£1.6 million in 20 years

It was in 1987 that the late Peter Coni, then chairman of Henley Royal Regatta, first conceived the idea of injecting money from the Regatta back into the sport. After ten years in office he had succeeded in reversing the financial situation of the regatta, which had been very brittle during the 1970s, but which had by then achieved a secure and stable foundation.

The Stewards’ Charitable Trust, the result of that initiative, was formally established by the governing body of the Regatta in June 1988. The principal objective of the Trust was to provide funds to encourage and support young people (still receiving education or undergoing training) to row or scull.

In May 2003 (fifteen years after its inception) the Trust had given away over £1,000,000 in the pursuit of these aims. By the end of 2007 this figure had risen dramatically to £1,600,000.

The Trust’s emphasis has always been to support schemes that help develop the sport of rowing among boys and girls at ‘grass roots level’. More than thirty different projects have been supported during this period, some spanning a number of years and others being one-off schemes. These projects range from a major funding of the A.R.A.’s Project Oarsome scheme to supporting the rebirth of the Ball Cup Races for smaller schools. The Trust contributes annually to The Rowing Foundation and has funded ARA safety posters and videos. Donations have been made to many specific causes such as adaptive rowing, the British Universities Sports Association, the River & Rowing Museum, London Youth Rowing, the Mark Lees Foundation, an Imperial College London Biodynamics project and the Watermen’s Foundation, to assist young apprentices.

The Trust’s first significant donation was £190,000 to Project Oarsome. Now that this project has been successfully implemented the next target has been to find and support the additional coaches to look after all the new, young rowers. Since 2002 the Trust has worked with the A.R.A. to initiate the Henley Stewards’ Charitable Trust (H.S.C.T.) Coaching Scholarship Scheme. Starting with just two such coaches in September 2002 this project was supporting eleven coaches in September 2007 and will be supporting fourteen coaches this autumn. The coaches are located across the United Kingdom. Each H.S.C.T. coach must undertake a two year, part-time postgraduate course in coaching, sports development or the health/social related benefits of sport, while undertaking to spend twenty hours per week coaching juniors in their assigned area. To date the Trust has donated £386,250 to this initiative. Further support to the critical area of coaching youngsters is made through the Trust’s funding of three Community Coaches for London Youth Rowing.

In 2006 and 2007 the Trust made donations of just over £170,000 each year. The planned level of donations in 2008 is nearly £290,000.

The Trust receives the bulk of its money from substantial annual donations made by Henley Royal Regatta and its trading arm, Henley Royal Regatta Limited, but also benefits from the generosity of other donors, both corporate and individual, including several members of the Stewards’ Enclosure.

Mike Sweeney
Chairman of the Trustees