Rowing down the river
Martin Wainwright proudly supporting
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£9,025.00Donated So Far
Campaign Story
NEW YEAR NEWS: Please see the latest Update on this page for the great news that a generous friend is underwriting the last, dwindling gap between the current tally and £10,000.
UPDATE: I am keeping my original Campaign Description here but the good news is that - hooray! - I successfully rowed from Port Meadow in Oxford to Chiswick Slipway in London, as planned. I was the rower, but the voyage would have been impossible without my wife Penny, the Commander of Land Support. Not forgetting my trusty sculling boat, Clementine.
Thanks SO much for all the donations, both from me and the Treehouse team. Thanks also, in addition to those mentioned below, to the Environment Agency's lock-keepers, the Port of London Authority, Molesey Boat Club and everyone else who encouraged me on the voyage. I am keeping the fundraiser open because the Treehouse Project needs to raise plenty more. Meanwhile, if you have the time, the story so far is on the Updates on this page - and thanks very much for your interest.
Here's the story:
Half a century ago, I enjoyed sculling as a schoolboy and last year I took to the river again, wobbling about in a knife-thin single scull for the first time in all those years. My aim was to raise money for Holy Cross Hospital in Haslemere, a brilliant place whose patients include a young cousin of mine who was very seriously hurt in a cycling accident two years ago. As his great friend Tom Hatton put it, 'the lights went out a bit' for all of us; but since then they have started to come back on again. Ever so slowly, but it is happening.
Now Tom and other amazing friends of my cousin plus our large and lively family, are raising money for a woodland walkway at Holy Cross. It's fully explained on the main campaign page and it's such an excellent idea. My small part in helping is to row my faithful touring sculling boat Clementine from Port Meadow in Oxford to Chiswick Slipway, a voyage of a little over 100 miles. I'm going to do this in September but fund-raising is well under way now, and if you can help my morale by sponsoring me in aid of the Treehouse Project, that would be fantastic.
I hope to keep everyone informed about my progress, which started with a very enjoyable capsize test in the heated swimming pool of an Oxford girls' school in May last year, progressed on the micro boating lake at Hinksey Park that Summer and survived last Autumn's tourist traffic and hefty college boats on the Thames. I owe a huge debt to Hinksey Sculling School, the City of Oxford Rowing Club and Glide Boats, the inspired inventors and makers of Clementine.
It's not going to be easy but I think I can do it. Every donation will keep me going and, much more important, bring stimulus and a taste of the great outdoors to patients at Holy Cross. Warmest thanks for taking an interest.
Organizer

- Martin Wainwright
This support campaign was created Mar 23, 2018
Building has begun!
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 09:33 amMerry Christmas everyone, albeit in strange and sadly constrained circumstances. Roll on the vaccines! But here is some REALLY good news after a very long interval since my last update. The gap doesn't mean that little or nothing has happened. Far from it. The Treehouse is now fully funded thanks. . . . .
Bingo!
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 10:27 amNew Year's Day brought the best possible present in the form of this appeal reaching £10,000. Thanks beyond words to Jens Tholstrup for generously underwriting the final gap of £455 which has since gone down to £305 and may yet dwindle more before I take up Jens' pledge. I'll keep
Whistler in the wind
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 07:59 pmIt's been a while since I've updated but the Christmas spirit prompts me to say Hello again. An extremely generous gift of £200 arrived today from a Thames riparian friend of Penny and mine, duly added to the offline total and taking my overall tally above £9000. This is the. . . . .
One Last Heave
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 12:48 pmClemmie is back in action again, beguiling customers at Annie's Tearooms like a (very modest) version of Shackleton's James Caird at Dulwich College. The reason? It would be so excellent to get to £10,000 by Christmas when the start of construction work on the Treehouse Project will be only four. . . . .
Can we make it £10,000?
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 04:55 pmClemmy and I went out together this morning for the first time since arriving at Chiswick together with Penny, the Commander of Land Support, a week ago. In 90 minutes of pootling between Osney and Iffley locks, we had five times as much rain as the quarter of an hour. . . . .
My friend the Moon
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 06:52 amSo it is done! But only after the edgiest moment of the expedition when Penny the Land Support Commander and I slid Clementine off her rather high pontoon at Richmond into what resembled a mill race. My failure to consult the phases of the Moon meant that I was unaware. . . . .
Journey's end
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 06:53 pmChiswick Slipway today - Huzza! More tomorrow. In the meanwhile, as always, BIG thanks to everyone M - and the Vital Land Support Commander, P
Early start
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 05:50 pmEvening all - and I can't tell you how encouraging it is to start tomorrow's tidal leg just £13 short of £6,500 for the Treehouse Project (including the £100 given by friends who preferred not to use the online system). I'm also still feeling warm and cosy because of my. . . . .
Hitting the town
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 08:12 pmA week after slipping away from the Wolvercote millstream on Port Meadow, Clementine is resting on a pontoon outside a floating puppet theatre, a hundred miles down the Thames. She and Penny and I are gearing ourselves for the voyage's finale on Saturday, when the plan is to row through. . . . .
Not long now
Update posted by Martin Wainwright at 09:35 pmHi all! The expedition is bedded down only five miles from Teddington locks, with Clemmy also snug at kind and generous Molesey Boat Club. Today's 17 mile row from Old Windsor featured water like glass, the first, brief drizzle in the whole voyage and an eerie cruise through the riverine. . . . .
Donors & Comments
- Andrew Bounds
- Donated on Jan 03, 2019
Well done Martin (and Penny). Sorry I was late to this.
- Anonymous
- Donated on Jan 03, 2019
- Anonymous
- Donated on Dec 30, 2018
- Jill Armstrong
- Donated on Dec 24, 2018
- Andrew Turner
- Donated on Nov 23, 2018
- Pippa Hale
- Donated on Nov 23, 2018
Good luck Martin! Please tell me you're taking a support team with you?!
- Penny Madden
- Donated on Nov 20, 2018
- Anonymous
- Donated on Nov 12, 2018
- simon beattie
- Donated on Oct 21, 2018
Bravo. Atlantic next
- Anonymous
- Donated on Oct 20, 2018
Well done Martin
Well done Martin (and Penny). Sorry I was late to this.