Hereford Rowing Club is looking forward to two extra Christmas presents this year.

Thanks to some tireless work from former committee member Alex Champ and club secretary Sam Morris, the club has been awarded a grant from Sport England to fund two new training boats.

These will each hold four rowers and a cox and are designed to be more stable than racing boats, to increase the confidence of novice rowers in their introduction to the sport.

The training boats have been bought from Swift Racing who are importing them from China and were due (weather at sea permitting) to arrive earlier this week.

These boats will allow the club to offer more 10-week introductory courses leading to an increase in membership and participation in the sport.

This is in line with the objectives of British Rowing whose Explore Rowing project encourages newcomers to become involved through recreational rowing, summer heads, non-status competition, fun regattas, endurance events and rowing tours.

Hereford is already producing some promising rowers and two of them, Dan Hart and Jamie Coombes, won in the J18 and Open Elite categories respectively at Monmouth head earlier this month. Hereford also produced some good results from the IM3 Men's 8 and Veteran 4.

The first of the new 10-week introductory courses will run in January at Hereford Rowing Club.

The training will be twice weekly and is a great way to kick start the new year and a fun way to get fit and make new friends.

For details on places, which are limited, contact Hereford Rowing Club on 01432 273915.