Client:
River Yealm RegattaCategory:
Website design, event systems and supportIndustry:
Community eventVisit Website
One website for the programme, entries and everything around them
The River Yealm Regatta brings Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo together for a summer programme of events on and around the water. Traditional rowing remains at its heart, alongside sailing, swimming, tennis, cricket, running, the Regatta Dance and other events involving the wider community.
When Tom Edie and Sue Ansell-Edwards approached Cornerstone in February 2023, the existing website had become restrictive. They wanted something warmer and more welcoming, but the work was about more than appearance. The volunteer committee needed a site that worked properly across different screen sizes, made the changing programme easy to follow and could develop as the way they ran entries and ticket sales changed.
Cornerstone designed and built the replacement around the Regatta’s supplied logo, yellow-and-blue identity, written material and photography. It went live in late June 2023. Since then, the website has continued to develop, including a substantial second phase that brought event entries and payments into the site.
What the project included
- Complete replacement WordPress website design and build
- Responsive layouts built with Themeco Pro
- Annual programme and prominent event updates
- Flexible routes into entries, galleries, the Regatta Dance and other information
- Committee-managed content, sponsors and galleries
- Multi-step rowing, Crabber and swimming entry forms
- Regatta Dance ticket sales
- Stripe payment integration
- Confirmation and downloadable entry records
- Community photo-upload route
- Donation route
- Hosting, maintenance and continuing website support
Replace the limitations without losing the character
The Regatta’s identity comes from the River Yealm, the two villages, the volunteers who organise it and the people who return each year to take part. A more capable website still needed to feel like their event, rather than a generic sporting fixture.
The committee supplied the existing logo, yellow-and-blue identity, written content and photographs from local contributors. Cornerstone used those as the starting point for a new responsive design, keeping the bold colour and informal character while giving the content more room and a clearer structure.
The replacement introduced more flexible navigation, a clearer programme, prominent updates, sponsor visibility, galleries, entry information and supporting pages for practical details and terms. It gave the Regatta a better foundation without discarding the things people already recognised.
The new website needed to feel like the Regatta while doing a more useful job for the people running it.
Cornerstone built the new design around the supplied identity, content and community photography.
Give a changing summer programme a clear home
The River Yealm Regatta is not a single event on a single day. Its programme runs across several weeks, with different activities, locations, times and entry deadlines. The information also changes each year, along with sponsors and important announcements.
Cornerstone gave the annual programme a prominent place on the website and built the update areas so that the committee could keep them current. Visitors can see what is happening and when, then move directly to the relevant entry, ticket or supporting information.
Tom and Sue were given administrator access, a training video and help with their first changes. By the first week after launch, Sue was already updating programme information herself. That day-to-day control remains important because a useful event website cannot depend on its designer for every amended time or new sponsor.
The programme changes every year. The website was built with that in mind.
The committee can update dates, announcements, sponsors and other routine content without waiting for Cornerstone.
Build event entry around the information organisers need
The original site included online entry information and payment routes, but the committee’s needs became more detailed as it used the new website. In early 2024, Cornerstone began a second phase focused on improving how entries were collected and managed.
Cornerstone created multi-step forms for rowing and Crabber events, covering entrant details, race selections, pairs, teams, terms and calculated payments. A separate swimming-entry route was also added. The forms follow the real structure of the events rather than asking the organisers to adapt their process to a basic contact form.
Entrants can work through the relevant stages, accept the event terms and complete payment online. The committee receives the submission details and can download the records for practical use when preparing the events.
A rowing entry involves more than a name and an email address.
The forms collect the race, pairing, team and payment information the organisers need in a structured process.
Bring dance tickets and payments into the same process
The Regatta Dance is an important fundraiser and part of the opening of the Regatta season. The earlier website relied on a simple PayPal route, separate from the wider entry process.
As part of the 2024 development work, Cornerstone created a dedicated dance-ticket form and connected the website’s event payments to the committee’s Stripe account. The form collects the booking information, calculates the total and provides a confirmation after payment.
The organisers can review and download the ticket records alongside the event submissions. This gives them the information they need without introducing a larger ticketing platform than the Regatta requires.
Ticket sales belong with the event information, not on a disconnected payment page.
The website now handles dance bookings, payments, confirmations and organiser records as one joined-up route.
Let people contribute to the record of the Regatta
Photography gives the Regatta a record of the races, celebrations and people around them. The committee and local photographers supplied the images used throughout the website, and the gallery gives that material a home beyond the current year’s programme.
Cornerstone later added the Spirit of Regatta photo-upload route so that people can submit a selection of their own images through the website. A donation route gives supporters another direct way to contribute to the volunteer-run event.
Neither addition changes what the Regatta is. They make it easier for the people around it to take part, share what they have seen and support its continuation.
The Regatta is shaped by the people who take part in it.
Galleries, photo submissions and donations give the wider community useful ways to contribute through the website.
Keep routine updates with the committee and deeper changes with Cornerstone
The committee manages the programme, sponsors, galleries and other information that changes from season to season. Cornerstone remains available when a request affects the design, functionality or technical operation of the website.
Cornerstone now provides the hosting and maintenance. The domain and email remain under the committee’s control, keeping the service boundary clear while giving the website a managed home and continuing support.
That arrangement has allowed the site to develop in stages. The 2023 replacement established the design and content structure. The 2024 work added more capable entries and payments. Swimming registration, community photo uploads and donations were added as further needs emerged. The website has been able to change with the Regatta without starting again each time.
The committee runs the annual content. Cornerstone looks after the platform and the more involved changes.
Day-to-day control stays with the organisers, with hosting, maintenance and technical support available behind it.
A website that has become part of running the Regatta
The River Yealm Regatta website gives residents, visitors and participants one place to find the programme, enter events, buy dance tickets, view photographs and support the Regatta.
For the volunteer committee, it provides a site they can keep current themselves without being left alone with every technical or functional change. Cornerstone designed and built the replacement, developed the entry and payment systems, and continues to host and maintain it as the Regatta evolves.
The result is practical rather than grand. It reflects the character of the event and has grown into a useful part of organising it each year.