Rawdon MBC is to host an Open Day on August 19^th 2023.  We will open our gates at 10AM until 4PM and welcome you to our pleasantly secluded, private, lake and waterside clubhouse at Larkfield Tarn, in Rawdon.  Set your sat nav with postcode LS19 6EQ and look for us at the top of Canada Road, where it joins Larkfield Road.

You’ll be sure of a warm welcome from our members.  I can’t vouch for the weather on the day so bring a coat just in case, and please bring your friends and family to enjoy the sights and thrills of sailing model boats.

We will have boats on show, boats to sell, refreshments from our canteen, WC’s, and lots of outdoor seating where you can sit and enjoy the peaceful ambience of our beautiful lake.

You can even have a go at controlling one or two of our boats!

There has been a model boat club on Larkfield Tarn since the 1930’s, nearly a hundred years ago.  The original club known as The Bradford Model Yacht club was formed in 1886 and after a number of years sailing on other lakes and ponds they settled on Larkfield Tarn in the early ‘30’s.

The club has gone through good times and bad over their long history and has changed it’s name a few times to suit the changing fashions of model boating, but today we are the proud owners of one of the best clubs in the North of England.

One of our previous members, David Hollom, was involved in designing one of the British, 1987 America’s Cup contenders, White Crusader II, for the Royal Thames Yacht Club.  However, the RTYC chose to use the other boat because it was of a more “conventional design”, in the Louis Vuiton Cup seeding races. Unfortunately the Brits and all the other contenders were defeated by American team who went on to challenge the Australian’s for the “Old Jug”.  I often wonder if the RTYC had used the Hollom design, would Britain have won the America’s Cup for the first time?  We’ll never know!

But that’s enough of a history lesson for now.

If you can’t make it to our Open Day on the 19^th of August, don’t worry!  RMBC is open on Saturday and Sunday mornings from about 9AM until 12 Noon, or until the last keyholder calls it a day!  So please feel free to pop in and have a chat about model boating.

Please bear in mind though, while we encourage all kinds of model boats we Do Not allow petrol or diesel engines of any sort.  We don’t want oil in our lake to spoil the water and harm the wildlife. Similarly we Do Not allow flying models, drones, aircraft or helicopters etc.  Our neighbours would not appreciate the noise or the possible invasion of their privacy.  I’m sure you will understand.  Because we own the lake it is Private, and we Do Not allow fishing!