THE Covid-19 pandemic has failed to dampen the community spirit of coastal rowers in Musselburgh.

Although still confined to dry land amidst the coronavirus crisis, they have carried on working together while staying socially distanced and obeying the lockdown restrictions.

May and June would have been busy months for members of the Eskmuthe Rowing Club, with trips planned to Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine and along the Forth and Clyde Canal.

They were also set to enjoy the popular Portobello Regatta.

During lockdown, the rowers have enjoyed fitness classes via Zoom, as well as regular quizzes and collections for charity.

The Eskmuthe rowers decided to raise more than £200 for Kinghorn lifeboat in Fife when they heard a big Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) fundraiser had been cancelled due to the Covid-19 crisis.

David Lee, membership secretary, said: “If we ever needed a lifeboat to help us, it would almost certainly be Kinghorn coming across the Forth.”

He added: “We normally charge £3 a row for members, so we asked everyone to donate the price of a row to the RNLI – and some members added an extra donation.”

The club also used the ‘price of a row’ approach to raise £130 for Resilient Musselburgh, which is making sure all residents in Musselburgh, Wallyford and Whitecraig are looked after during the pandemic.

Gaynor Allen, club chairperson, said: “This has been a challenging time for everyone and our sport will take longer than many to get back to normal.

“We will not be back on the water until stage four of the easing of lockdown has been announced.”

Committee meetings have taken place virtually, rather than round a table, and the club will host its first online annual general meeting this month.

Gaynor said: “We have all taken to online events and this has been working really well for us. Our quizzes, which have been a bit crazy and definitely not competitive, have brought people together and the online fitness class run by Stewart Page has replaced our weekly row-fit classes at Queen Margaret University. We have encouraged everyone to keep their fitness levels up.”

She added: “We have no idea when we will be back on the water and are being advised by the Scottish Coastal Rowing Association on how this will be possible when Government guidelines allow.

“We will just keep doing what we are doing until then and stay in touch with members through the club’s app and regular newsletters.”