Words:
Katy Hogarth

Photos:
Sylvie Belboauab &
Katy Hogarth

East London’s new community club

My first canoe club was in an old shed between the school canteen and the music block. The pool we practised in was tiny, and despite attending club sessions for several years before our first big river trip in year eleven, it became apparent as soon as we were afloat that none of us could paddle straight. Spinning round and round the pool confines hadn’t allowed us to learn the balance of effort required for this skill.

This is one problem the members of a new club formed around the Teviot Estate in Poplar will never have to face, with their purpose-built pontoon opening out onto four miles of uninterrupted waterways, including London’s oldest canal and rivers around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The new club’s home even boasts access to the River Thames.

The expanse of blue space on their doorstep has never hosted a club before. High tides on the neighbouring River Lea flooded into these canals until 2000, so the canal walls that held them back rose over a metre above the current water level. The original towpath was lost in the 80s and only made accessible to pedestrians again in 2003. Local access to the water for residents was never possible until now.

Aside from the physical barriers to the water, club members have collectively faced cultural, structural, institutional, and individual barriers to sport. Working to tackle as many of these as possible, the Teviot Club project initially set out to up-skill local women so they would have the confidence and agency to forge a path for this new community club.

Every facet of paddlesport
London has over 50 canoe clubs, specialising in every facet of the sport, from canoe polo to marathon racing, slalom and freestyle. Until now, none of these clubs has featured an all-female Muslim committee. The club isn’t exclusively for a particular demographic or gender, but its core has been formed around one of the hardest-to-reach groups, giving them the support they need to build the club as they choose.

The first 18 women who embarked on the project began their paddlesports journey in Autumn 2022, trying bell boating, rowing, canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding and outrigger canoes. Showcasing the range of watersports already on offer across East London was an important part of the project, so the new club can complement and support local provision rather than clash with activities already taking place. Two further cohorts of ladies have since been able to splash through the programme, thanks to funding from London Sport, British Canoeing, Active Thames and the Hill Trust.

Paddle Safer Award
The club reached a significant milestone in September 2023 as they embarked on their first club trip to the Lee Valley White Water Centre (https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/lee-valley/white-water-centre), just days after the World Slalom Championships wrapped up at the venue. They took to the calmer waters of the legacy facility to practise capsizes and rescues, achieving their Paddle Safer Award. In total, 50 women were involved in the day, including 11 paddlesports coaches and a female photographer documenting the project.

Positive results
Several women have tales of grandparents who lived or worked on the water, but swimming skills aren’t prevalent within the group, and there are many childhood stories of near-drowning. Re-scripting their relationship with the water and tackling generational skill gaps has already shown positive results for the wider community, with several women having built the confidence to take their families to the beach, white water rafting in Scotland, and even paddleboarding in China!

With two-thirds of women and girls quitting sport during puberty (Sport England Research) and adventurous sports like kayaking and canoeing being overwhelmingly male environments, attracting dozens of women in their 20s-60s to this club is a remarkable feat.

Research from other sports and gym attendance showed that women, in particular, were more likely to be able to participate in sporting opportunities which took place during school hours and that they were more willing to face a return to sport in a group setting. With this in mind, the club’s development sessions were set from 11:00 to 13:00 midweek, for groups of up to 18 women at a time.

Accommodating childcare needs
Activities were delivered within walking distance of the new club venue; a short bus ride or transport was provided during the club trip to Lee Valley. Accommodating childcare needs, facilitating children’s participation at some sessions, or providing a colouring-in station for kids so their grown-ups can attend meetings has been critical to the programme’s success.

Rather than launching straight onto the canals or open water, the first few sessions for each cohort were conducted in indoor pools (with the support of the Black Swimming Association), looking at water confidence and safe floating in buoyancy aids.

A problematic barrier
Understanding that lack of swimming ability doesn’t exclude people from watersports has been fundamental. It is still a problematic barrier across much of the industry, with several venues we tried to work with turning us away. Being able to calmly float in the water, empty a capsized kayak, and conduct an appropriate rescue is a different skill, which all of these ladies now possess.

Survival skills in deep water are a game changer, but the club members have acquired far more than that. London isn’t famously friendly, and when busy urban lifestyles are layered up with cultural complexities, familial responsibilities, cost-of-living stresses, and health issues, it can be hard to find time for joy, relaxation, fitness, connecting with nature, and meeting new people. The club sessions facilitate all of those things and more. The bonds formed between the women in this group could weather any storm.

There are still many barriers the club has to tackle; they still need equipment and somewhere to store it. Even an old shed, like my first canoe club had, requires real estate, which London prices make prohibitive. These ladies are survivors, though, and their confidence grows visibly every time they take to the water with determination and the proper support. The club will thrive and offer watersports opportunities to this community for generations to come.

Thanks
With thanks to London Sport, British Canoeing, Hill Trust, Poplar HARCA, ELCAN CIC, Black Swimming Association, SBOAC, London Youth Rowing, the Royal Canoe Club, Moo Canoes, Outrigger Club United Kingdom, Surrey Docks Fitness & Watersports Centre, LVWWC and GLL.