Stewartby Lake was originally a pit owned by London Brick Company (as it was then known) from which they extracted Oxford clay to make bricks. This began in the 1930s and continued until the early 1960s. At this point in time the seam of clay had reached exhaustion and the huge pit was no longer used by the Brick Company. One of the Managers decided that with the help of some friends he could persuade London Brick to turn the disused pit into some sort of leisure facility. Thus in the early 1970s Stewartby Water Sports Club was formed.

In the early days facilities were virtually non-existent and members voluntarily worked on site to create the Club as it is to-day. The first clubhouse was a wooden hut which had been used on the prisoner of war camp at Elstow. Members donated old furniture to fill the hut but there were still no changing rooms. This changed when one of the members provided a huge wooden crate from his own import business and this was succeeded by a Vauxhall coach which had been purchased for £25.00. Vauxhall motors had modified the coach to include a solid partion for female and male changing rooms.