Olympic star Matt Langridge to cut ribbon at new Shrewsbury boathouse

Olympic rower Matt Langridge, who won a bronze in London in the men's eight and silver in the Beijing Olympics, will cut the ribbon at the opening of Shrewsbury School's transformed boathouse on the banks of the River Severn, near Kingsland Bridge.

The modernised boathouse and new training room has been built in the school grounds by the river, and money has been raised for the project through The Shrewsbury School Foundation.

Development director John Rolfe said the former boathouse was in a very poor structural condition and was in urgent need of remedial works.

He said: "This is a very exciting project which represents a considerable investment in Shrewsbury and in sport at the school. Our former boathouse was in urgent need of replacement and extension and we were fortunate that funding for the new scheme was provided thanks to the generosity of former pupils through the Shrewsbury School Foundation."

He added: "We worked with specialist architects to develop a design for a high quality, modern building which complements the existing boathouse."

The plans faced opposition from Shrewsbury Town Council and some residents with the boathouse described as looking 'more like a warehouse'.

Shrewsbury School, which has around 750 pupils, is one of the country's leading schools in the sport of rowing, with crews consistently winning national competitions.

Mr Langridge, who hails from Cheshire, will be cutting the ribbon to declare the new boathouse open at 3.30pm tomorrow.