Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club is a rowing club in Millwall, on the River Thames in England, on the northern bank of the Thames opposite Greenwich on the Isle of Dogs, London.

Club history Poplar Blackwall and District Rowing Club was founded in 1845 and is one of the oldest rowing clubs in Great Britain. It is the oldest non-academic rowing club in London. It was established by a group of young lightermen as "The Blackwall Rowing and Athletic Club". Boats were carried to the river from a local pub.

After World War I there was an increase in membership from shipwrights, boilermakers and stevedores from the nearby shipyards and docks, although the depression in the 1930s led to reduced activity again.

The club reformed with its present name in 1935 and established a club and boat house on the present site in 1937: "the boys themselves constructed a launching ramp at Calder's Wharf", using North Greenwich railway station as a shelter for the boats.

In 1951 the club was admitted to the National Amateur Rowing Association (later British Rowing), ending its classification as a professional club and enabling members to compete in all amateur regattas. In 1953 the club recorded its first notable amateur win when it competed for and won the Vale of Evesham trophy. In 1956 the club entered Henley Royal Regatta for the first time, reaching the semi-finals of the Thames Challenge Cup. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the club purchased four clinker fours and five rum tum sculling boats at a cost of £500; wartime restrictions prevented their use until 1945, the boats being stored beneath railway arches.

In 1964 the club became aware of Greenwich Council’s plans to buy the existing site at Calders Wharf, which up until that point had been privately leased to the club, and relocate them to the South side of the river. The then club president, Dorothea (Dolly) Woodward Fisher O.B.E. negotiated with the council to reach agreement that they fund construction of a new building themselves under the council’s proviso that a gymnasium be provided and the club, "…should cater for the poor boys and men of Poplar, Blackwall, Stepney and surrounding Districts".

An appeal was launched to raise £75,000 for construction. Club president Mrs Woodward Fisher, who also ran a prominent lighterage business together with her late husband W. J. Woodward-Fisher, in Limehouse, took the helm in securing funds, "Mrs Fisher was wonderful and got all sorts of people on board. Ex Mayor of London Lord Rothchilds, Lord Cottesloe and many charities to help our cause."

Architects Forrest and Barber were commissioned to design the new club house, completed in 1970. The building has a strong modernist aesthetic, particularly visibly when seen from the South side of the river, characteristic of the architects’ previous projects which include the Harrison Gibson furniture showroom in Ilford, East London.

Activities The club provides rowing and sculling for adult, adult beginner, junior, masters (mature categories). It has events for recreational and competitive sides of the sport.Official public information British Rowing

The club house marks the finish of the annual Great River Race.

In the 2026 season alone, the club has 11 confirmed wins in 6 regattas, with many more second and third places, and multiple finalists. The club has, at the top level, produced and enhanced international oarsmen and oarswomen: a few members of the club have represented Great Britain in the Olympic Games and World Championships in this period.

Competition history The club has a long rowing tradition and many of its members are winners of the Doggett's Coat and Badge, the world's oldest annual sporting event, raced every year since 1715 in single sculls from London Bridge to Chelsea. In total the club has over 50 winners including some current and former international rowers. The club's most recent winners are George Gilbert, who won the race in 2022, and Coran Cherry, who won the race in 2025. In 1962 the club recorded its first win of the Wingfield Sculls, one of Britain's premier sculling events, by Charlie Dearsley; from 1968 Kenny Dwan recorded a further five consecutive wins and again in 1975, which is the most wins by any person since 1926. The club has produced numerous international rowers and scullers including Kenny Dwan, who represented Great Britain at the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games, and Mark Hunter, who won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and silver at the 2012 London Olympics in the lightweight double sculls alongside Zac Purchase. Hunter started his rowing career at PBDRC at the age of 14, having been introduced to the sport by his father.

In 1995 and 1996, juniors from the club (in a composite quad with the Windsor Boys' School) won the Fawley Challenge Cup at Henley Regatta.

In 2011, Ralph Humphrey and Robert Milligan's double won the World Masters in Poznan, Poland, the Britain Masters and the Henley Masters Veterans. More recently, in June 2025, Milligan won six gold medals at the Euro Masters Regatta in Bled, Slovenia.

