A Potted History of the Club
St. Agnes Gig Club was formed in 2003. The club came about following a poster in a pub window asking if anyone was interested in starting a rowing club in St. Agnes. Roger Radcliffe, who had put up the posters, was the chair of the harbour committee which was looking at the possibilty of rebuilding St. Agnes Harbour. The committee had come to the conclusion that this was not financially feasible, but still had some funds with which to donate to a worthy cause, hence the poster. Six persons attended the meeting, held in the Parish rooms in August 2003. One of those present, Annabel Aquirre, had a contact at Newquay Rowing Club and agreed to find out whether we might try rowing up there in the first instance as we were all rowing novices. Thus it came about that a beautiful relationship was started. Leroy Kerr was one of the first Newquay coxes to take the embryonic St. Agnes Club rowers out to sea, and stuck with us ever since!
From those first rows in the Autumn seas off Newquay, we all got a taste for rowing and as a group of individuals decided to start a club. We held the first club AGM at the Driftwood Spars in November 2003 with various dignitaries from the village attending. At the first meeting Bubble was voted Chair, Simon Coley as Treasurer and Kate Putnam along with Theresa Thurlow as Secretaries. At that stage we had no money, boat and were still to be recognised by the CPGA as a club. Over the course of 2004 the hard working club members organised coffee mornings, an auction of promises, discos, applied for grant funding and generally begged for money. In March 2005 we had took ownership of our first gig, Bryanek,built by Ralph Bird, which was launched on Easter Monday 2005.
That same year the club took a men's and women's crew to compete at the World Gig Rowing Championships in the Scillies. Both crews performed respectably and we all had a great time. Later that year the club also took part in the County Championships at Newquay where again we were pleased with our results. Since then we have had crews competing in the World Championships and County Championships as well numerous club events in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 the club fielded a women's B crew for the first time who performed well and have improved at subsequent events. Towards the end of 2005 we were awarded £14000 from the Foundation for Sports and Arts to pay for our first gig. As by that stage we had already completed paying for Bryanek they kindly agreed to pay for a second gig. So it was that we launched our second gig, Bolster, built by Andrew Nancarrow, in November 2006.
From those first rows in the Autumn seas off Newquay, we all got a taste for rowing and as a group of individuals decided to start a club. We held the first club AGM at the Driftwood Spars in November 2003 with various dignitaries from the village attending. At the first meeting Bubble was voted Chair, Simon Coley as Treasurer and Kate Putnam along with Theresa Thurlow as Secretaries. At that stage we had no money, boat and were still to be recognised by the CPGA as a club. Over the course of 2004 the hard working club members organised coffee mornings, an auction of promises, discos, applied for grant funding and generally begged for money. In March 2005 we had took ownership of our first gig, Bryanek,built by Ralph Bird, which was launched on Easter Monday 2005.
That same year the club took a men's and women's crew to compete at the World Gig Rowing Championships in the Scillies. Both crews performed respectably and we all had a great time. Later that year the club also took part in the County Championships at Newquay where again we were pleased with our results. Since then we have had crews competing in the World Championships and County Championships as well numerous club events in 2005 and 2006. In 2006 the club fielded a women's B crew for the first time who performed well and have improved at subsequent events. Towards the end of 2005 we were awarded £14000 from the Foundation for Sports and Arts to pay for our first gig. As by that stage we had already completed paying for Bryanek they kindly agreed to pay for a second gig. So it was that we launched our second gig, Bolster, built by Andrew Nancarrow, in November 2006.