Star Club was formed in 1959 by former National Service members of RAF Cardington Rowing Club which had established itself at the top level by its first eight being invited to compete for the honour of representing England in the 1958 Empire Games. Coached by Ted Poynter many crew members, having attained such a high level, on discharge decided to remain in the Bedford area to find jobs and continue their rowing as Star Club.  Bill Robertson was appointed its first President and Ted Poynter the first Captain and Coach.

The boathouse was an old timber store at Batts Ford, some 100 metres upriver from Poynter’s Boathouse.

The early 60’s success of these oarsmen in winning the Jackson Trophy and other top level awards, built up membership of the Club until 1966 when Star Club won the Charter Year Eights at Bedford Regatta. Virtually all these senior oarsmen then retired from racing to coach and to pursue careers and family interests.

Star Club then embarked upon Junior rowing when Lyn Parsons took up the Captaincy in 1967 and Silver Jubilee School became affiliated. Boys from other schools joined their friends and soon these new youngsters developed into first class oarsmen, winning events at Bedford Regatta and competing at the National Schools Championships. A number are now rowing as veterans together with a few of the founder members.

In 1972 grants through the Bedfordshire Playing Fields Association enabled provision of a clubroom, gymnasium and social facilities plus upgrading of the equipment available for training and rowing, with emphasis on the needs of young people. About this time Bedford Ladies Rowing Club merged with Star Club thus bringing women’s and girls rowing into the Club for the first time.

Bedford Ladies Rowing Club had organised a women’s regatta for some years and on joining Star Club events for junior men were introduced. This regatta has developed over the years to become an annual weekend of two major regattas, with emphasis on junior and women’s events.

From 1980, the quality of rowing and successes grew such that a number of the new young members won National Championships and were selected for GB representation, first as Juniors and then at Senior level.. The Club First Eight won the Jackson Trophy three years in succession from 1983 to 1985.
Annual “Try Rowing” courses were introduced in partnership with the Bedford Borough Council (BBC).

In 1984 pressures on developing the old Cattle Market and the boathouse site threatened the existence of Star Club necessitating extensive and prolonged negotiation with BBC for support in maintaining the Clubs' presence. Eventually the BBC agreed to provide a grant of £202,000 toward the £334,000 cost of a new boathouse on the present site. The building (designed by Huw Hughes of Charles Wells Brewery) was completed in August 1988 but Star Club had to provide over £110,000 itself to complete the building and major loans were necessary to do this.

Ted Poynter was President of Star Club at this time but regrettably died shortly after completion of the new boathouse that bears his name. However, before he died, he was able to set up “The Poynter Charitable Trust” with a view to continuing and developing the work of Star Club in introducing rowing to many more schoolchildren.

From 1988 to 1992 all available funds had to be applied to servicing major loans with virtually no investment possible for new boats and equipment. By 1993 the future of the club was in doubt until grant assistance of £38,750 was obtained from The Foundation for Sport and the Arts. This enabled it to repay the crippling interest-bearing loans from Banks and the Brewery, which were all directly related to the original funding needed for the new boathouse.

Meanwhile The Poynter Charitable Trust, which had been based at Star Club since 1990, was able to employ a Professional Rowing Coach. The Coach (Tony Cowley) was given free use of Club facilities and equipment during the day-time to allow children from a number of schools to participate in rowing and sculling without the need to take up membership of Star Club.  Children from some 13 Bedfordshire schools were introduced to rowing in this way. These juniors achieved considerable success during 1992/93, winning over 30 events and even some medals at the National Championships. The success of Dame Alice pupils among this group led to the decision of that school to form its own rowing club a few years later.

At elite level Star Club consistently had members in the Great Britain Rowing squad and won top events at Henley Royal Regatta with these oarsmen combining with Leander Club. Most of these members originally joined the Club as juniors. The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona saw five members of Star Club competing for Great Britain.

In 1994 three members rowed for GB in the World Rowing Championships winning gold and bronze medals in the process. At this time there were sixty junior members from some 13 Bedford schools. During the 1994 regatta season they gained fifty-five wins, including Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at the National Championships and National Schools Regatta.

Grants of £30,000 from Sportsmatch and Greene King Brewery allowed a start to be made on modernising the old fleet of boats and the introduction of recreational rowing

By March 1995 lowered income meant that the Poynter Trust could not sustain employment of Tony Cowley and efforts to gain support for junior rowing in Bedford resulted in a partnership between the BBC, the PoynterTrust, the Harpur Trust, Bedfordshire Schools Rowing Association and Star Club to form the Bedford Junior Rowing Group (BJRG).The BJRG commenced operations in May 1995. It appointed a Rowing Development Officer, based at Star Club, providing access to daytime coaching for the top level juniors spread around Star Club, Bedford Rowing Club and the Schools boathouses. Voluntary coaches were needed to look after the younger age groups.