YearCompetitionDivisionWinners1966 Henley Royal RegattaSilver Goblets & Nickalls' Challenge Cup, II-R Easterling and J T McCarthy (runners-up)1968Henley Royal RegattaDiamond Challenge Sculls, M1xKenny Dwan (runner-up)1968Wingfield ScullsM1xKenny Dwan1968Summer Olympics, MexicoM1xKenny Dwan (6th overall)1969Wingfield ScullsM1xKenny Dwan1970Wingfield ScullsM1xKenny Dwan1971Wingfield ScullsM1xKenny Dwan1972Wingfield ScullsM1xKenny Dwan 1972Summer Olympics, MunichM1xKenny Dwan (9th overall)1974Henley Royal RegattaDiamond Challenge Sculls, M1xKenny Dwan (runner-up)1975Wingfield ScullsM1xKenny Dwan1978Henley Royal RegattaDouble Sculls Challenge Cup, M2xMS Spencer and R Prentice (runners-up)1979Henley Royal RegattaDouble Sculls Challenge Cup, M2xIan Gold (runner up) (in a composite with Bewl Bridge's AC Rudkin)1995Henley Royal RegattaFawley Challenge Cup, JM4xin a composite quad with the Windsor Boys' School1996Henley Royal RegattaFawley Challenge Cup, JM4xin a composite quad with the Windsor Boys' School1997Henley Royal RegattaQueen Mother Challenge Cup, B4x(runners-up)2013Doggett's Coat and BadgeProfessional single scullsBrice Nathaniel 2014Doggett's Coat and BadgeProfessional single scullsHarry McCarthy2016Marlow RegattaMasters B/CAndrea Stock2016Novice JW1xPhoebe O'Hene2016Peterborough Spring RegattaIM3W1xBeverley Reid 2016WJ16 1xLaura Stewart2016Masters F 1xRobert Milligan2016Henley Masters RegattaMasters B 1xAndrea Stock2016Masters C 2xRalph Humphrey (in a composite with Medway Town's Shaun Martin)2016Euro Masters Regatta, MunichMasters C mixed 4xAndrea Stock, Beverley Reid and Ralph Humphrey (in a composite with Medway Town's Shaun Martin)2016Masters A 1xAndrea Stock2016Masters B 1x Andrea Stock2016Masters B 2xRalph Humphrey (in a composite with Medway Town's Shaun Martin)2016World Masters Championships, CopenhagenMasters F 1x Robert Milligan2016Masters G VIII+Robert Milligan (in a composite with Ardingly, Quintin and Worcester) 2016Masters G IV-Robert Milligan (in a composite with Ardingly) 2016Masters A 2x Ralph Humphrey (in a composite with Medway Town's Shaun Martin)2016Henley Sculls HeadIM3W 1xPhoebe O'Herne 2016IM1W 1xAndrea Stock2018Doggett's Coat and BadgeProfessional single scullsAlfie Anderson2020Doggett's Coat and BadgeProfessional single scullsJames Berry2021Doggett's Coat and BadgeProfessional single scullsMax Carter-Miller2022European Masters Regatta, BledMasters G 1xRobert Milligan2022World Rowing Masters Regatta, LibourneMasters C 1xDan Bartlett2022Doggett's Coat and BadgeProfessional single scullsGeorge Gilbert2022Henley Masters RegattaMasters H 1xRobert Milligan2023Henley Masters RegattaMasters H 1xRobert Milligan2024Henley Masters RegattaMasters H 1xRobert Milligan2024Euro Masters Regatta, MunichMasters H 1x (Trophy)Robert Milligan2024Masters H 4xRobert Milligan (in a composite with Upper Thames RC)2024Masters G 1xRobert Milligan2024Pairs Head of the River RaceOp Masters B 2xBen Gliniecki and Tommy Randall2025Doggett's Coat and BadgeProfessional single scullsCoran Cherry2025Euro Masters Regatta, BledMasters I 4xRobert Milligan (in a composite with Upper Thames' Rod Stewart and Lee Brown, and Quintin's Tom Bishop)2025Masters H 1x (Trophy, fastest overall time)Robert Milligan2025Masters H 4xRobert Milligan (in the same composite as above)2025Masters G 1xRobert Milligan2025Masters H 2xRobert Milligan (in a composite)2025World Rowing Masters Championships, BanyolesMasters H 2xRobert Milligan (in a composite with Mossman, Sydney RC, Australia)2025Masters I 4xRobert Milligan2025Masters H 1xRobert Milligan2025Masters H 4-Robert Milligan2025Masters G 1xRobert Milligan2025Masters H 8+Robert Milligan2026British Masters, NottinghamWomen's Masters 1xAndrea Stock2026Henley Masters RegattaOpen Masters H 4xRobert Milligan (in a composite with Upper Thames and Quintin)

British champions +YearWinning crew/s 1972 Men 1x 1973 Men 1x 1974 Men 1x, Men J16 1x 1975 Men 1x 1977 Men 2x, Men J18 1x 1980 Men J18 4x 1982 Men J18 1x 1983 Men J18 1x 1994 Men J16 1x 1997 Men 4x 2011 Open J17 1x

See also Rowing on the River Thames Doggett's Coat and Badge Wingfield Sculls Henley Royal Regatta Isle of Dogs Great River Race Kenny Dwan Mark Hunter (rower) List of oldest rowing clubs in the world

References

External links http://www.pbdrc.co.uk/ official website