours to the first 20 donors on the site.
Training camp is a great way to get the May Bumps campaign off to a strong start. Rowers and coxes get several days of intensive time on the water, allowing major technical progress to be made in a way that isn’t possible during our hectic Cambridge terms. The different rivers also allow more uninterrupted rowing than in the traffic jams on the Cam! Personally I’ve always found it an extremely valuable experience – as well as the source of some of my happiest rowing memories. It really brings the club together to spend that length of time in each others’ company, and I think it really fosters that sense of community that is such a wonderful part of rowing. Xanthe Malcolm (CCBC Committee & W1 crew member)
Help us succeed!
You don’t need to give money to help the ‘Train & Trial 2020’ appeal succeed. Please visit and share the project page with anyone you think might support the appeal – on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email, telephone, in a chat or on your blog. In fact, share it with everyone you know might be interested because the more people who know about it, the more likely we can make this work for our amazing rowers. And we know we said you don’t need to give money to help us, but we’d love it if you could help with a donation too!
Churchill College Boat Club links:
