CHAIRMAN’S VIEW

The death of the Queen is one of those events when you remember where you were when you heard the news. I was on the train to Putney Bridge coming to the Club for my blazer fitting (something I had been meaning to order for a few years). My first thought was: have we got the flag flying at half-mast? I called Ben Helm to check but needn’t have bothered, he was on it already as I discovered approaching the clubhouse.

LRC’s Royal connections go back to circa 1952 when His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh became our patron, a patronage he bestowed for almost 70 years until his death last year. Does anyone know how we received his patronage? He visited LRC in 1981 and 2006 to celebrate our 125th and 150th anniversaries and presented the prizes at Henley in 1998 wearing a club regatta tie. It was particularly apposite that LRC won The Thames Cup that year. The Queen visited Henley Royal Regatta in 1946 as the young Princess Elizabeth and allowed the schoolboys eights’ trophy to be named after her.

Onto rowing matters and it was fantastic to see Rui Xu take the Scullers Head trophy, the first time LRC has been at the top since Stephen Feeney in 2010. Three more scullers made the top fifteen, Matt Curtis 6th, Gregor Maxwell 8th and George Cowley 15th.

Rui and partner Matt Curtis then took the Pairs Head and Open Championships doubles titles on Sunday, some 17 seconds ahead of the next double. Many congratulations to all.

Thank you to all those who helped at Club Pride Day on Sunday. The clubhouse has benefited from a spruce up after another year of hard use. Many hands made light work.

Bill Baker
Chairman, London Rowing Club

CAPTAIN’S REPORT

The last month has been a triumph for the scullers of London Rowing Club.

We kicked off with Gregor Maxwell being selected for the GB team for the European Beach Sprint Championships which are being held on 27-30th October in San Sebastian, Spain. Gregor is joining forces with Eva Barellon-Kendall from Agecroft Rowing Club in the mixed double - they have been using the waves provided by Father Thames to practice mastering the conditions.

Team Wales held their Commonwealth Games Beach Sprint team trials in Saundersfoot on 25th September. Resident George Cowley has been selected to represent Wales and will be teaming up with Thea Adamson from the Tideway Scullers School in the mixed double to compete in Swakopmund, Namibia. George and Thea will need to keep a good look out for Flamingos - 80% of southern Africa’s flamingos head to Swakopmund to feed! The regatta itself will be held 2nd-4th December.

On 26th September, our Canadian conqueror, Rui Xu, took the Scullers Head of the River headship with an impressive performance. Nine of our twenty-six entries finished in the top 60 and two more masters pennants were clinched by Nathan O’Reilly and David Gillard - more on this to follow. Congratulations to all those who raced and thank you to those who volunteered.

Rui did not have much time to recover before he joined another exceptional LRC sculler, Matt Curtis, to dominate Pairs Head of the River. The duo took the headship convincingly with nearly a 10 second lead. Jamie Saunders triumphantly won the lightweight men's double pennant in a composite with Jack Keech from Latymer. Entries were limited but terrific to see that we were represented by such skilful crews.

As Club Captain, I am immensely proud of our rowers and their achievements. By the time this month’s Roar will have been published, I will have been joined by a large number of our membership for Club Pride Day, 9th October. As a club, joining forces on this day is a terrific way to show our pride in the efforts of all our members from premises management to on water accolades. I would like to thank everyone for their efforts and continue our celebration of our club and its members.

Bang the drum!

