Boats Not Bars Race Event
On Tuesday18th March we held the first in what we hope to be a series of races between our adult members, and the Boats Not Bars participants who are able to benefit from “ROTL” or “Release on Temporary Licence”, such that they are let out of prison for a day a week, to take their indoor rowing skills on to the water. Not all prisons facilitate ROTL, but two of those we work with - HMP Huntercombe and HMP Springhill, are able to release those participants who have been security cleared and who have good behavioural track records for a day at a time, to take part in employment or other beneficial experiences.
The race this week featured three FRBC boats (two 4x and a 2x), and a mixed 8+ made up of two serving prisoner participants, one recently released BNB participant, one prison officer, and four rowers plus cox from Marlow RC.
The aim of the programme is to increase participants’ chances of a life free of criminality post release, by increasing their support and social networks, and developing their soft skills such as communication, self-discipline and teamwork.
A HMP Huntercombe officer shared:
“What makes this worthwhile is what you can see here now: it’s the community. They [the prisoners] are part of a community, they’re interacting with everybody, they've learned so much from it. 100% it improves their employability because they've been inside for such a long time and now they're now out talking to people, getting to know people. It's a massive change for them.”
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One of the BNB participants said:
“That's the other thing about coming to the rowing club: is the social side of it and mingling with people that are into the rowing, that in itself opens up other gateways as well, because then you get more competent in speaking to those types of person [sic]. Because me myself, I actually would have probably bypassed something like this, thinking “oh it’s posh”.
When I first went to the club, I actually said “I thought this was some posh geezer sport!”. But now I’ve done it, I want to be an ambassador for it, get my friends involved."
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Member Rod W shared:
"Fantastic fun today and great to meet the crew from Marlow. Many thanks to all the organisers, timekeepers and coxes - and huge thanks to Andrew for keeping Charlotte and I safe from the PLA clutches!!"
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With thanks to everyone who helped to make this happen, and to all our members who took part in the race event. Please join me in thanking:
Mike B, Olivia, Chris B, Mike H, Penny, Louise, Benedikt, Greg, Bryan B, Charlotte, Rod and time keepers, Linnea H and Lisa H.
Thanks to Nicholas for being available as a sub. Also, thanks to Coach Nick for stepping in last minute.
Plus thanks to Imogen and Nathalie for the delicious home baked treats - they were very much appreciated!
