Dodd and Searle Holding Court

On 7 May, 2012, HTBS posted a review about Chris Dodd’s book Pieces of Eight: Bob Janousek and his Olympians (March 2012). About this masterpiece HTBS wrote:

'Pieces of Eight: Bob Janousek and his Olympians is indeed a must-read, must-have book. If you would like to understand how British rowing has managed to reach its high level of today – when we are only weeks away from the Olympic Games in London where the British yet again will meet glory on the water – this book will tell you how it all started, how one man taught the ‘bloody English’ how to row again.'

Read what HTBS has written earlier about Pieces of Eight here.

Dodd’s book will be featured on three occasions coming up soon:

Saturday 29 September
Dodd will hold court at Henley Literary Festival – River & Rowing Museum, between 3 and 4:15 p.m. (coffee from 2:30 p.m.). For reservations please call: 01491-415600.

Saturday 29 September
An evening with Bob Janousek, Chris Dodd and others who are featured in Pieces of Eight at Leander Club, 7:30 p.m. Tickets £47.50 to include canapés, dinner, wine and coffee, please contact Hannah Jones 01491-415623 or hannah.jones@rrm.co.uk

Monday 8 October
Greg Searle and Chris Dodd debate Great British Rowing at Cheltenham Literary Festival, from 8:45 p.m. to 10 p.m. (code L121). Featuring Searle’s newly published book If Not Now, When? (September 2012) and Pieces of Eight. Tickets via Cheltenham Literary Festival, please go here.

The 2012 Rowing Hall Of Fame Inductees

Yesterday evening, on 10 March 2012, the National Rowing Foundation (NRF), the governing body of the National Rowing Hall of Fame, inducted nineteen new members into ‘The Hall’. The following athletes were honoured for their individual accomplishments: Jennifer Dore Terhaar (not present), Jeff Klepacki, Robert Kaehler, Mary McCagg, and Elizabeth McCagg Hills. Three crews were honoured for their results: the 1972 Olympic men’s eight and coach, Michael Livingston, Cleve Livingston, William Hobbs, Eugene "Gene" Clapp, Timothy Mickelson, Peter Raymond, Franklin "Fritz" Hobbs (not present), Lawrence "Monk" Terry, Paul Hoffman, and Coach Harry Parker (pic on the right); the 1992 Olympic women’s pair, Anna Seaton and Stephanie Maxwell-Pierson; and the 2000 Olympic men’s pair, Ted Murphy and Sebastian Bea.

This was the second time in its 56-year existence that the National Rowing Hall of Fame hosted a stand-alone induction ceremony. It was held at Latitude 41 Restaurant at Mystic Seaport. The festivities began, however, with a reception party at the Rowing Hall of Fame in the G. W. Blunt White Building where the inductees, their families and friends, together with invited guests, quickly came into a good celebration mood. Many of the U.S. rowing community were present, including some members of the Rowing Hall of Fame. Before the banquet with the induction ceremony started, the inductees nicely lined up for photo shoots in front of gentlemen of the press and family members with cameras. The rowers were placed by Hart Perry’s old dinghy, which the previous evening had been up for auction. This celebration of the rowers was the brainchild of Hart’s and his absents was deeply felt by all, although his spirit will live on as long as there are rowers to be inducted into the “Hall”.

Jeff Klepacki and Robert Kaehler.

Twins Elizabeth McCagg Hills and Mary McCagg.

The 2000 Olympic men’s pair, Ted Murphy and Sebastian Bea.

The 1992 Olympic womens’ pair, Stephanie Maxwell-Pierson and Anna Seaton.

The 1972 Olympic men’s eight, from right to left (in the positions they rowed), Michael Livingston, Cleve Livingston, William Hobbs, Gene Clapp, Timothy Mickelson, Peter Raymond, Monk Terry, and Paul Hoffman. 7-seated Fritz Hobbs and Coach Harry Parker not present at the photo shoot.

Reception In Memory Of Hart Perry

Exactly a year ago, on 3 February, 2011, Hart Perry passed away. Those of us who worked with Hart almost weekly on many of his ideas and other tasks to raise awareness and support of the sport of rowing still miss him immensely. We miss his guiding hand, but also Hart as a person, his gentle smile and that special twinkle in his eyes that you would see when you realised that you yet again had signed up for a chore that you normally would have turned down if it was not Hart who had asked you. But you also knew that the job, big or small, was for the general good of rowing. And Hart was never, never late telling people that you had done a great job, not he.

