The New Year brought with it a new lockdown and all school activity was suspended till March 8th. By the end of March all the schools were back in training and aiming for the summer regatta on July 7th.

The story in Liverpool was changing rapidly. Due to ongoing problems at the Liverpool Watersports Centre, it was decided that the best thing to do would be to relocate to the Birkenhead side of the river and base our operation at Liverpool Victoria Rowing Club. This modern facility would allow us to keep our water and indoor rowing programmes based at the same facility and be a much better experience for the children involved. The move and the situation with Covid meant that 3 of our original Liverpool Schools felt that they could no longer continue to support the scheme. MYR was now left with North Liverpool Academy and De La Salle, they were though, in theory joined by Fazackerly.

Another Covid fuelled lockdown started on the 5th November but WYR managed to carry on as it’s activity was deemed to be an educational activity. During this time, New Horizons (later to become Kassia Academy), a Pupil Referral Unit joined the programme. This was a new direction for WYR and one they were keen to explore. During the last week of the Autumn Term a Capsize Drill was organised and attended by all the schools.

September heralded the start of a new academic year, one that was to be different in so many ways. Covid-19 had ravaged the country and schools were unsure of the way forward. In Warrington, there was an established framework and this enabled 7 of our schools to venture back onto the water. By the Autumn Half Term they were all on the water and progressing well. Sadly 2 of our schools had dropped out of the project, citing problems with staffing levels in relation to Covid issues.

Northwich Youth Rowing was scheduled to start in September 2020 with 6 schools showing initial interest. This number reduced as Covid rampaged through the country and became the number one priority in school life, putting our programme on the back burner. Knutsford Academy though were very keen and made a start at Northwich Rowing Club on the River Weaver in early October 2020. Negotiations have carried on with other schools in their catchment area and there is a lot of interest for September 2021. NRC have been gearing up and with the generous help of Swift Boats they have 2 recreational quads. Bristol City Rowing Club also kindly donated a recreational coxed double. They can now boat 13 youngsters and are well placed to maximise the opportunities for the schools as they join the programme.

Sadly, this year also saw us having to temporarily close our doors, along with so many other organisations in light of the COVID-19 global pandemic, during the government prescribed lockdown.

However, this didn’t stop us continuing to make great plans for the future and we were delighted to announce that the Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust (HRRCT) agreed further funding to facilitate the launch of Northwich Youth Rowing in September 2020.

These two days led wonderfully onto NJIRC – the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships at The Copper Box in London. 26 of our children (from both Warrington and Mersey) got the early train to London to use their newly learned indoor rowing skill to compete at a national level. A great experience for all with some brilliant results – most notably in the Year 8 Boys category with Mersey’s Kevin Dos Santos coming in a fantastic third place!

This year also saw our young people compete for their schools in our annual indoor rowing championships (held at Birchwood High School Sports Hall for Warrington Youth Rowing and Cardinal Heenan School for Mersey Youth Rowing). In total, twenty two schools and nearly 400 young rowers took part and had a great time!

Unfortunately the Watersports Centre had to close shortly after we started to be refurbished. This has been a dent in our plans but not a fatal blow, our hardworking coaches now take a bank of ergs to our partner schools which include North Liverpool Academy, De La Salle, Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop Beck and St Hildas. This was the case until the Watersports Centre in Liverpool reopened in March.

Warrington saw St Gregs Catholic High School join the scheme, taking our total to 9 schools.There was though a bigger change: we opened a new site in Liverpool. This has become Mersey Youth Rowing, hosted by Mersey Rowing Club and operating from Liverpool Watersports Centre.

Once again the spring weather enabled us to get back on the river and the pupils went into training for the summer regatta.The 2019 regatta had a new trophy, it was presented in memory of Roger Chicken and it was for the best school in that particular year. Birchwood High School were the first winners. The regatta was a great success and again there were a large number of spectators watching their first rowing event.

This year NJIRC had moved to the Copper Box in the Olympic Park and the new venue really moved the competition on. Ellie Kadir managed to upgrade her bronze medal from 2018 to a silver in 2019.