The Friends of CCBC was started in 2006 as a route to giving the Boat Club a degree of financial independence and at the same time providing funds for coaching fees and equipment purchase.
With the support of the alumni office the alumni database was interrogated for ex oarsmen and coxes, and in the spring of 2007 some 600 were approached for support. The response was excellent and in that first year we received pledges of just over £21,000. This was on top of a single donation of £4000 in the autumn of 2006, which helped buy a new boat for the ladies.
The formula was repeated in 2008 with pledges of £13,000.
Donations were received from 72 rowers over the two years and a rough calculation indicated that there could be approximately 900 alumni who had been involved with rowing to a greater or lesser extent.
In 2009 the scheme was put on hold deferring to the College 50 year appeal.