During 1995 Star Club members in the GB squad won silver medals in the World Championships. Seven top-level juniors won gold, silver and bronze medals at National Schools and National Championships and five of these were invited to GB Junior Training camps after trials for twenty places.

The Championship of the Great Ouse for scullers, was re-introduced after a lapse of several years.

In 1996 Successful application made to the Lottery Sports Fund for modifications to the premises and upgrading fleet of boats and other rowing equipment to the value of £96,646. Star Club was fortunate in being able to find the remaining £11,000 (10%) as all applications to local authorities and charitable trusts for funding as partners were refused.

Bedford Junior Rowing Group provided funds to allow sufficient coaching and supervisory support during daytime hours for continuing the development of the younger new juniors. The initiative to introduce rowing to Middle schools was continued with the assistance of the BJRG Rowing Development Officer and appropriate "Try Rowing" courses were organised in Spring and Summer, for schoolchildren, in co-operation with the BBC. In competition eight juniors were selected for the GB Junior Squad during the summer and the newer juniors competed at National Schools Regatta and the National Championships.

Two Elite GB oarsmen competed in the Olympics in Atlanta USA with Graham Smith in the Eight and Tim Foster winning a Bronze medal in the Coxless Fours.

Eight juniors represented either GB or England during the season, with medals being won at National Schools and National Championships.

In 1999, the senior squad first eight won the Jackson Trophy and the second eight won the Senior 3 Pennant. No great successes after Jon Singfield and Pete Mulkerrins were involved in GB trials for the World Championships but Pete and David Gillard competed in the Goblets at Henley. Tim Foster, Graham Smith and Jon Singfield won Silver medals at the World Championships in Canada. Three women represented England in other International events.

The Junior Squad, won over 100 events and medals of various colours in National and Schools Championships.

In late 1999 the Bedford Junior Rowing Group became unable to continue the funding of the full-time Junior Rowing Officer but, after a period of uncertainty, managed to obtain the services of a part-time coach who was shared by means of financial contributions from Star Club senior squad.

In 2000 The Amateur Rowing Association awarded Star Club Accreditation for the National Junior Rowing Programme, recognising the quality of training programmes, coaching and facilities made available for schoolchildren. The junior Squad continued to flourish and has won medals at both the National Schools Regatta and the National Championships.

During the 2000 season Tim Foster won the World Championships in the GB Coxless Four and represented GB at the Sydney Olympics, winning a Gold medal in the Coxless Four. Graham Smith won a World Championships Gold medal in the GB Coxed Four and Miriam Taylor won World Championship Gold medals in GB Women’s Lightweights Squad. Rachel Armstrong represented England in the Home Nations Match.

In 2001, in addition to the normal BBC “Try Rowing “ course, an introductory rowing course was organised for the Bedfordshire Education Action Zone for Biddenham and John Bunyan Upper Schools. A further course was held for Bedfordshire and Luton Education Business Partnership BLEBP) Summer College and the first course for BLEBP’s Children’s University Initiative. A number of children involved in these courses subsequently joined Star Club to continue rowing. A feature of these courses is that most of the coaching is done by the older junior members under supervision of coaches and instructors. Juniors are encouraged to become qualified Instructors after the age of 16.

Rowing courses are also organised for recreational members and many parents actually learn to row at the same time as their children. These parents also contribute greatly to club operations by becoming involved with committee work or other aspects of club life such as social events and the regattas.

Early in 2003 the Amateur Rowing Association accepted Star Club’s application for involvement in Project Oarsome that is aimed at linking schools with Star Club on a formal basis with provision of rowing equipment specifically built for children. Funding is also provided for coaching and rowing machines for use in the linked schools.

Also in March 2003 the Amateur Rowing Association appointed a Development Officer to be based at Star Club for the purpose of identifying children in the Eastern Region with potential for developing into top-level rowers. This programme is called “World Class Start” and a series of visits have already been made to schools to assess possible athletes.

Star Club aims to be a rowing club that offers opportunity to all ages to take up the sport of rowing. It is a family Club but is well able to take members from beginner to National or International competition.  It is an amateur, voluntary rowing club and relies to a large extent on grant aid for provision of updates to its facilities.