A special meeting has been called for next month to discuss ‘future prospects and survival’ of the 60-year-old Middle Level Watermen’s Club at March. The club was formed in 1963 to establish recreational boating of the Middle Level – and a desire by a handful of enthusiastic river users to make it safe and possible.
“Since commercial traffic had long since ceased and the number of visiting craft could be counted on one hand, clearly something had to be done,” founder member Brian Gowler recalls on the club’s website.
“At this time about 8 locals had an interest in boating and with the help of The East Anglian Waterways Association we formed The Middle Level Watermen’s Club.”
Today the club has about 30 members who have received an email inviting them to an EGM (extraordinary general meeting) on Saturday August 17 at the Rookwood Club, West End, March.
The Sutton Staith Club House also has limited moorings and provides many facilities for club members including private hire. PHOTO: Middle Level Watermen’s ClubSecretary John Copping has told members “the purpose of the EGM is to discuss the future prospects and survival of the MLWC in its current form and to agree major necessary changes to enable the club to function”.
One club member told CambNews: “It would be a terrible pity for the club to fold after its 60-year existence during which time it successfully established recreational boating of the Middle Level.
“Maybe some publicity of the club’s plight might help?”
In his article on the history of the club Mr Gowler that those who complain of narrow or weedy waterways have little idea of the situation in 1963.
“Since those days the Sixteen Foot, Twenty Foot, Forty Foot, Reed Fen, Pophams Eau, Bevil’s Leam and other sections of the navigation have almost doubled in width and depth,” he writes.
“The weed problem in 1963 it was a different story completely, the condition of the watercourse giving birth to our club, the weed growth and the shallow water made many sections of the level impassable to the average inboard or out board motor after the month of May”.