On 5 February, 2011, I published some memorial words about Hart which begins,

With the passing of Hart Perry an era has come to an end. Without exaggeration it can be said, that never in any sport have so many athletes had so much to thank one single man for. Thousands and thousands of rowers and others involved in our much-loved sport would not be where they are today if it had not been for Hart Perry, both when it comes to rowing, but also for what kind of persons they would become after their rowing career was over. I am one of them. Read the rest of the entry…

On Friday evening 9 March, 2012, there will be a Cocktail Reception & Raw Bar in memory of Hart Perry in the National Rowing Hall of Fame in the G.W. Blunt White building at Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut. There will soon be more details and information posted on the National Rowing Foundation’s website about this event. This is one of three rowing events during the weekend of 9-10 March. During the day on Saturday, the 6th Rowing History Forum will be held in the River Room in Latitude 41° Restaurant by Mystic Seaport. More information here.

In the evening on Saturday, the National Rowing Foundation will host the Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, also in the River Room. Induction Banquet information will be also be posted on the NRF website but it will be by invitation, only.

Sorting Old Rowing Photographs

Pictured are some of Mystic Seaport PILOTS sorting and organising hundreds and hundreds of old rowing photographs. While leading this important project, rowing historian Tom Weil, at the head of the table, was throwing in some entertaining rowing anecdotes now and then.

Twice a year, Mystic Seaport hosts its so called PILOTS weekend. A PILOT is a volunteer who comes in to work for free (even paying a fee to work!) on Mystic Seaport projects which the Museum has not managed to do during the year. Yesterday, more than 100 PILOTS gathered at the Museum to work on boat projects in the Shipyard; paint porches, decks, and chairs; cleaning the grounds; attend the gardens; move artefacts; re-house photographs and negatives; and sort and date old wire-photographs of rowing.

When it comes to the latter project, six dedicated PILOTS showed up at the Blunt White Building, which houses the National Rowing Hall of Fame and the rowing exhibit, "Let Her Run", to sort tons of old rowing photographs from news agencies. The project was supervised excellently by rowing historian Tom Weil (with minor assistance from yours truly).

Work like this will help rowing historians and others to easily find images and other materials when they come to Mystic Seaport to do research. Well done, PILOTS!

Four Men At Home After 140 Miles

After 220km, 45 locks, and plenty of blisters, Stephen Feeney, Iain Weir, Mark Bavington, and James Clarke of the London RC have arrived at Putney. With their long ‘outing’ on the Thames, they have managed to raise almost £2,000 for the Neuroacanthocytosis Advocacy.

Find out what HTBS wrote about their row on 28 June by clicking here. If you would like to read what British Rowing said about the event on their web site, click here.

Well done, gentlemen!

Four Men On The Thames

Early this morning, the four friends Iain Weir, James Clarke, Mark Bavington, and Stephen Feeney of London Rowing Club pushed off their touring quad at Lechlade to begin “the epic journey rowing it back to Putney”. They hope to arrive at Putney on Sunday. These four fellows are not trying to break any records, or to do anything extraordinary on the way, but what they are hoping to accomplish is to raise awareness about the illness Neuroacanthocytosis. As advocates they are also hoping to raise money for this noble cause.

To visit their website, “Four Men in a Boat,” and learn how you can donate money, please click here.

The Four is also hoping to show how easy it is to get involved in recreational rowing with the Explore Rowing scheme, which is run by British Rowing.

Warm thanks to HTBS's Hélène Rémond, who pointed us in the direction of this event.

Red Bull Ready To Row 2011

From the Red Bull Ready to Row website HTBS has borrowed the following:

Red Bull Ready to Row – there has never been anything like it! The world's first rowing relay race and a human baton on the water. Eight athletes, four boats, two changing pontoons and 4x800m full speed. 20,000 spectators lining the banks at “Museumufer” in Frankfurt, Germany threw their hands up in horror as the boats raced up to the changing pontoons at full speed and only jammed the brakes with their oars at the very last moment. A lot of hectic, loud yelling and cheering on among the athletes. Pure emotions: the changing on the 8x2m large shaky pontoons were really more than tricky. German rowing champion Marcel Hacker as team captain of the Great Eight team with Olympic and World champions won the race.

To get more information, go to the Red Bull Ready to Row website with videos by clicking here.

See video from the rowing relay race here:

Tim Koch On The 2011 Eton’s Procession Of Boats

The boys' Matrons ('Dames' in Eton speak) decorate their boaters. Some clearly make more effort than others. Also note 'fixed pin' gates & fixed seats.

