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This week marks 20 years since I joined LYR, a milestone that feels not just pretty enormous (I thought I would be here 6 years), but also deeply personal and one that is very obviously the result of receiving a huge amount of support and help from a lot of people too.

When I reflect on where LYR started, it is remarkable to see how much has changed, not just within our charity, but across rowing, sport, and the wider third sector too.

Twenty years ago, our ambition was clear, but our reach was modest. We have always been driven because access to rowing for young people is often limited and regularly perceived as exclusive and opportunities, particularly those from underserved communities, are often few and far between. Commonly determined by postcode, parental support, rowing club access and in several cases by the schools their parents attended.

Today, I am incredibly proud that we’ve helped reshape that narrative. LYR has grown into an organisation that champions inclusion, using indoor and on water sport as a vehicle for confidence, resilience, belonging and life-changing opportunities and experiences. We are especially pleased to see several organisations across the UK that have been set up to improve the situation in and across their local communities too. We hope we have inspired some of them to do what they do and hope for many more. Funding allowing, there should be 100+ organisations like us and others across the UK, the rowing landscape will be opened to all those want to get involved.

One of the projects I am most proud of is the growth of the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC). What started as an ambitious, slightly mad idea held at Hammersmith Town Hall has become a truly transformative event, introducing thousands upon thousands of young people to rowing and is now one of the largest events of its kind on the planet. For many, NJIRC will have been their first experience of the sport, an accessible, inclusive, and electrifying entry point that has changed perceptions and opened doors that might otherwise have remained closed.

We have seen a shift from traditional bound structures to a more open, dynamic, and community-focused approach. Iconic institutions such as British Rowing, Henley Royal Regatta and The Boat Race Company continue to inspire, fund, and promote a huge amount of the UK grass root rowing, while British Rowing play an ever more important influencing role in broadening access and modernising the sport into the existing and new rowing communities. Together, they’ve helped create an environment where initiatives like ours can thrive and where the idea of ‘who is rowing for’ has been meaningfully expanded. In the US, CRI in Boston has changed the rowing landscape completely and I was astonishingly lucky to be asked to work with the amazing team there by Bruce Smith. I was challenged every day to think differently about the sport and the ethos, work ethic, and desire to mix things up, still leads my decision making. I still think about those things and the people I worked with at the Harry Parker Boathouse today.

The wider sports sector has undergone a transformation. There is now greater emphasis on impact beyond performance, on wellbeing, social mobility, inclusion, and the clarification of what ‘the more’ means when we talk about medals and more. It has been great to see and enjoyable to play our exceedingly small part of that. Sport is no longer just about competition; it’s about community, identity, and the feeling of belonging. That shift has aligned strongly with our mission and has enabled organisations like ours to play a more influential role.

And then there’s the third sector. Over the past two decades, we’ve navigated funding challenges, policy changes, and increasing demand for accountability, sustainability, and measurable impact. It is still very challenging for charities of course – as the level of funding available has generally reduced over the years, whilst expectations placed on charities have grown, but so too has our ability to innovate, collaborate, and demonstrate real, lasting change and develop new and innovative projects across the UK.

This milestone is no reason to slow down. Last year LYR celebrated its 20^th year of operating and we took that opportunity to, over the last few months, look at what we do and how we do it and with input from our young people, our trustees and the full LYR team, we have re-defined our Mission, Vision and Values to a simpler focus that is streamlined and ready for what’s next. We can today announce that LYR’s new Purpose is “To provide young people with the opportunities, life skills and the feeling of belonging they need and that rowing and paddle sports provide”. This will lead our work for years to come and is backed by a very simple but powerful Promise to our young people, ourselves, our staff and our partners - #BeCurious #BeBrave #BeYourself.

We would not have been able to do any of the last 20 years without the belief and backing of key partners. Sport England has been instrumental in supporting our vision and growth, while organisations such as The Man Group and Tideway have not only provided vital financial support but also helped shape our early direction and long-term progress. These partnerships have been fundamental in enabling us to scale our work and deepen our impact. I want to also pay particular tribute to our Founder and President, Jim Downing, whose vision and belief in the power of rowing to transform young lives laid the foundations for everything we’ve achieved. I’ve also been incredibly fortunate to work alongside outstanding Chairs over the years, John Kinsella, Iain Edmondson and my current boss Andy Mitchell - who along with an amazing group of trustees, have brought wisdom, challenge, and unwavering support at critical moments in our growth. Their leadership has helped shape both the organisation and my own on-going education of how to be a CEO.

Of course, any success we’ve achieved is down to the incredible people who have been part of this journey; staff, coaches, volunteers, partners, and most importantly, the young people who continue to inspire us every day. I often say the thing that I am the proudest of is the team that have we have worked with over my time here. Each one of them brings with them knowledge and experience that guides what we do. We want to make sure that future cohorts of young people can benefit from these past coaches, trustees and supporters at LYR, and we can announce today that will be forming a LYR Alumni Group. If you have a link to LYR today or have had in the past, get in touch. We want to ensure that our current young people can learn and develop with the knowledge and experiences of those that have gone before them.

I am also very pleased to announce that we will be looking to launch a new Student Ambassador Board that will work alongside the current Trustee Board and help shape the future direction of the charity. Through our partners, we will be able to provide these young people with much needed advice and support them as they prepare for the next stages of life as they progress on from LYR.

As I hope you can tell, we have spent a lot of time recently thinking about what comes next for LYR, but one thing is certain - the purpose remains as urgent as ever. There is still more to do to ensure that this sport is truly accessible to all, and if the last 20 years have shown me anything, it’s that meaningful change is possible when purpose, people, and persistence come together.

Here’s to the next 20 years.

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