Leeds Rowing Club celebrates £50,000 cash prize from Persimmon Homes

The club took part in the Persimmon Homes Building Futures campaign, which saw more than £1m handed out to organisations across England, Scotland and Wales.

The club plans to use the prize money to buy new boats and oars allowing it to reduce its waiting list and teach more youngsters how to row.

Building Futures saw £1,000 each handed out to 128 organisations supporting young people in three categories: sport, education and arts, and health. One group from each category in each Persimmon region then went through to the finals, which were decided by a public vote. And at a gala dinner in York, the winning group from each category was awarded £100,000 with £50,000 for second place and £20,000 for third place. The remaining 87 finalists were handed £5,000 each.

Leeds Rowing Group represented Persimmon Homes West Yorkshire in sport. HD9 Community Music, from Huddersfield, and Bradford’s The Light of the World Community Centre represented Persimmon Homes West Yorkshire in education and arts, and health respectively. They were each awarded £5,000.

Gavin Coates, from Leeds Rowing Club, said: “This is absolutely amazing news. The £50,000 will have a huge impact on the group. Across our two training locations, north and south of Leeds, we have more than 200 children wanting to learn how to row. We can now buy more equipment so we can introduce the youngsters to the sport. Thank you to everyone who voted for us.”