Cake to celebrate: ‘lifeline’ Laburnum Boat Club marks its massive makeover

Cake for the occasion. Photograph: Laburnum Boat Club

Nestled within the towering housing estates of Hackney’s urban centre is an unexpected oasis for young people.

The Laburnum Boat Club, located next to the Regent’s Canal in Haggerston, has offered a riot of water-based fun to thousands of local young people since the early 1980s.

Forty years on, the club remains at the heart of the borough having just marked the completion of its £750,000 youth club refurbishment – funded by its community.

On a recent Saturday afternoon (20 September), the tee-pee-shaped clubhouse bustled with 140 locals and supporters, including Mayor Caroline Woodley and MP Dame Meg Hillier, to celebrate the landmark reopening.

Beth Ettinger, coordinator of Laburnum Boat Club, told the Citizen: “Young people were clamouring to see inside the building. It’s been a long process to get everything finished and everyone was excited to see the brand new space.”

Set up in 1983 by former teacher Jim Armstrong and local parents, the A-frame club hut was built as a temporary structure on the site of a derelict Victorian gas works.

Until this year, the club has continued to run its services from the same building with a footfall of 7,000 visitors walking through its doors last year.

Ms Ettinger said: “The floor had become completely rotten, the showers didn’t work and there were holes in the roof which water was leaking through. It started to become unsafe to use.”

Since February, works have been underway to remove and replace cladding, refurbish the interior and exterior of the existing building and complete necessary above ground drainage works.

The revamped club hut is kitted out with a bigger club room, new kitchen and ramp for wheelchair access and improved changing rooms and showers.

Jemima Williams, ex-youth club member and wheelchair user who attended the reopening, said: “It’s looking amazing, for many new generations to come.”

Ms Ettinger said: “The youth club is so important to support young people. It’s a space where they feel heard and valued and supported to be the best they can be.”

Each year, thousands of youngsters take part in its water-based youth programs, after school clubs, holiday schemes and disability sports clubs using its donated collection of narrowboats, canoes and kayaks.

For aspiring boating instructors and skippers, the club also offers training schemes enabling young people to gain qualifications.

Nadekah Liburd, youth club member and staff member, said: “Laburnum has provided me with essential skills like building confidence off and on the water and influenced a positive mindset towards not only myself but young people living in Hackney.”

Wendy Edwards, a parent of two youth club members, described the service as a “lifeline”.

She told the Citizen: “Laburnum Boat Club offers not just practical assistance, but also emotional support and understanding.

“The staff at the Boat Club are not just employees: they are compassionate, caring individuals who go above and beyond to make a difference in our lives.

“They have become trusted confidants and sources of guidance as my children grow and develop.”

To find out more, visit laburnumboatclub.com.