On 1st June, HTBS’s Tim Koch witnessed the Eton Procession of Boats. Here is his report:

The recent HTBS posting by Hélène Rémond on the French magazine 6 Mois picturing the boys of Eton School rowing during their ‘Fourth of June’ celebrations pre-empted a plan of mine to see the 2011 Procession of Boats in person. As Hélène points out, I have already written about the history of this unique occasion but I have now taken some nice pictures to illustrate it.

Eton School (more correctly called ‘Eton College’, though the boys are aged 13 to 18) is the most famous fee paying school in the world. Founded in 1440 by Henry VI to provide himself with some reliable civil servants, it has produced nineteen British Prime Ministers and innumerable oarsmen. Today, rowing and sculling at Eton is divided into four groups:

Boys aged 13 and 14 only race in inter school events, in single sculls and quads.

Fifteen year olds are called ‘Junior Colts’ and race in events held under the rules of British Rowing in the J15 class.

Sixteen and seventeen year olds are called ‘Colts’ and race in British Rowing events in J16, Novice and Intermediate 3 classes if eligible.

Seventeen and eighteen year olds can row in ‘Upper Boats’ at J18, Intermediate 3, 2 and 1, Senior and Elite if eligible.

Eton College Boat Club (ECBC) has a website that is open for anyone to view but, as it is intended for internal consumption, an outsider will find the organisation, argot and acronyms of the ancient institution difficult to understand.

The programme for the row past by the (mostly Victorian) boats is almost exactly the same today as in this programme of 1885. The first four crews are from the ‘Upper Boats’.

The 10-oared Monarch

The first boat to stand and salute the School and Her Majesty the Queen is Monarch, the ten-oar. It is usually stroked by the Captain of the Boats (there is an interview with the current Captain here) and crewed by senior boys who help administer internal rowing. Here are two extracts from the rules of ECBC:

'Members of the Monarch assist, under the supervision of aquatics masters or coaches, with discipline and safety on the river, and the administration of internal races.' and 'All instructions given by members of the Monarch must be followed without argument.'

The next boat is Victory, the First Eight, or (more commonly) just ‘The Eight’. They presently hold the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta and the Queen Mother Cup for Championship Eights at the National Schools Regatta. Unfortunately, they do not hold the ‘Triple Crown’ as they came second in the 2011 Schools’ Head. The VIII (they usually use Roman numbers) has their own blog but it has not been updated recently.

1st VIII Victory

Monarch and Victory have swivel rollicks with the normal closed gate so the boys cannot hold their oars erect when they stand to salute. To compensate for having the advantage of their oars on the water, they all stand together. The remaining eight boats have open ‘fixed pin’ gates. Thus 4 and 5 will hold their oars up and then stand, followed by 3 and 6, then 2 and 7, and finally bow and stroke. All ten boats are fixed seat.

Of the remaining Upper Boats, Prince of Wales (2nd VIII) is followed by Britannia (3rd VIII).

2nd VIII Prince of Wales

3rd VIII Britannia

The ‘Colts’ A, B and C crews then pass in Thetis, Hibernia and St George respectively.

The Colts Thetis

The Colts Hibernia: Note the button on the oar.

The Colts St George: Note the fixed pin gate and the oar.

Finally, the ‘Junior Colts’ A, B and C crews pass in Alexandra, Defiance and Dreadnought.

The Junior Colts Alexandra: two more to go...!

The Junior Colts Defiance with Windsor Castle in the background.

The Junior Colts Dreadnought: Tim's comment, "I like the clear authority and confidence of the coxswain!".

Even these delightful pictures do not fully capture the feel of the occasion. The Procession is viewed from a lush meadow on (in 2011 at least) a warm summer’s day. Behind are the ancient and noble buildings of the College. On the other side of the sparkling river is lush woodland with the tower of Windsor Castle peering above the trees in the distance. A school band is playing The Eton Boating Song.

Beware of a coxswain with a sword!

On the water, young Corinthians play out an old, strange and slightly silly tradition in archaic dress. There are people who would not be moved by this - but they can stay at home and play video games in a darkened room. The rest of us (who are lucky enough) will spend a delightful day on the riverbank and hold that it is always ‘jolly boating weather’.

