Peterborough City Rowing Club hold their annual Spring Regatta at Thorpe Meadows on June 7th/8th.

It's one of the city's oldest sporting events and has been running since 1948 - the year Peterborough City Rowing Club was formed.

Peterborough City Rowing Club has certainly come a long way in the last 60 years.

See also: Peterborough City Rowing Club: timeline of major events

Who's who at Peterborough Rowing Club
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From the first post-war regatta organised from a tiny clubhouse by the riverbank on the Embankment to a glittering two-day feast of top-quality rowing now staged at the club's purpose-built Thorpe Road facility, the sport has never been in better shape.

Young stars like James Fox, Tom Chung and Adam Neill all look poised to enjoy outstanding careers at the top while the club's excellent youth development means there should be a lot more talent coming through the ranks in years to come.

But rosy as the picture undoubtedly looks today, had it not been for the efforts of a few hard-working volunteers back in the early days, competitive rowing in Peterborough would have sunk without trace decades ago.

Because while the roots of the sport in Peterborough reach all the way back to 1863, messing about in boats died a temporary death in the years that followed the start of the First World War.

Current chairman John Canton takes up the story: "That first regatta to be held following World War Two was a major turning point as it brought rowing back from the dead in Peterborough.

"The sport had been developing well but after the First World War all but one of the original members was killed in action which meant that rowing just stopped between 1914 and the late 40s.

"But in 1948 there was a real will to get life back to normal and a type of regatta was held on the Nene. I believe it was a week-long festival which included sailing and canoeing and a bit of rowing. There were all sorts of different events held on the Embankment throughout the week and there was a Regatta Queen! And it was from that event that Peterborough City Rowing Club developed.

"In those early days characters like Freddie Addison (the club's first chairman) and Dennis Smith were instrumental in getting the whole thing together. In fact it was Freddie who used his contacts in the building trade to get the club their first little clubhouse on the River Nene opposite the old Black Bridge."