CHAIRMAN’S VIEW

With no club rowing or training activities over the past month we have turned our minds and time to other activities. The One Degree of Sport initiative has seen many members continue to work together to support the NHS and other organisations working to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. Your committee has worked to develop a plan to carry the Club through the crisis and is now turning its attention to ensuring that we are ready to restart our activities as soon as it is safe to do so.

In parallel, plans are underway to reschedule a General Meeting in June ahead of the Annual General Meeting and to be prepared to hold these meetings online. The General Meeting will provide an update on the current position of the club and enable members to vote on proposed rule changes related to the governance of the club and the structure of the committee. This will establish the offices to which we will elect members at the AGM. Voting is likely to be by proxy and we are seeking feedback from companies and other organisations who have already held meetings during the COVID-19 restrictions.

A key principle for the new governance structure is for the majority of work to be undertaken in subcommittees reporting to a smaller executive team. We are keen to share the load and to draw on the skills and expertise from across our membership. Your input will be greatly appreciated. Please consider whether you are able to join us in continuing the development of this great club.

Simon Harris
Chairman, London Rowing Club

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

See more detail for these events, visit our Calendar of Events…

IS THERE ANYBODY THERE? – YES!

Over the course of April, as part of the One Degree of Sport initiative, a number of volunteer members of the Club contacted the one hundred and fifty most senior members of LRC to check that they are alright and offer help, if needed.

I was one of those volunteers and was fortunate enough to have on the list of names I was to contact that of Keith Mason. Many of you will remember Keith. Now 77, he coached at the Club in the late 80s and early 90s. He is a former Captain. Keith now lives in South Africa, having moved there about twenty years ago. As chance would have it, he coached Mark Lucani when he was at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

I thought you might like to read an email I have subsequently received from Keith.

News from Keith Mason in South Africa

“Thank you for your enquiry and very kind offer of help. I keep in touch with the Club via the newsletter which is very well produced. I took out life membership of the Club when I retired from Hoares Bank at the end of April 1999, then moved to Henley in December before taking up the position of Chief Coach to the University of Cape Town in January 2000. Good timing!

Mark Lucani was at stroke in the UCT B crew that I coached in 2000 and made the breakthrough for UCT at the South African Universities' Boat Race. We then went on to win the Men's A race and the Women's A and B races in 2001.

We are in the 4th week of, at this stage, a 5-week lockdown with conditions similar to the UK, but probably more stringent, the breaking of which is a criminal offence with people being charged and fined and/or imprisoned.

Val and I so far are well, but we are very lucky in that we have a house on an acre plot, which was one of four subdivisions of an original 4+ acre plot, and as ours is on a 'panhandle' the driveway from the main gate to our secondary gate which leads directly onto our property is approx. 100 metres, so even our immediate neighbours are not that close. During the lockdown I have dusted off my old weights, which are in pounds!!, and started some gentle weight training and have measured out a +/- 5.3 km walk which I do at pace, on alternate days, 6 days a week. Hopefully, in the not too distant future I can start chasing a little white ball around a golf course again. I will not grace what I do with the term golf!!

Please give my regards and best wishes to any of my old friends at LRC who are still around. My involvement with the Club and UK rowing is one of the very few things that I miss now that I live permanently in SA. Keep safe and well.

With all best wishes,

Keith”

Peter Halford

IRREGULARS’ REPORT

The Irregulars have done sterling work over the last month with those that have been able to contribute really stepping up to the mark. I don't know where to start really but there was something for everyone - involving the older ones amongst us making calls and emailing and the younger ones who got physically stuck in at the PPE Packing in Parsons Green.

Contacting all over 65 year old members - this list also included recent widows. This involved a team of about 10 of us contacting some by email ( those abroad numbered approx. 30 ) and the remainder by phone - the airwaves were buzzing and I suspect that some of us enjoyed the chat so much that the recipient of the call was nodding off by the time it was over. Much appreciation was shown by the recipients of the calls and I am happy to say that no one was in need of help - that must say something for our sport. We are still keeping in touch with those that we think would appreciate a follow up call.

Packing PPE at Parsons Green: The Irregulars are providing a very good number of volunteers for this great initiative under the banner of - www.onedegreeofsport.com - an LRC inspired volunteering force that comprises no fewer than 41 sports clubs!

The NHS were impressed with our attendance and hard work and ODoS are now allocated 15 packing seats amounting to half of the capacity - the centre is churning out nearly 6,000 sets of PPE every day for distribution to Care Homes and District Nurses. Lunches are provided free of charge by Claridges. A draw to a lot of us - we put in the work though and are discovering muscles that we thought we never had in an effort to pack more - competition is rife.

The ‘Dream Team’, Keith Swabey and Chris Stutt.

Philip and Tricia Carré. You’d have thought these two would have had enough of each other!

Other volunteering opportunities: More Irregulars have been involved in trying to source even more volunteering efforts to keep the growing number of ODoS volunteers busy - the latest effort is happening this coming Thursday on the Ashburton Estate where newsletters are being distributed to inform and contact the vulnerable and isolated that help is at hand. This will be followed up by food parcel deliveries the following week.

Even though we are not making a nuisance of ourselves on the river we are really contributing to great work in these hard times and working hand in hand with other sections of the club drawing us all into a communal effort that is truly inspiring.

Well done to all.

Eddie Markes

VIRTUAL WINE TASTING

Following on the success of the recent tastings, our resident Master of Wine, Tim Jackson, will be hosting another virtual wine event at the end of May.

