Rawdon Model Boat Club is a hidden gem

However, due to its secluded location, hidden away on the top of a hill, close to Rawdon Billing, very few people are aware of its existence. Even some of our neighbours, living in Rawdon, have never seen or heard of the Rawdon Model Boat Club.

Those lucky few of us who do know about the boat club are very proud to count ourselves as members of what a friend says is, a “Hidden gem”.

There is an excellent walk around Larkfield Tarn and up onto the hill known as Rawdon Billing. We see lots of walkers with families and dogs watching our boats and, whenever we can, we invite them in to “have a look”.

Larkfield Tarn as it was in 1960s and 70s. Model boats were first sailed there in the 1930s (Image: Mike Critchlow)

The first club to sail at Larkfield Tarn in the 1930s was known as the Bradford Model Boat club. Later on they reformed as the Leeds and Bradford Model Racing Yacht Club. That may seem like a big title for a small club, but that is what it was all about in those early years. Racing model yachts!

The boats were self steering and raced in pairs, two boats on each leg, one upwind, the return downwind. To facilitate this style of racing there were wooden walkways all around the circumference of the lake. Sadly, those walkways have long since rotted away and been removed.

But fortunately the wooden board walks lasted long enough to see in the advent of radio controlled racing and so the club progressed.

The club's model lifeboat (Image: Mike Critchlow)

Model yacht skippers used to come from all over the North of England to sail in ‘Open Races’ organised by the club on behalf of the Model Yachting Association (MYA).

Over the years the club members built a boat shed and clubhouse to accommodate themselves and their boats. Those buildings still stand today.

In 2005/6 the club went through another evolution and reformed as the Rawdon Model Boat Club. (RMBC). Those far sighted original members of RMBC invested their funds into buying the lake, improving the boat shed and the clubhouse, as well as rebuilding the dock and landing stage on the edge of the lake.

A model of an American Civil War Ironclad ship (Image: Mike Critchlow)

Our clubhouse is one of the best in’t North! We have boat storage, boat repair workshops, kitchen facilities, WCs, a comfortable social room, running water and mains electricity and lots of outdoor seating to enjoy the lake and watch the boats. It’s a great place to be even on a rainy day.

Our kitchen volunteers produce excellent cooked breakfasts every Sunday morning at a very reasonable cost.

The clubhouse has a range of facilities (Image: Mike Critchlow)

Today Rawdon MBC is recovering from the long years of lockdown and rebuilding itself into one of the best clubs in the North of England. We have over 100 Full Sailing members and approximately 40 Social and Junior members. They come from all backgrounds and ages, some travelling from Doncaster, Malton, Knaresborough, Huddersfield and many parts of Leeds and Bradford.

Our members build and sail all kinds of ships and boats, from submarines to schooners and everything you can think of in between. One member specialises in American Civil War battle ships and they are a sight to see!

We have Fast Electric boats, scale warships, cargo vessels, tugs and fishing boats. We also have a chap who sails a RIB that tows a water skier.

A search and rescue boat (Image: Mike Critchlow)

But my favourites are model racing yachts. You don’t just sail yachts, you race them against other yachts in fleets of six or more. We follow the same racing rules as the full size boats, as laid down by the RYA. The connection between skipper and boat becomes really intense, especially when there are a number of boats trying to get around a “mark” of the course at the same time. I have seen skippers walking along the bank concentrating on their boats so fiercely that they don’t look where they are going and end up falling into the lake! Racing is open to anyone who wants to get involved and is prepared to follow the rules. We are privileged to have a couple of Lady Skippers as well.

There are various classes but the most common and regularly sailed class is the IOM (International One Meter) class. We also sail DF95, ‘M Class’, ‘A Class’ and others. Why not come along and have a look?

By the way, I must let you know that internal combustion engines are banned due to the noise and the risk of oil pollution. We don’t wish to harm our resident ducks and swans and all the other wildlife that calls Larkfield Tarn home!

Model boat club members in their workshop (Image: Mike Critchlow)

A long time ago, a member who is sadly no longer with us, said about sailing model boats, “It’s one of those odd-bod sports, like curling. But once it grabs you, you’re hooked!”

We sail every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday morning from about 9.30am to around 1pm, or longer if there’s someone with a key to lock up. We also race yachts on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

* Rawdon Model Boat Club is hosting an open day tomorrow from 10am-4pm. Come along and see us, you’ll be sure of a warm welcome. You may even get the chance to take control of one of the boats, and we have boats for sale.

You can find Rawdon MBC on Larkfield Road, Rawdon. LS19 6EQ

For more information please email rmbcmembership@gmail.com

See more about us on Facebook: Rawdon Model Boat Club/Facebook