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Steve Hawke


Chairman of Dartmouth Amateur Rowing Club


I


f you have lived in Dartmouth for a few years it’s more than likely you’ve bumped into Steve Hawke at some point. He’s worked on the Travis Perkins site for 46 years and


is chairman of the town’s rowing club which celebrates its 150th year anniversary next year. He’s been speaking to Steph Woolvin about skiffs, cement and Stoke Fleming!...


Steve looks totally relaxed behind the counter at Travis Perkins as his regulars come in for their usual orders of anything from plywood to Polyfilla. “My grandfather set up W A Hawke & Son early last century. It was originally a coal merchants and I joined 46 years ago straight from school. It has always been in the family, as my cousin and I took it over and turned it into a builders merchant in the 70s. Travis Perkins took it over in 2004 – and I’ve been here throughout it all – part of the furniture you may say!” His wife, Susan, is a carer and they have two grown up boys, one is a plumber, the other a chef.


In 1976 Steve decided he needed


to do something outside work and, as he loved rowing, he joined the town’s Amateur Rowing Club: “I think my mum thought it might


“We’re so lucky to have such a fantastic river here and I just want to encour- age as many people as possible to get out on it.”


be a five-minute wonder, but 40 years later I’m still there! I became the chairman in 2012 after I got dragged into the position!” He says he doesn’t row anymore so being on the committee is a nice way to still be heavily involved with the club. It’s Steve’s job to keep everything running effectively, keeping an eye on everything from finances to race listings. He also works behind the bar in the clubhouse. He says he loves watching the young people going out to competitions and regattas as it reminds him of his days on the water: “I used to take part in


competitions all round the country. I rowed on the River Thames three times. We’re so lucky to have such a fantastic river here and I just want to encourage as many people as possible to get out on it.” They have 100 members at the moment and have a good following from local schools – a link which they are keen to develop in the future. The club’s five coaches take people out two or three nights a week and train them hard: “We want to hold our own when we enter events. It is good fun and a great social activity, but there is a serious element of healthy competition.” As you can imagine there are lots of events at this time of year and nearly every Friday a team will be down at the clubhouse, by the Dart Marina Hotel, packing up ready for an early start Saturday morning. “We try to avoid expensive hotel bills by going to wherever the competition is and back in a day. We travel all over the South West: Falmouth, Bideford, Torquay.” Steve says they had a rea- sonable season last year winning around 20 trophies. Their best year was 1994 when they became the first South West club to win seven championships in one year. Steve says it’s not a cheap club


to run with clubhouse overheads, the cost of new boats, and petrol


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