WYR became a scheme of 9 schools and opened a new site in Liverpool which was soon to become Mersey Youth Rowing (MYR). This branch was hosted by Mersey Rowing Club and held at Liverpool Watersports Centre.

Unfortunately the Watersports Centre had to close shortly after we started to be refurbished. This caused a small dent in our plans but not a fatal blow, our hardworking coaches took a bank of ergs to our partner schools and continued to host indoor sessions until the centre reopened in March.

Our annual indoor rowing championships was a success with twenty-two schools and nearly 400 rowers taking part. Following on from this event, we took 26 of our competitors down to The Copper Box in London to compete at the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC).

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.

In September the scheme broadened to include both year 9 and 10 students and a more direct interest was taken by Henley Stewards Charitable Trust. Richard Sinnottbegan work as the Project Leader full time and WYR was established as a charity (no. 1176153) and began operating independently.

This academic year saw the WYR consolidate the excellent work that Phil Lyons had done the season before. In that first year Phil had operated on his own with some help from fellow HSCT Coach Sue Palmer. From 2017 WYR instigated 2 coaches per water session and this policy has carried on to the present. That winter was particularly severe and a lot of time was spent indoors on the rowing machines. To give the indoor sessions some purpose WYR organised an Indoor Rowing Competition. The Competition was staged at Priestley College and was a great success with 100 pupils from 9 schools. As well as racing for medals the youngsters were aiming to get selected to be part of the Warrington Team at the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships in London. One of the biggest events of its kindstaged by London Youth Rowing (LYR). The WYR team travelled by train to London and had an amazing day, racing hard and making new friends. Ellie Kadir of Culcheth High School even made the medal podium with a fantastic Bronze Medal, a first for WYR. As we moved into the summer rowing returned to The River Mersey and the athletes had a new challenge, the end of year Regatta. This was staged at Warrington Rowing Club and was a vibrant competitive event. The river banks were full of spectators that were seeing rowing for the first time and there were some very emotional supporters, watching young family and friends competing in their new sport.

During the summer holidays of 2018 WYR started the process of getting as many school leads as possible qualified as British Rowing Coaches and Launch Drivers. Six members of staff took up this challenge and are now fully qualified, this gives us greater strength of depth with our coaching team. Some of these coaches are now confident enough to act as one of the coaches for their school session.