Boat Race Talk

Tim sent an e-mail with a press release about an interesting talk by rowing historian Chris Dodd, who is giving a talk about The Boat Race on 17 March, at 7:30 p.m. The talk is organized by Chiswick Pier Trust. The press release reads:

Oxford have been racing Cambridge on the four-and-a-quarter-mile tidal ‘S’ bend from Putney to Mortlake since 1845. In the twenty-first century the spot where the Boat Race has been won or lost has shifted upstream from Hammersmith Bridge to Chiswick Reach, as in the 2010 race where Cambridge broke Oxford’s lead at Chiswick Steps.

Christopher Dodd, the Boat Race historian, recounts the thrills and spills of the Blues locked in perpetual conflict on the Tideway, the oarsmen who have been at the cutting edge of amateur rowing and amateur sport in Britain since the first race in 1829.

The Chiswick Pier Trust are hosting the talk, at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday March 17 at the Pier House, Corney Reach, W4. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and the event will start at 7:30 p.m. Free to Chiswick Pier Trust Members, £3 to non-members. Chiswick Pier and Chiswick Pier House are at the end of Corney Road and Edensor Road, Chiswick, W4 2UG.

The talk is part of a series organised by the Chiswick Pier Trust, a charity that puts people in touch with the River Thames. For further details on events at the Pier and how to get there, contact the Chiswick Pier Trust 020 8742 2713 or log on at www.chiswickpier.org.uk

The 2011 Boat Race Crews Announced

Tim Koch, HTBS's special correspondent in London, gives a report about the upcoming Boat Race.

As mentioned on HTBS of 27 February, Monday 7 March saw the official weigh-in and crew announcement for the 157th Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race which starts at 17.00 GMT on 26 March. The crews were welcomed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who, as always, gave the impression that the task had been sprung on him at the last minute. As an old Balliol College (Oxford) man he wished both crews good luck – "especially Oxford".

For the first time in many years, Oxford have just one crew member from overseas. On paper they are the less experienced boat. Cambridge has five Britons, two Australians and individuals from Canada and the United States.

Oxford's crew:

Bow: Moritz Hafner (Ger/Swiss) Oriel

2: Ben Myers (GB) Exeter

3: Alec Dent (GB/French) Keble

4: Ben Ellison (GB) St Anne’s

5: Karl Hudspith (GB) St Peter’s

6: Constantine Louloudis (GB) Trinity

7: George Whittaker (GB) Oriel

Stroke: Simon Hislop (GB) Oriel (seen up on the right)

Cox: Sam Winter-Levy (GB) New

CUBC President D. Rasmussen and the Tower Bridge

Cambridge Crew:

Bow: Mike Thorpe (GB) Homerton

2: Joel Jennings (GB) Clare

3: Dan Rix-Standing (GB) St Catharine’s

4: Hardy Cubasch (Aus/Ger) St Edmund’s

5: George Nash (GB) St Catharine’s

6: Geoff Roth (Can) St Edmund’s

7: Derek Rasmussen (USA) Hughes Hall

Stroke: David Nelson (Aus) Hughes Hall (pic. on the right)

Cox: Liz Box (GB/Aus) Hughes Hall

The PR people’s view of the crew selection is here.

I took advantage of a room full of the great and the good of rowing journalism to get more seasoned views of this year’s race.

Chris Dodd (Writer and historian, former Guardian newspaper correspondent):

It should be a good race. Cambridge has more experience and they are a heavier crew (if that counts for anything these days, probably not). Their ‘disadvantage’ is that their coach, Steve Trapmore, has not done the Boat Race before. He is a generation younger than the previous coach and he has a lot of experience on the Boat Race course as he was Chief Coach at Imperial College which is based at Putney. Also, he got an Olympic gold medal in the eight in 2000 and that crew did most of its training on the Thames Tideway…….. He was also in that crew for all of the three years it was together so he has a lot of experience of eights that are changing personnel. Also he runs a very big programme at Imperial….. so he has a lot of experience in crew selection. So, to be new to the Boat Race is not what it first seems for Steve Trapmore. Against that, Sean Bowden, the Oxford Coach, has led eight victories in the past eleven years. He is a very cool customer, he knows exactly how to produce crews to peak on the day which is the key to this race….. These crews are not packed with internationals but they are good quality student oarsmen and are not too far apart, I think.

Coaches Sean Bowden and Steve Trapmore

Dan Topolski (Commentator and Oxford finishing coach 1973-1987, which included twelve wins and an unbroken run of ten victories):

On paper, Cambridge holds the cards, but whenever Oxford has been asked to perform they have done pretty well……. You have a very British-Oxford-Eight with three undergraduates, a more experienced Cambridge crew, most of them have done the race. Not a lot of difference in the weights, more difference in the heights and ages….. and I think it will be a very intriguing race, may be similar to last year.

