[CUCBC Captains] Scratch Deadline

[Michael Thornton]

Dear captains,


Please see the following email.


Best,

   Wilf.


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I apologise for the lengthy email but I’d like to run the following
exciting idea past you and ask for your input and, hopefully, involvement.



Open Cambridge is an annual event in September for the national heritage
open days scheme to unlock secrets and doors of beautiful and intriguing
places. It is organised by the team that runs the Science Festival and
Festival of Ideas. As a significant part of the Cambridge landscape, it
would be great to feature the river and some boathouses within the
programme this year, involving university, Colleges and CRA clubs. This has
been a big year for rowing, with the Boat Races, and clubs could help raise
their profiles and various river-community issues to a curious general
public.



*The plan:*

The proposal is to keep things small and manageable and participate in one
day: Saturday 12 September from around 11am until 4pm.



In order to generate the right scale of event, we seek to open 2-3
boathouses for tours, small events and displays to show the history of Cam
rowing. It could be that activities take place around the Beaulands
Close/Kimberley Road area, hopefully involving Goldie Boathouse, College
and city boathouses nearby.

There are no local rowing events that day we are aware of, although the
Dragon Boat Race will be taking place on Ditton Meadows (
www.dragonboatfestivals.co.uk/dragon-boat-festivals/cambridge-festival/),
potentially rendering much of the Cam unusable for regular on-Cam outings.
One vision for the future would be to look for sponsorship and hope to tell
the tale of the river to visitors with the involvement of rowers, boaters,
canoeists, punt operators, and those who look after the river’s wellbeing.



*Ideas for the day (these are just as examples and we would welcome input):*

1: Look good in the gym – learn how to really use a rowing machine

2: Hourly displays of sculling skills

3: Guided tours along the hard, including tours inside Goldie

4: Refreshments in a boathouse (99s/ City bars?)

5: Displays showing the history of the College and Town Bumps – perhaps
including items like the Bumps cannons/ hooters

6: Parkside Rowing Challenge/ Amazon Rowing boat on display

7: Pre-booked tubbing sessions



*Practicalities:*

The Open Cambridge team will approach the Cam Conservators, Dragon Boat
organisers, city council, Cam Boaters and any other organisation requiring
input, to ensure the event is advertised and does not conflict with
anything we are not aware of. The Open Cambridge Public Liability Insurance
could cover the entire event. The Open Cambridge team may be able to assist
identifying volunteers to assist on the day, and would welcome having some
experts available from the rowing community to talk about their experience,
steward tours of the hard etc. They would also advertise the event through
10k copies of the Open Cambridge programme, the website, the What’s On
mailing list and liaise with the media to attract publicity.



Open Cambridge is co-ordinated by the Public Engagement team at the
University of Cambridge, which works across the University and Colleges to
support public research discussion and community outreach work.
http://www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk/



If you are interested in principle, please tell me (<
Paul.Holland at admin.cam.ac.uk>) as soon as possible or by the 10 May, so I
can ask the Open Cambridge team to begin negotiations over logistics and
the ethos of a Cam event with relevant partners in good time.



Kind regards



Paul Holland.
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