Elizabeth Cottrell
Captain, London Rowing Club

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

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

SCULLERS HEAD OF THE RIVER

ONE RACE, FIVE POINTS OF VIEW

Rui Xu: I did some of the worst rowing of my life, caught crabs, nearly capsized, and that was before the race had even started. No problem, I thought, I’ll get all of my bad strokes out now, battling through launch wash. My heart rate data betrayed the fact that I was not relaxed at all. I arrived at the start with enough time to empty my boat of water and joke with B. Ellery (bow #3) about his cheese-and-onion tape boat number. All was well. Stu advised that I start the race conservatively and use what remaining wits I had to steer a good course. Adhering to Stu’s advice meant that I (bow #4) was still quite lucid when watching W. Young (bow #5) hit the first green buoy behind me, then when watching (and hearing) B. Ellery hit the green buoy nearest to the bandstand. B. Ellery gamely held me from the cross-over until the island, where I decided that enough was enough, and pushed on. My brain was still semi-functional while passing under Hammersmith Bridge, my line was good, and I was on the hunt for T. Wilkinson (bow #2) and J. Copus (bow #1). The conditions were good, the splits were occasionally sub-1:30/500m, and I briefly saw a new maximum heart rate (207bpm for the data aficionados). I turned early, hoping to cut the corner slightly and pass T. Wilkinson. The slower water denied me, and I had to settle for wobbling around in his wash until the finish. I’d made up ground on everyone who started around me, and I could only hope that I’d done enough. It turns out I had.

Nathan O’Reilly: Another year another chance to bag the biggest prize in rowing by being the first man to win three (masters b pennant) scullers headships this decade. The build-up had been flawless, the preparation perfect, the vibes impeccable. “This is the best sculling I’ve ever seen on the tideway (by you)”, bellowed Richard from the tow path as he stood right next to me.

Uncharacteristically late boating for the 7th time in a row, I had no choice but to scull to the start at race pace feet out. I may be wrong but I would swear to hearing whispers of “you can’t teach that” from other competitors and fans. I reached the start just in time, span and began my race.

Having overcooked it last year, the strategy was simple; don’t blow. 3 minutes into the race, approaching Barnes Bridge, and blowing badly, I lengthened out to half slide and reduced my rate of striking to 37, which I maintained down the island and through Hammersmith, keeping myself out of trouble. I had planned to sprint from the black buoy but with Craven Cottage in sight and carrying the expectations of the club on my shoulders, there was little other option than to go for home from there.

Memory is patchy, and whilst I don’t know exactly where on the river I was, I can safely say that the majority of my rowing was happening between quarter and half slide, north of 40. Down the line of boats I came, drawn to the finish line by the London roar. I knew it would be close, so close, it always is. As my vision went dark I caught a faint glimpse of a blue and white striped handkerchief fluttering in the wind. It gave me the strength for one last push. And then there was silence.

As I rowed back to the club, out of the corner of my eye I saw the handkerchief again. I turned to thank its owner for inspiring me but when I did I saw that it was held aloft not by any person, but by the gleaming flagpole at London Rowing Club.

David Gillard: Back onto the boiling cauldron of the Tideway for the Scullers’ Head - at least that’s what the water felt like at Putney when I boated. Having gingerly limped through the turbulence I gradually remembered how to scull and found my marshalling spot. We all pottered up to the start having a good catch-up, which was a nice distraction from the exertion to come. Off towards the back of my category I was able to gradually overhaul a few ahead of me. Pacing was good, helped by the experience gained from the Doug Melvin Challenge, but steering maybe a 3 out of 5 (dreadful around the Bandstand). Technically not particularly pretty, but it seems to be effective enough. Overall happy to have won the pennant against a solid field of experienced scullers.

Bethan Corlett: I was really proud to earn my first sculling points at Scullers Head this year. I felt like I was ready for the challenge, especially after completing time trials in a single on Lake Varese on the squad camp with additional coaching from Killian on the Wednesday small boats training sessions. I bloody loved doing it and would recommend that everyone sign up to race next year!