Martin Gough (BBC):

It’s going to be a really tight race. There is not a huge amount of experience in either crew and this makes it difficult to pick the fastest boat. Cambridge has more Boat Race experience, but having Sean Bowden as coach means Oxford will be able to draw on his experience…… It’s not the race of the last few years where you have a group of internationals going head to head……. but this makes it more exciting…… It’s the usual cycle, two years of big names and internationals and then two years of proper students as you go into an Olympic Games…… the only man in the race who we could expect to race (at the 2012 Olympics) is Constantine Louloudis, the Oxford number six. [Read Martin Gough's article here.]

Rachel Quarrell (The Daily Telegraph):

It’s defiantly too early to make any predictions at the moment….. I think that the last week will be very interesting, I think that both crews will come on a lot (in that time)….. Normally just after the Olympics you have a lot of internationals going to Oxford and Cambridge…. It always dips again after that but this year it was dramatic because the 2010 World Rowing Championships was in November, so it ruined two academic years. Nobody wanted to compete in the 2010 or 2011 Boat Race who planed to row internationally….. so there are no current internationals in either team.

I will be interviewing these people again during ‘Tideway Week’ on 21-25 March, when the world’s press descends on Putney to follow the crews out on their final outings.

Thank you, Tim, for an interesting report. In due course, HTBS will be back with more reports about this year's Boat Race.

1972 Famous Kent Crew

Yesterday, author Rick Rinehart was signing his latest book, Men of Kent, at the bookstore at Mystic Seaport Museum. The book is about the ten boys from Kent School who in 1972 went to Henley Royal Regatta to compete, following a fine Kent tradition to race in this famous regatta. In an article in Rowing News in June 2007, "The Greatest Eights: High Schools and junior Clubs", Andy Anderson writes "For American schoolboy crews, a trip to the Henley Royal Regatta has long been the reward for a stellar season. And every rower who's had his passport stamped has Kent to thank for this tradition."

After the book signing, a little reception was held in the Blunt White Building that holds the National Rowing Foundation’s Rowing Hall of Fame. Besides bowman Rinehart and his wife Amy and some other family members and friends, were some of the ‘boys’ that rowed in Kent’s famous 1972 eight that took the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup: Fred Elliott, Murray Beach, John Rooney, Garth Griffin, and their coach, William Hartwell Perry, called ‘Boss’ by the ‘boys’.

Hart Perry, now Executive Director of the National Rowing Foundation and in charge of the Rowing Hall of Fame, had decorated the lobby in the Blunt White Building with memorabilia of his Kent crew, an oar blade with the names of the victorious crew, a shield carrying the boys’ names, and a special book he received from Kent’s headmaster at the time, Father Pete Woodward.

I dropped off after I had taken some photographs and got the present crew members signatures in my copy of Rick Rinehart’s book. And, no, I will not sell it on eBay in a couple of weeks time…

Men Of Kent Booksigning

On 4 August I posted an entry about a a new rowing book published by Lyons Press in Connecticut, Men of Kent by Rick Rinehart. The book is about nine boys from Kent School in the northwest corner of Connecticut who went to the Henley Royal Regatta in the beginning of the 1970s. They were coached by Hart Perry, who later would become the first foreigner to be elected a Steward at Henley.

This Saturday, 16 October, Rick Rinehart is doing a book signing between 3 and 5 at Mystic Seaport Museum Bookstore on 75 Greenmanville Ave., Mystic. Call 860-572-5386 for more information or to get a signed copy set aside for you.

Wisdom Of An Ocean Rower

An event that is ending the Coastweeks Regatta on Sunday 19 September is a talk by Tori Murden McClure, author of A Pearl in the Storm, which has been picked as this year’s ‘One Book, One Region’. This reading programme is to “bring people together to discuss ideas, to broaden the appreciation of reading, and to break down barriers among people,” Betty Ann Reiter, Groton Public Library Director and chair of the programme, said the other day in an interview in one of the local papers.

In 1999, McClure became the first women to row across the Atlantic, and this book tells the story how she did it. I have earlier written about this book in an entry on 1 May.

McClure’s talk is going to be held at 5 p.m. in the River Room at Latitude 41 Restaurant at the north end of Mystic Seaport Museum, free a of charge.

Click here to watch a trailer for A Pearl in the Storm.

