About Vesta Rowing Club
Vesta is one of the largest Clubs in the country. In recent years we've had the largest Club entries at Four's Head, Remenham Challenge, Eight's Head and Women's Head - our squads are large and very dynamic. We are renowned as a 'Cradle-to-the-Grave' Club. One where you can join as a complete Novice and finish 50 years later as part of our Masters Group.
We are a club that focuses on our athletes' progression not only in boats but also in life! We strike a key balance between competitive training schedules and career opportunities; encouraging all of our members to train hard, work hard and be rewarded as such.
We have a fantastic range of equipment and a lively social life at the club. Above all rowing and racing at Vesta means that you are part of a real rowing club – not a factory. We hope you can enjoy an entire rowing career with us, make friends for life and contribute to this great club.
We have drafted this page so that those new to Vesta, and indeed those needing a timely reminder, can understand how Vesta’s members like to run their Club, whether training, competing or socialising.
If you’re a new member or looking at joining, we hope you have an enjoyable and rewarding time with the club. If you ever have any queries or concerns please contact your Coach, the Vice-Captain for your specific squad the Captain or any member of the Executive Committee.
Our aims
We have three aims at Vesta Rowing Club: to develop our members and athletes to enable them to achieve their highest possible level of performance in the sport, to make a significant contribution to rowing, and to continue to grow what is a wonderfully friendly, genuine "cradle to the grave" Club.
We have had some great results over the past couple of seasons, and continue to aim for excellence at every level. We take great pride in being able to offer a structure that provides the opportunity for progression and success at every level, from novice to senior to masters.
Our club is run by its members for their mutual benefit, and we hope that all our members are able to contribute to the Club, and the sport, in any number of ways.
The club includes members with a wide range of rowing and non-rowing experience, from those who have recently joined Vesta as Novices, or from school or university, to those who have competed at Henley Royal Regatta as club members in the 1950s. We presently have over 400 Members, evenly split between active and honorary (non-rowing) members.
Our squads are split according to how you will end up racing (though we welcome social rowers too). Please click on the links below to find out more about each of our very successful squads and to see where you would fit in our set up. If you have any specific questions please email the Captain,.
Further information regarding fees for the various types of Membership we offer can be found here and all sorts of helpful information about the club can be found here.
Vesta Run and Organised Events
Vesta organises two major racing events during the season:
September: Vesta Scullers’ Head
March: Vesta International Veterans’ Head
We ask all our members to support these events either by competing in the races or by volunteering to help on the day, whether as part of the timing team, marshalling, launch driving, or by serving food and beverages to the on-water teams.
Parties
Vesta Bar hosts all manner of pre-, during and post-event celebrations and parties throughout the year for its members. There are five major Head races, our Annual Dinner, the Boat Race, and other Vesta parties typically in May and August, all providing the perfect excuse to frequent the bar, strut your stuff and generally let your hair down. This of course is in addition to the normal weekend and mid-week post-outing/training drinks.
The club house can be made available for hire to our members for private parties subject to committee approval. However, please be aware that we have a limited number of late licences available to us, and we operate a strict ‘always welcome’ policy for members; any member is always welcome even if another member is using the club for a private event.
The only time members are not permitted free access to the club is on the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race day. During the Boat Race the club is open to members who have pre-purchased tickets only. This is solely to prevent overcrowding in the club.
Vesta Bar
Vesta Bar is well-known for being a fantastic, friendly and welcoming members bar where you’ll always be greeted warmly and will find a fellow member to share a pint with.
The bar is run by our own members for our members and its surpluses have contributed to many clubhouse improvements over the year. The more money members spend at the bar, the better the club is able to fund future improvements.
The bar is open to members every Saturday and Sunday from late morning to the last member standing, and most evenings during the week (Mon-Thurs) from about 7pm. It serves Guinness, Frontier, London Pride and often guest beers on tap, and all manner of other beverages from bottles.
We one of the few club bars to be open almost every night of the week and during the weekend.
Food
Members take it in turn to prepare food for each other on most Thursday evenings. Please turn up and support the volunteers who make the food. We always need more volunteers so please help out.
All surpluses from food sales go back into improving the club facilities for members.
