Click here to find out what happend on our August 7th 2022 Open Day
More information on club visits to other venues and clubs.
Roker Park was built on land donated to the people of Sunderland in 1880, by Sir Hedworth Williamson, with the lake purpose built to allow the local people to sail their model boats. Today, even though there are still sailing boats and even some powered by steam, most of the boats are powered by electric motors, which some people take great pride in and display them in various shows around the country and on home open days. The boating lake is used by many boat enthusiasts and in 2005 several of them got together to form what is now the Roker Park Model Boat Club. This does not mean that you must belong to the club to be able to sail your boat as anyone can use the lake. Club membership is now around 50 people, and they get together on two or three days a week.
Sunday mornings from 9am to 11am are when the majority meet but there are also midweek get-togethers on Tuesday and Thursday morning, and these also are generally from 9am to 11am. We also hold two open days each year where possible to coincide with the 'Friends of the Park' events. For these open days, we have a large gazebo in which members will arrange a display of their boats. A lot of these boats would have been built from scratch i.e. from a plan using wood or plastic. Others are built from kits that are available online and from most model shops.