Falcon is one of the oldest rowing clubs in Oxford. Since its foundation in 1869, the Club has provided a place for locals to come together, make friendships, learn new skills and keep fit.  Nowadays we offer rowing, canoeing and kayaking to the residents of Oxford and beyond. We continue to be a thriving club with strong links to our local community. We aim to provide a safe and friendly environment for people to learn new boating skills, to train and compete or to just unwind and relax on the water. Our membership is open to all and the new Falcon boathouse is a focal point for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together and enjoy the river.

You’ll find us just upstream of Donnington Bridge in East Oxford (postcode for satnav is OX4 4BJ; see how to find us), where most Saturday and Sunday mornings, or weekday evenings in summer, you will find someone to chat to about rowing, kayaking or open canoeing.

Visit the Contacts page for more information on who to contact and how to get involved!

Outreach and Community

Part of the ethos at Falcon is to build and maintain strong links with local community groups within Oxford and Oxfordshire.

Our ambitions include changing the culture and structure of sport to ensure it becomes equally accessible to all members of society and ensuring that everyone can realise their talent and full potential. Collaborating with community organizations, we strive to broaden access and minimize disparities among underrepresented groups.

Our outreach activity includes setting up satellite clubs with local schools, organising one-off taster sessions and running courses for various local organisations. Over the years we have run events for groups including KEEN Oxford, Style Acre, MyVision Oxfordshire, John Watson School, 54th Oxford Ansar Scouts, the Dyspraxia Foundation and Oxford Health NHS Foundation (see photo gallery here). The Cheney Falcon rowing club was one of the first state school rowing clubs set up in partnership with Cheney Secondary School in Headington and based at Falcon. We currently have similar initiatives at local schools including Greyfriars School in East Oxford.

With our local community in mind we also organise regular litter pick events to clear rubbish from along the riverbank. In recent years these events have been run in collaboration with our friends at GoodGym. We also received funding from the Tree Council to plant a new hedgerow and a few trees surrounding our site.

In 2012, our commitment to community service was recognized with the prestigious Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, a testament to our dedication to local empowerment and enrichment.

Our New Clubhouse

Throughout Falcon’s history the Club never had its own clubhouse. As part of our 150th anniversary in 2019 we set a goal to have plans and funding in place to finally be able to build one, giving us somewhere to train, socialise off water and support our wider community activities.

After some incredible work by a group of members, donations from large numbers of club users, funding bodies and very generous individuals, construction was able to begin in September 2020. Significantly more donations were made once we started building enabling us to complete the new building in March 2023. The trustees and whole club wish to continue to express our gratitude to everyone that made the seemingly impossible possible, resulting in such a fabulous facility for our on and off-water activities.

The official opening was in September 2022 (photos)

You can find out a bit more on our Clubhouse150 Construction page or just click on the Clubhouse menu link above.