Alan Foster: The old “The 6 Ps”*adage is never more apt than in the low alphabet Masters’ Categories. There are some mighty strong and experienced scullers from far afield that compete here in this annual event. My start in the middle of the 6 Masters I entries (Nos 368 - 373 in the Start Order) gave me a good view of the whole proceedings. The paddle to the Marshalling Area was relatively painless as was the jostling to get into the appropriate Start Order, boats sometimes 7 abreast and in danger of straying into the racing fairway. The very benign weather made the necessary delay there as pleasant as could be but it was all too short before the gentle paddle up past the Start, round the top marker buoy and then the run in down to the Start. My illusions of grandeur were quickly shattered, being overtaken before the Barnes Railway Bridge and successively by 10 others. Adherence to the Racing Instructions meant that I was out of the stream for most of the time (- to let through those coming up fast behind me). The run-in from Hammersmith Bridge felt good, the view of the LRC Flagpole looked even better and the encouragement at the Finish to “Wind Down” was extremely welcome. The receiving “Bank Party” at the Club could not have been more honourable and welcoming, consisting of the President (Mike Baldwin – it was his boat anyway), the Captain (Elizabeth Cottrell) and two of my Irregular colleagues (Zena Howard and Ronnie Maddox - who had himself just completed the Course). They took my sculls up, lifted the boat out, took it up, washed it down and put it away, leaving me just to collect myself and stagger up the concrete to the Club. What friends! What support! What camaraderie!”

* “The 6Ps” – Preparation and Planning Prevents P**s Poor Performance

PAIRS HEAD

A DOMINATING DUO

After a cancellation in 2020, and an early closure of entries from the organisers with no warning to clubs, plus a start order which saw championship entries starting behind masters entries, Pairs Head was a bit of an unknown for LRC. With a single entry, and a composite with Latymer Upper it's fair to say it was not London's most represented event.

Following tradition from Scullers Head, it was a difficult row to the start courtesy of organisers launches. Luckily Rui and I had the support of our number 1 fans, Grace and Devin, who met us at the start to collect wet kit.

The race got underway and we were under pressure from the Reading double behind us, we got into our rhythm and pushed on towards Hammersmith, getting closer and closer to the boat ahead of us, unfortunately putting us into more and more wash. Great support from LRC members spread across the course pushed us on to the finish line, followed by a nervous paddle back to Putney. Results were released confirming an overall win for LRC, with Rui continuing his streak as King of the Tideway.

Matt Curtis

IRREGULARS’ REPORT

We have had a busy time as members return from their holidays and enthusiasm mounts for the Autumn Heads.

Ronnie Maddox, Alan Foster and Richard Metcalf took part in the Scullers Head – good effort guys.

We are now warming up for the Vets Fours Head on the 20 November. Crews are being sorted out now, talk of training sessions and coaching is gaining momentum. Three quads have been entered.

There was no rowing on 2nd October due to the Pairs Head and again last Sunday was dedicated to giving the Club its annual “clean sweep look”. Many members were corralled into the Long Room and allocated tasks by those of us who are bossy enough.

Normally, the Irregulars, armed with gloves and weeding implements, get down to gardening duties around the Club even going up both sides of Spring Passage to impress the neighbours. Younger, fitter members are left to fill the skip and other such heavy tasks. The morning ended at the bar.

The big event for us last month was entirely social. On Sunday, 25th September we held a lunch for Iain Laurenson and John Pearson. The idea, the organisation and the orchestration of the lunch itself was all the work of Kathleen Curran. Huge thanks and appreciation to her.

John and Valerie and Iain and Meike, plus members of their family, each had tables of their own. There were three other tables with Irregulars, Vice President Ben Helm, Club Captain Elizabeth Cottrell and parents and other notable members of the squad. It was a hugely successful event and was designed to thank and applaud the immense contributions that Iain and John have made to the Club since the early 60’s. There were lots of short speeches and a presentation to them both - the overriding sentiments being genuine affection and huge thanks to these two stalwarts of the Club.

It is hoped to hold an Irregulars dinner in November – to be announced.

Last, but by no means least, we have a poet in our ranks!

