It is with regret that we have to announce the death of a past Captain of Grosvenor Rowing Club,Chester.

Sheila Barratt passed away on Monday 9th March, aged 66. Sheila was one of the original pioneers of women's rowing in both Chester, and the United Kingdom. Grosvenor opened its doors to women in 1972 and Sheila was one of the inaugural members. In 1979, she become the first woman in the UK to become Club Captain to both men and women in a rowing club. Her period as Captain coincided with Grosvenor having no Boat Shed and she kept it going by arranging to rack boats at Queens Park, Kings School, and Athena to ensure the survival of the Club.

Sheila was also involved in coaching and running Athena Rowing Club, which at the time was the rowing club of Queens School Chester, She coached with Mike Fox from Kings School,to ensure there was opportunity for junior women's rowing in Chester and she was lead coach of  a Queens School  Junior Women's 8 in 1984 which had National Schools Regatta success and went to the Anglo French Regatta  (see image below - Shelia is in France She is survived by 3 sisters and 1 brother.