The event will take place on Zoom on Friday 22 May and Friday 29 May from 7:30pm.

We will be exploring six French wines over the course of the two sessions – likely three white and three red.

To take part in the event, please refer to the Weekly Brief for payment and booking details. We ask that all ‘bookings’ are made no later than 17 May to ensure timely delivery of wines.

You will then receive six bottles of wine direct from our supplier, Liberty Wines.

Please not that due to delivery limitations, your delivery address must be in the United Kingdom.

We will pass tasting notes to those taking part.

Should you have any questions, please contact events@londonrc.org.uk.

Shane Dorsett
General Manager, London Rowing Club

PHOTO COMPETITION RESULTS

Thank you so much to everyone who rallied to the call in the last edition of TLR and submitted an entry for our Photographic Competition.

The judging team, comprised of the Editor of TLR (Miles Preston), LRC Honorary Secretary (Jeremy Hudson) and LRC Membership Secretary (Jessica Salter), have chosen the three photos which they rated most highly. Others may disagree but we thought that these were the best:

Gold Medal - Meghan Jackson, ‘Sunrise Sighting’ of a Sweet 2-.’ — **Gold Medal** - **Meghan Jackson**, *‘Sunrise Sighting’ of a Sweet 2-.’*

Silver Medal - Christopher Grainger, ‘‘WTF didn’t they cancel?’, taken at HORR 2007 from Hammersmith Bridge; no idea who the unfortunates are, they weren’t alone in their misery.’ — **Silver Medal -** **Christopher Grainger**, ‘*‘WTF didn’t they cancel?’, taken at HORR 2007 from Hammersmith Bridge; no idea who the unfortunates are, they weren’t alone in their misery.’*

Bronze Medal - Abigail Leek, ‘the Squad’s last 2k test before the rowing season ended prematurely, taken on an Olympus Trip Camera 35, with Black and White 35mm film.’ — **Bronze Medal -** **Abigail Leek**, ‘*the Squad’s last 2k test before the rowing season ended prematurely, taken on an Olympus Trip Camera 35, with Black and White 35mm film.’*

And runners up, in no particular order:

Luis Orozco, ‘Hard Work Well Done.’ — **Luis Orozco**, *‘Hard Work Well Done.’*

Richard Metcalf, ‘Oxford Summer Eights.’ — **Richard Metcalf**, *‘Oxford Summer Eights.’*

Sehrish Rafique, ‘… wellies.’ — **Sehrish Rafique**, *‘… wellies.’*

Richard Philips, ‘Training Camp.’ — **Richard Philips**, *‘Training Camp.’*

Marylin Acker, ‘The evening after a fabulous row with Alan Foster, Keith Coni and Chuck Lowther.’ — **Marylin Acker**, *‘The evening after a fabulous row with Alan Foster, Keith Coni and Chuck Lowther.’*

We will be very happy to have the results of another photographic competition in the July edition, so if anyone has a theme that they think would be good, please let me know (miles.preston@londonrc.org.uk) and we will invite entries in the June edition. Perhaps, photographs of rowing characters in their blazers at previous Henleys?

Miles Preston
Editor, The London Roar

ROWING ON THE THAMES IN THE 50s & 60s

I started rowing on the Thames in 1954, which was a very different place to the Thames we know today. The tidal Thames was then primarily a commercial river, when the tide was high tugs would ply their trade drawing up to four barges. They created a large wash, so that any pieces of rowing were timed to take place between tugs. There was all the debris from the wharves, shipping and barges, which could create areas of fifty square metres of driftwood. These needed to be first spotted and then scrutinised carefully as they could contain beams of three metres in length, which if hit by a light wooden shell sculling boat would cause significant damage. The water quality was very poor with no fish and it was not possible to see below the surface and it left a slime on the foreshore. Not long before these times, the story was if someone was picked out of the river they were automatically taken to hospital to have their stomach pumped out! At the weekend there were other hazards, namely Ranelagh Sailing Club at Putney and London Corinthian Sailing Club at Hammersmith, the former could muster some thirty sailing dinghies. They were unpredictable as they could suddenly tack.

A sculler in the foreground and a coal fired tug with barges in the background.

Manbré & Garton Wharf opposite Harrod’s Depository.

My introduction to rowing was at the Westminster School. Before pupils could go out on the water there was the swimming test, a length of the public baths. Then there was the dinghy test, conducted by the school boatman. This required the demonstration of competence in rowing a clinker built dinghy with a twist, you had to spin the dinghy by backing down with one oar, while paddling on with the other. Once the test was surmounted you could graduate to a fixed seat, clinker built scull. One summer the Boat Club sculled up from Putney to the Three Pigeons pub, at Richmond, for lunch, it was a long haul back.

Hugh Dulley

Part 2: ‘Boats and Blades’ will be published in the June edition of The London Roar

REPORTING SAFETY INCIDENTS

All members are reminded that if you are involved in or witness a water safety incident, you are required to report it on safety@londonrc.org.uk

The Club will file any necessary reports on your behalf with British Rowing and the PLA. Members should not submit reports directly to either body.

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

My thanks to everyone who has contributed to this edition of the London Roar. If you have an idea for an article or would be interested in submitting a piece for inclusion in a future edition, please email me on miles.preston@londonrc.org.uk

Please do not submit an article without first liaising with me.

Miles Preston
Editor of The London Roar