SPECTATORS proudly watched on as Clevedon Pilot Gig Club’s very own rowing boat arrived at the town’s seafront on Saturday.

The gig, a rowing boat for six people, has been called Watch and Pray and was built at Bristol’s Underfall Boatyard after months of fund-raising by the club’s members.

Clevedon Pilot Gig Club was formed in 2009 and officially launched in June of that year.

By March 2010, enough money had been raised through membership fees, fund-raising events, donations and company sponsorship to allow the club to order the building of its vessel.

Now the gig has arrived in Clevedon, members hope to begin taking part in races and regattas as soon as possible.

Club chairman Andrew Brown said: “The club can feel justifiably proud in having been able to reach this milestone in such a short space of time.

“Our first meeting was in February 2009 but the project very quickly caught the imagination of a great many people of all ages, not only keen to be actively involved in rowing but also to give practical, moral and financial support.

“As a result we have been able to achieve out target very much more quickly than we dared to hope two years ago.”