Ben Phillips*

Too short too heavy too old
It’s performance of a kind
Arthritis bypass hernia
Scratch crew is redefined

Blade victories long since past
No matching sets appearing
Surely inboard close enough
Forget about the gearing

Broken rudder pitted slides
In club shell ever we trust
Gouge the gelcoat lifting out
The pacher collecting dust

Late catch early finishes
Hit the buoy but miss the pier
Rush the slide and lurch to bow
And back in time for a beer

Four reasons to be afloat
One passing thought to bestow
Puddles of serenity
Irregular ebb and flow

*HTBS is happy to publish a poem by Ben Phillips, who began rowing at St. George’s College and then at Hampton School. Ben writes that he was “a wildly ungrateful teen, a deeply mediocre oarsman, and abandoned the water as soon as I started University.” However, thirty years later, Ben found what he calls the “Irregulars” at London Rowing Club. “They have a long history at the club and were thankfully generous with their minimum entry requirements!” he writes. “I have been rowing with them for about four years now, and hoping I’ll still be as capable as many of them when I’m also in my seventies and eighties.”

“My favourite time in a boat ever was a few weeks ago,” Ben writes. “My twelve-year-old son tried rowing at Barn Elms. They were short of coaches one day and let me take him out in a double. He complained constantly, I loved every second. Like father like son – here’s hoping it takes him less than thirty years to realise he actually enjoys it...’

Thanks go to HTBS for letting us print this.

Eddie Markes

LRC SUPPER CLUB

London Rowing Club are delighted to welcome local caterers Piptree to our team of suppliers. To launch their presence at the Club they are hosting an Orchard inspired Supper Club on Thursday, 20 October 2022, 19:30-23:00, open to members and their friends and families.

Piptree have designed a menu to get guests talking. This incorporates their brand and concept, showcasing their personality through their food. They have adopted a seasonal fruit theme in their menu, which includes fruit into each one of the dishes.

Please book your tickets here.

Kate MacDonald
LRC, Events Manager

CLASSICS AT THE CLUB 2022

Sunday 18th September saw the second ‘Classics at The Club’ meeting following last year’s successful gathering. The weather stayed fine and the ebbing tide had kindly not left its usual layer of slushy mud. Seven cars were on display ranging chronologically from 1928 to 2007.

Alan Foster’s Ford Model A was the oldest vehicle in attendance and his notes displayed on the running board showed that he had bought it in Buenos Aires and shipped it back to the UK. It was a pity that Alan couldn’t get his 1950s MG started and that had to stay in the garage.

Miles Preston’s magnificent 1933 Rolls Royce 20/25 is always a crowd-pleaser and we were lucky it appeared as Miles was travelling to France the following day to take part in a Rolls Royce Owners Club tour around northern France.

Mike Williams’ 1938 drophead Derby Bentley was restored following acquisition from the estate of the club’s former President the late Peter Coni. Post war Bentleys were represented by John Auber’s black over grey R Type made in 1953, the year of the late Queen’s coronation.

*1953 Bentley R Type to the left of the Rolls Royce 20/25.*

Paul Mee’s beautifully restored 1954 Series 1 Land Rover pick up with canvas top was a great sight and the 1970s were represented by Bill Baker’s 1972 Audi Coupe S (Tibet Orange with dark green velour interior!) and 1972 Mini Cooper S. In contrast it was good to see John Pritchard’s modern classic Aston Martin DB9 Volante. James Brown’s son was happy to get behind the wheel!

*1954 Land Rover Series 1 next to 2007 Aston Martin DB9 Volante.*

Some 25 club members gathered on the hard and repaired afterwards to the bar and balcony. Many passers-by stopped and asked about the cars and the club.

Bill Baker

A TASTE OF ITSU!

Itsu, the Asian-inspired restaurant brand is set to open its newest restaurant on Putney Highstreet near the train station, tomorrow Friday 14th October. It will offer us a delicious range of hot & cold choices for pick up, delivery or dining in as an affordable meal option. Itsu’s menu includes hot noodle and rice bowls, fresh sushi and salads as well as their signature steamed gyoza and bao buns. The majority of dishes are under 500 good calories and cost less than £7.50. Expect to see itsu classics as well as their newest chicken gyoza noodle dish that features the UK’s No.1 Gyoza.

To promote the opening of the new itsu Putney store, itsu will be providing lunch to our senior squad after training on the weekend.

