bournville model yacht club

Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club

About the club

We are a very established club with over 100 members. Located in the picturesque garden village of Bournville, Birmingham. We aim to sustain and introduce new members to the hobby of radio sailing and model boats.

The club has a very active radio sailing section that sail the following classes of yachts: - IOM (International one Metre),   6M (Six Metre),   36" ,   RG65 and  Dragon force.

The sailing section meets on Sunday mornings for racing and Wednesday mornings for informal practice and racing

The Model Boat Section has a focus on electrically powered models. (Models with internal combustion engines are not permitted on the lake at Bournville).

The model boat section meets on Sunday afternoons and on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

Several scale events dedicated various model types are held during the year with our illuminated regatta being the final event of the year before the winter.

Tea / Coffee

Toilet & Disabled Toilet

Free parking

Disabled access to club house

Disabled access around the whole pool perimeter on a tarmac path

The club was originally founded in 1923 by Messr's Cadbury Bros Ltd and initially used the lake in Rowheath park.

​The pool we see today opened in July 1933 and was the result of the Cadbury family carrying out an experiment in practical philanthropy by using Cadbury workers who were displaced during the installation of new automated equipment in the factory and unemployed people from the local area to construct the pool.

The boat house was refurbished in 2007 when toilets and a hot water system was installed. Further work was carried out on the boathouse in 2019 when the kitchen area was expanded, the building rewired and the lighting improved with LED lights. The pool was refurbished in 2022 by Birmingham city council.

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Tags: Bournville Village Trust   Bournville Lane   Bournville Model Yacht & Powerboat Club   The Valley Parkway   Bournville Lake  

Model Boating at Bournville Lake at The Valley Parkway

On regular Sunday's the Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club meet to use their remote controlled boats on Bournville Lake at The Valley Parkway, near Bournville Lane. The club has a history going back to 1900, although has been on this site since 1926. On Sunday morning, 15th August 2021, the club was back. Also some archive photos from 2017 and 2018.

Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club

The Bournville Radio Sailing and Model Boat Club, also called Bournville Model Yacht & Powerboat Club, was founded in the year 1900 as the Bournville Model Yachting Club at Rowheath Park. By 1926, George Cadbury Jr (son of the late George Cadbury who died in 1922) commissioned an area of marshland on the now famous Bournville Village Trust, to be reclaimed, and a concrete pool of even depth was created. The surrounding park is called The Valley Parkway by Birmingham City Council. The club has their own Boat House on site, and regularly meet on Sunday mornings for model yachting, and Sunday afternoons for model power boating. They sometimes also meet on other days for model boating.

26th March 2017

That Sunday there was model RNLI  powerboats on Bournville Lake at The Valley Parkway.

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Valley Pway Bville (Mar 2017) (7).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Valley Pway Bville (Mar 2017) (9).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

4th October 2018

On a Thursday morning walk through The Valley Parkway, I only managed to get one photo of a model yacht in the lake. See the project gallery for more photos. They don't usually sail the model yachts on Thursday's. At weekends they regularly meet on Sunday mornings for model yachting, and on weekdays, they meet on Wednesday mornings, and sometimes Tuesday afternoons. It's the power boat sessions that meets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Valley Pway Bville (Oct 2018) (9).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

15th August 2021

A Sunday morning walk along Bournville Lane, to see if I could see any activity from the Bournville Model Yacht Club. Luckily, there was a whole bunch of them out at Bournville Lake, with a lot of model yachts, as you can see in the gallery below. The members seem to be mostly retired men and women.

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (5).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (6).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (7).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Valley Parkway Bournville" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Model Yachts Bournville TVP (Aug 2021) (8).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Photos taken by Elliott Brown . Can be found on Twitter: ellrbrown

 Model Boating at Bournville Lake at The Valley Parkway