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This week marks 20 years since I joined LYR, a milestone that feels both deeply personal, scary and one that is the result of a huge amount 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 were and still are, driven because access to rowing for young people was limited, is often perceived as exclusive, and opportunities for young people, particularly those from underserved communities, were / are often few and far between. Commonly determined by postcode, parental support and in several cases by Rowing Clubs themselves.

Today, I am incredibly proud that we’ve helped reshape that narrative. LYR has grown into an organisation that champions inclusion, using 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 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 one hundred plus organisations across the UK looking to do what we all do for the sport, every day.

The sport of rowing itself has evolved significantly. We have seen a shift from traditional bound structures to a more open, dynamic, and community-focused approach. Iconic institutions such as @Henley Royal Regatta and The Boat Race continue to inspire and fund a huge amount of the UK grass root rowing, while organisations like British Rowing play an ever more important influencing role in broadening access and modernising the sport. Together, they’ve helped create an environment where initiatives like ours and others can thrive and where the idea of who rowing is “for” has been meaningfully expanded. I was astonishingly lucky to be asked to work with the amazing team at CRI in Boston, USA under Bruce Smith. They challenged me as a person and made me think very differently about the sport more generally. I still carry parts of what I learnt and the people I worked with at the Harry Parker Boat House around with me today.

One of the developments I’m most proud of is the growth of the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC). What started as an ambitious 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 has 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.

The wider sports sector has also undergone transformation. There is now greater emphasis on impact beyond performance, on wellbeing, social mobility, inclusion and the clarification of what ‘the more’ means in the phrase ‘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. The amount of funding from specific organisations has reduced over the years, as expectations placed on charities have grown, but so too has our ability to innovate, collaborate, and demonstrate real, lasting change.

We would not have been able to do this 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.

My 20 years milestone is no reason to slow down. Over the last few months LYR have been looking at what we do and how we do it and with input from our young people, our trustees and the wider LYR team, we have re-defined our Mission, Vision and Values to a simpler focus. I am pleased to 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 focus and 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 which is to #BeCurious #BeBrave #BeYourself.

None of this journey would have happened without people. 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 learning 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 can benefit from these past coaches, trustees and supporters at LYR, and we can announce today that will be forming the 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 too 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 much needed advice and support them as they prepare for the next stages of life as they progress on from LYR.

As we have all been recently thinking about what comes next for LYR, the purpose remains as urgent as ever. There is still more to do to ensure that sport, and rowing in particular, is truly accessible to all. But 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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