Harry Smallman

NEW MEMBERS

We would like to welcome the following new members to the Club:

Nicholas Basty
Leonardo Buizza
James Clarke
Sam Javaherian
Braden Johnson
Chase Lemley
Piers Lindsay-Fynn
Colette Lipp
Hannah MacLeod
Henry Porter
Dominik Radziwill
Jake Rugge-Price
Stephen Ward

We hope you will enjoy being part of the London Rowing Club community and will help us build an ever happier and more successful club.

We are always pleased to have more members so, if you know of anyone who think might like to join the Club, please either let us know or encourage them to get in touch with us themselves.

There is information on becoming a member on our website: https://www.londonrc.org.uk/membership-enquiries or you can contact the Club’s Membership Secretary, Jessica Salter, whose email address is membership@londonrc.org.uk

Andrew Boyle
Honorary Secretary, London Rowing Club

CHRIS WOODALL - 75 YEARS A MEMBER OF LRC

Warmest congratulations to our Life Member, Chris Woodall, who joined the Club shortly after World War II in 1947. There are very, very few members who have reached the formidable milestone of 75 years’ membership.

At the time of joining, Chris was in his last year at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was actively involved in the college boat club. He had gone up in 1944 to read mathematics, and was awarded a First in Part I and became a Senior Optime in Part II. On going down he was an early recruit to the computer industry, where he made his career.

Henley records show that Chris rowed for the Club in the Thames Challenge Cup in 1951, 1952, and 1954 and in the Wyfold Challenge Cup in 1956, all on bow side, weighing in at around 11 stone. In 1952 the crew included, all in the bow four: Chris at bow, Dennis Ashton (after whom the Ashton Room is named) at 2; and Graham Hill, later the illustrious F1 racing driver, at 4. The eight reached the semi-finals, losing to the eventual winners by 2/3 of a length. In 1954, his crew (in which he rowed at 7) reached the quarter-finals with Colin Kester stroking. In 1956 (when bow/ steers) he was involved in a rare Henley dead-heat, winning on the re-row.

Chris recently generously gifted funds which enabled us to purchase our first women’s 4- called ‘Christopher’. The boat has been in two Henley Women’s finals in the two years we have had it.

Julian Ebsworth

J.G.W. CLARKE

We were saddened to hear of the recent death of John G. W. Clarke, who joined the Club in 1974.

Our Vice-President Mike Williams remembers Nobby, as he was known to all, rowing for many years with the likes of Doug Melvin, Simon Rippon, Desmond Hampton, Andy Donaldson and many others. Mike coxed veteran eights in the Vets Head that included John.

His daughter Diane wrote that her father really enjoyed the veteran circuit while rowing at LRC, travelling frequently abroad, including to Heidelberg, Berlin, Prague, Amsterdam and the former Yugoslavia.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of his veteran career was winning a FISA Masters gold medal in an LRC eight in 1979 at Nottingham. John is shown in the photo after having received his medal.

Diane recalled her family spending many happy afternoons and evenings at the Club with catering provided by Mr. and Mrs. Brennan, who kept everyone in line.

Although John's early rowing experience was at Poplar, he was immensely proud of being a member of LRC. In his later years he kept in touch by reading The London Roar avidly. Diane thought he would be quite chuffed to be remembered in its pages.

Andrew Boyle
Hon. Secretary, London Rowing Club

DEFIBFEST 2022

It is almost a year since the Spencer Arms’ defibrillator saved my wife Jackie’s life whilst out running on Putney Common one busy Saturday morning. This defibrillator was financed and put in place by a community effort DefibFest initiative set up by Iain Russell, whose father suffered a cardiac arrest and lost his life. It is a reminder about why we need more defibrillators in our public spaces.

DefibFest has now become an annual performance event, with music, readings and even free first aid training from London Ambulance Service. This year it takes place on Saturday 19th November. Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite with a 20% discount if bought in advance with discount code DEFIBFEST20.

If you can’t attend but would like to donate to this cause please follow the link to tickets, where there is an option to donate.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/defibfest-22-tickets-413722213277

Bob Silver

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 using the following email address – 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