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Adrian Tollett

Little did we think when we sat down to the Billygoats Dinner with Adrian in December 2023 that this would be the last of the very many Billygoats events he attended. In April I had the sad duty of sharing the news of his passing. It was a shock – I understand Adrian went into hospital in February, was diagnosed with cancer in early March and died on the 25th. 

As a regular attendee at College dinners, Osier Holt and Henley he was a well-known and well-liked member of the Billygoats Society. He had the role of Billygoats Rowing Coordinator for many years, organising members to row in the Fairbairn races each year at the end of the Michaelmas term, and other races (mostly Cambridge summer regattas) as and when a crew was available. I, for one, have a couple of masters pots I would not have if it wasn’t for Adrian’s organisational efforts. In December he completed his three year stint on our Committee during which (inter alia) he made a major contribution of time and effort at Osier Holt each June. He will be missed by all who knew him.

2019 Fairbairns crew

2023 Fairbairns crew

Following the news, tributes poured in from dozens of Billygoats who had known him and the Committee decided unanimously to name a boat after him. There was a boat naming ceremony on the morning of Saturday 15th June before the Billygoats Osier Holt bumps party and the new tub 4+ was named the Adrian Tollett, with Adrian’s son Matthew doing the honours.

The new boat was immediately taken out for its inaugural voyage.

The Billygoats Society was represented at Adrian’s funeral by David Curry (committee member and Adrian’s near-contemporary), me and my wife. Andrew Pocock and others from the Surrey branch of the Cambridge Alumni Society and a large contingent from Staines Boat Club attended as well as his family and friends. At the service we learned of his Christian faith, a little about his work (too secret for us to learn a lot!), and his love for the Goons (with “I’m walking backwards for Christmas” as exit music), but a major part of all the tributes from family and friends was his enduring love for rowing – Adrian was a Billygoat until the end.

Refreshments were provided at Staines Boat Club and afterwards we watched as Adrian got his second boat, when SBC named a 1x Adrian Tollett. This time, his sister Celia and daughter Hannah carried out the pouring duties. Not many of us can claim two boats named in our honour!

The racks at SBC contained another boat of interest, as Adrian had sponsored it and chosen an appropriate name:

To finish, here is a photo, sent me by Ken Olisa (cox), of Adrian in his prime, in his customary bow seat, in full flow in the 1973 Lent 4th VIII.

Rest in peace.

Dan George

More mid-80s with Graeme Purdy

After spending a very enjoyable day as a guest of Richard Hooke (FCBC Captain 1986/7) at Henley and meeting some of the Billygoat living legends, I felt inspired to rifle through some of my old photos to see if I could locate any more of the disreputable outfits I’d rowed with.

Cross-referencing with Ken Drake’s excellent crew lists allowed me to refresh my memory. This first picture is of the 1985 1st Men’s Fairbairn’s Novices. I’m sure it’s only the perspective of the photo, but our cox Nick Pyke looks burlier than any of the rest of us! Perhaps the most subsequently notable oarsman, with a very determined expression on his face, is Brian Potterill at number 5, just in front of me, who went on to row for two victorious CUBC lightweight crews a few years later in 1988 and 1989.



This second photo, taken later that academic year at the 1986Lents, is of the 2nd Men’s VIII. Andy Tanton is at stroke again, with Richard Hooke at number 7. I’m sandwiched between Richard and Brian Potterill. So, do you think that Richard is early or Brian late? Richard looks slightly despairing (perhaps we were being caught?) and I look alarmed (perhaps we were likely to row over?).

The third photo is of the 2nd Men’s VIII at the 1987 Mays. It looks like a bit of a rocky ride, with the stroke side blades still in fresh air while bow side were finding the catch! Perhaps that’s why I only have it as a proof and never parted with money to buy it. We did seem to have a motley selection of blades. Perhaps they’d been mended from previous collisions? The dinner menu crew list is not quite correct, because stroke and number 2 have swapped places relative to the list. Richard’s other guest at Henley yesterday (see first photo above), John Driscoll, is at number 3. John and three other of that crew (Simon Pratt (7), Giles Foden (5) and Ben Mayes (4)), also rowed with me a year later in the 2nd Men’s VIII at the 1988 Mays.