Among Traditionalists And Inventors

Although The WoodenBoat Show, for the fourth year running at Mystic Seaport Museum, maybe was not really as big as the three previous years, it was a great show. I was working there for the two first out of the three days and as I was terribly busy, I did not manage to take a good look at what the vendors had to offer. Well today, on my day off, I went back to take some photographs that I would like to share with you.

I met Steve Ferlauto, whom I talked to at last year’s show. Steve is running the River School Boats and this year he had his latest built boat on display, a mix of old and new – old as it is built out of wood, and new that it has ‘wingriggers’ (see above). He is eager to know how this recreational shell is going to be received. Will the wooden ‘traditionalists‘ whine about the wingriggers, and will the carbon fiber scullers complain about the wood?

Steve also had a beautiful old single on display by boatbuilder Vincent Radley & Sons (see above) who built boats on the river Lea in east London starting during the 19th century. It has probably been restored on a couple of occasions, with a sliding seat, ‘new’ clogs, etc. – a beautiful craftsman work, indeed.

Another exhibitor’s watercraft also caught my eye, Andrew Meigs’s Dancing Dragon, which was launched earlier this month! Andrew, who is an old oarsman, became tired always facing backwards, he said, so he came up with this propeller-driven, scull-less, faceforward ‘cycle-boat’. Being conservative when it comes to my sculling and rowing, I truly thought this was a fun-looking boat, which I would not mind at all to go for an outing in!

One Of (The Many) Henley Traditions

A 1967 photograph of the four founding fathers - Wilf Stark (bow), Jacko Stevens (2), Frank Ashenden (3) and Reggie Reeves (Str) - of what is today the Auriol Kensington RC's veteran row from Hammersmith to Henley.*

Soon it is time for the Henley Royal Regatta again. The good Tim Koch of Auriol Kensington RC is taking part in an ‘unofficial’ Henley tradition, he writes in an e-mail from London. I leave it to Tim to tell the story:

Henley Royal Regatta has many traditions. There are the ‘official’ ones that are a result of 171 years of existence and then there are the ‘unofficial’ ones that are the result of the same people attending the same event for much of their lifetime. For the last forty eight years, Auriol Rowing Club (and, latterly, Auriol Kensington Rowing Club) have rowed one or two Veteran (Masters) crews from Hammersmith to Henley, timed to arrive just before the start of the Regatta. These days the distance of fifty six miles is covered in three days by two eights. It is only possible because of the support received from the rest of the rowing community.

Day One is from Hammersmith to Molesey Boat Club, some fourteen miles. The first six miles are on the tidal Thames, the non tidal part begins at Richmond Lock. There are seventeen more locks between there and Henley and, as they are usually less than three miles apart, they afford regular rest stops to oarsmen past their prime. Day Two is from Molesey to Eton Excelsior Rowing Club, just outside of Windsor, via lunch at Staines Boat Club - twenty one miles in total. The crews stay overnight in Windsor where much beer and curry is consumed. The final day takes us through to Henley via lunch at Marlow Rowing Club - twenty miles. The row ends with a race up the Regatta course (much to the amusement of the younger people in training for the ‘Royal’). Some refreshing local beer is then consumed at the Anchor in Friday Street. The landlord is an ex Kensington RC man and it is the only place that tolerates the smell of three day old kit. Following a welcome shower, blazers and ties are donned for a formal dinner where we are joined by the ‘real’ Auriol Kensington HRR crews and assorted supporters.

The ‘Henley Row’ is an event that seems to grow in importance for the participants. At the end of row dinner we remember those stalwart members of Auriol Rowing Club who first did it in 1962. In the words of one participant, “…we both thank them and curse them for this strange obsession.

* The four in the 1967 photo on top are Wilf Stark (bow), Jacko Stevens (2), Frank Ashenden (3) and Reggie Reeves (Str). All joined Auriol before the 1939-1945 War and kept the club going through some difficult times. I knew both Wilf and Frank (‘Ash’), alas no longer with us. They did the Hammersmith to Henley Row until they were in their late 70’s and had their last row over the Henley course in 1989 when they were in their early 80’s. Frank had to swap sides as he was recovering from a broken arm (he already had two plastic hips). At the end of their row he remarked that the course was ‘longer that it used to be’. At the 1997 Club Dinner, he proposed the toast to ‘The Club’. He went home and died in his sleep later that night. Not a bad end.

Great story, Tim, thank you! And I agree, when it is time to go, that is the way to go. Good luck with the row...