Coaches and Coaching
Coaches with the support of the Rowing Committee may decide to increase or decrease the available seats in each squad at their discretion. This may include competitive selection for crews in the form of seat trials, gym and ergo scores, and technical proficiency as appropriate.
Most of our Coaches and all Members of the Committee are volunteers. They give up their free time to the Club because of their dedication to Vesta and the sport of rowing. Please treat them with respect and consideration. Your membership fees cover the cost of hiring Men's and Women's Head Coaches, running and insuring the boathouse and the fleet, and supporting the administration of rowing. Paying membership does not entitle a member to coaching and nor does it guarantee an outing in a boat. Coaching may be available outside the formal Coaching structure on an ad-hoc basis upon request.
Any queries regarding coaching should be directed to the Captain.
Whilst the Club shall endeavour to ensure members receive the appropriate level of coaching, availability of places in these squads is contingent upon the availability of coaches, launches, rowing equipment and most importantly the commitment of the squad members to follow the designated coaching programme.
Joining Vesta and Membership
We use a number of forums for communicating with our members. This includes email, our website, direct postal mail, notice boards and social media.
Vesta Website
Everything you need to know about the running of the club tends to be here on our website!
We use the website to communicate as much as possible with our members. The website includes content from this document, upcoming events, racing results, safety information and news.
There is additional information available for members when they are signed in to the website.
We have a number of email lists appropriate to the Club, the Executive and Rowing Committees, our coaches and squads.
We would ask our Members to use these addresses sparingly to avoid excessive clogging up of our Members’ email inboxes. There is an All Vesta email address and this is managed by the Communications Officer. This mailing list is optional, so members who are not active in the club can unsubscribe if they wish.
We maintain an Official Vesta mailing list, which includes all members and we use this list for official notices, such as the AGM.
Members new to the club should ask their respective coach to include them on the relevant email list, or email comms@vestarowing.co.uk to add you to the relevant list.
Notice Boards
We have a number of notice boards dotted around the Club for various purposes.
The main notice board is in the bar and is used to notify members of forthcoming elections, recent results, and other current Vesta news.
The safety notice board is at the top of the gym stairs, and includes a board for recording any incidents or damages to boats and equipment.
Vesta Newsletter
The club issues a short regular newsletter to our members via email. The focus is predominantly on squad and racing successes and outlines forthcoming events.
Committees and Volunteering
Vesta Rowing Club is a club run by its members for its members. Vesta’s success is testament to the efforts our members put into the club; without this support the club could not be a success on or off the water. We only engage the services of others for the repair to boats, equipment, the club house and in significant development projects.
To help run the club, we have two main committees: the Executive Committee and the Rowing Committee. In addition to these there are a number of sub-committees.
Committees
The Executive Committee is responsible for the day-to-day running of the club. This includes managing the club’s finances, facilities, events and safety. Any non-rowing issues should be directed to the Executive Committee.
The Rowing Committee is responsible for overseeing rowing and sculling within the club. This includes setting squad sizes, allocating boats and equipment, and deciding which events to enter. The Rowing Committee is attended by the Captain, Deputy Captain, Squad Vice Captains, Chairman of the Executive Committee (as observer) and the coaches. Any rowing specific issues should be directed to the Rowing Committee.
Volunteering for Events
Throughout the year the club runs a number of events, most notably the Vesta Scullers’ Head and the Vesta International Veterans’ Head. These and other events are both critical to the success and standing of the club, and the success of rowing as a sport. For these and other events the club does ask its members for support in running the events. In addition Vesta runs a number of socials and parties throughout the year for its members and naturally asks that members provide as much support as possible. This includes preparing the club for parties and help with running the bar.
We also ask as many of our members as possible become au fait with running and managing the bar. This minimises the amount any one member must contribute to enable the bar to run efficiently, and enables us to continue to offer such generous opening hours for a members only bar. If you are interested please speak to the Honorary Steward or any current member of the bar team.
Coaching and Umpiring
We encourage members with enough rowing and/or sculling experience to participate in coaching and/or to work towards achieving the BR Umpires licence. Rowing remains a predominantly amateur sport and any time Vesta members put back into the safe and competitive running of the sport is highly appreciated within the club and the wider rowing community.