Young and disabled rowers will be left high and dry unless £20,000 can be found to mend their landing stage.

Rowers who use the City of Oxford Rowing Club, off Meadow Lane, Oxford, need to repair the unstable platform on the Thames by the end of summer - or find another place to launch their boats.

The stage, near Donnington Bridge, has got worse after floods this winter. It may have to be closed if the cracks deepen.

The club, which has junior and adult sections, is also used by the Oxford Adaptive Rowing Club for rowers with a disability. Club treasurer Amy Jackson said: "Some people say it's the American crayfish causing erosion to the banks, but the floods haven't helped. It's very unstable.

"The landing stage is cracked all the way along now and it has started sinking into the river.

"We have been filling it in with cement, but it's just getting worse."

Some groups could carry their boats across a main road to another landing stage, but young and disabled rowers might struggle with this alternative. Junior rower Bess Drohan, 14, of Rose Hill, Oxford, who uses the club up to four times a week, said: "It's now quite difficult to get our boats on the river. You can trip on the cracks.

"If the platform closed, we would have to go all the way to Dorney Lake, near Slough. That wouldn't be good. It's much better to row at your local club."

The club is applying for Awards for All Lottery funding, grants from the council and support from about 30 Oxford University colleges, who use the landing stage.

It would also like to find the money to build a hoist, to help rowers who do not have use of their legs get into the boats more easily.

Project co-ordinator David Fisher said: "We need to get it done this summer because we don't think it's going to survive the winter.

"If we don't get the money, it will mean that we cannot row from there."

The committee is currently inviting local businesses to take part in the club's annual Corporate Eights Challenge this spring.

Anyone interested in taking part or helping the club with its landing stage, can contact David Fisher on 01865 764465.