Rowing Club support

The club's staggering sporting success has been marked by the honour of hosting the prestigious Coast Amateur Rowing Association Championships next weekend.

The first of some 1,500 competitors will begin arriving in the town early next week for familiarisation training.

Th cost of staging event - particularly the civic reception which is a CARA tradition - had threatened to swamp the club.

But an appeal to the town's trading community has come up with the necessary funding in the nick of time.

Sackville Partnership boss Malcolm Mitcheson issued a challenge on the club's behalf, launching it with his own pledge.

He said this week that the appeal's success was due to the generosity of the United Arab Emirates' Bexhill-based technical training establishment, Old Town Preservation Society and the town's trading community which had rallied magnificently.

Old Town Preservation Society is matching the Sackville Partnership's own contribution.

The success means that Bexhill can greet arriving officials and competitors in appropriate style on Friday. A marquee is being erected opposite the Rowing Social Club for the occasion.

The public firework display will be staged on the beach opposite The Sackville at 9pm on Saturday.

Club president Gerald Matthews this week praised town response to the appeal.

"We are absolutely delighted that the town has got behind the club. We are extraordinarily grateful to the town.

"The club puts in a lot of hard work travelling the south coast and parading the town's name before it through the sport.

"Bexhill Rowing Club is a really fantastic club but it rarely gets the recognition that it deserves.

"But the town has really got behind it on this occasion. The amount the town has raised - 23,000 - is fantastic.

"It is a lot of money. But having said that, it is a huge event and the club has spent extremely frugally in the way that it has raised the money and the town is going to get good value from it.

"Visiting clubs will be arriving throughout the week. There are something like 1,500 competitors in all.

"Many are camping but hotels in the town and beyond are already fully booked.

"Many of the competitors will be arriving early in the week and will be training on the water to get used to local conditions."

The Coast Amateur Rowing Association Championships will be held next Saturday. The first races of the day will get under way shortly after 10am.