Miscellaneous crews of 1987 and 1988 with Graeme Purdy

During an idle moment last Sunday afternoon, I dipped into that definitive archive, the crew lists taken from the boat club dinner menus. (See Ken Drake Archive – Billygoats Society). It seems that in 1987 I had fallen into bad association with some of the rougher elements of the boat club. In the menu for the dinner celebrating the Lents I am listed in the 3rd Men’s as Donkeyboy Purdy, rowing at 7 between Crabber Clayton and Warp-spasm Everson. Crabber was not known for his particular skill with an oar, but he had an impressively large lung capacity, made even more surprising by his habit of lighting up as soon as we’d crossed any finish line. I can’t recall where he kept his tobacco pouch, perhaps he persuaded our long-suffering cox to have it at the ready? Warp-spasm and I shared an appreciation of fine literature and spent many pleasant evenings in Fitz bar discussing the corkscrew storylines of Rogue Trooper and Slaine Mac Roth. In fact, Warp-spasm was named (I hesitate to say christened) after Slaine’s ability to channel the powers of mother earth and transform himself into a monstrous warrior. He made it a habit to frighten freshers in Natural Sciences by spontaneously impersonating what he called a sea monster by making the blood vessels and sinews of his neck bulge terrifyingly.

On the surface of it, the 2nd Men’s of the 1988 Mays seems like a more respectable crew. However, our cox had her hands full as it was certainly one of the most argumentative crews I’ve had the pleasure of rowing with. In particular, there was a lot of backchat from Giles at bow, who would often question the necessity of another Power Ten, or a request to pull harder. I can’t blame him really, as in the Mays we ended up having to row over three times, which is enough to try anyone’s patience. In later years, Giles went on to write the excellent, “Last King of Scotland” and he became something of a celebrity, appearing on Masterchef as an epicurean judge. It rolled back the years when I watched him declare he’d rather, “barbecue his face” than eat one the offerings of a luckless sweat-drenched hopeful. Here’s a photo of us all doing our best.

Graeme Purdy, 1984

MEN’S 2nd MAY BOAT 1988

Bow      G Foden                                                 

2            K Abnet                                                   

3            A Larsson                                             

4            B E Mayes                                             

5            J Driscoll                                               

6            P M Robbins                                       

7            S Pratt                                                    

Str         G Purdy                                                  

Cox       J Eggleston                                           

 Coaches          C Williams, B Potterill, P H Carroll, R Morgan

Rhine Marathon – the first three years, and Great Tyne Row

2009

Billygoats on the Rhine

Each October, two German rowing clubs organise a race down the Rhine from Köln to Düsseldorf – some 43km. It is rowed in “Rhine Fours”, especially substantial and stable craft, and each crew must be steered by a local cox who has a “Rhine licence”.

In 2001, Richard Henning (1956) participated as a member of a Cambridge town club crew and ever since he had been keen to repeat the experience in a Billygoat crew, one that qualified for the “over 50” category. Over the years, when they met by the Cam for the Fairbairn, he had managed to infect Nick Tittle (1976) with a similar degree of enthusiasm for the event but it required a circular to all Billygoats in September 2008 to find volunteers for the other two seats for participation in 2009. Clive Woodman (1977), Captain of Boats in 1979-80 and Roly Beevor (1977), Captain of Boats in 1978-79 completed the crew

Goats cause trouble.  Anyone who has read the SAS story Bravo Two-Zero knows that. So how much trouble did four Billygoats [Roly Beevor, Richard Henning, Nick Tittle and Clive Woodman] cause the Ruderclub Germania Düsseldorf, organisers of the Rhine Marathon on 3rd October 2009?  Well, not very much actually.  We said, “Do you know anywhere we can stay?” They said, “How about a hotel 5 minutes walk from our boat club and the finish line.”  We said “What about a boat and a cox?”  They said, “Yes, we’ll organise that for you. And if you need transport to the start 42km away in Köln we have arranged a bus to take you there. And please come to our boat house, eat pork knuckle and drink beer with us the night before the race.”  What is there not to like about people like this?  It wasn’t their fault the Rhine was running low because it hadn’t rained much for three months and the speed of the stream was significantly slower than normal.  It wasn’t their fault a very strong headwind blew up mid-way down the course and again towards the end.  It wasn’t their fault there are kilometre markings all the way along the river so that you know exactly where you are.  Great to begin with, when we went from the start at 695km to our first drinks break at 718km, but much, much harder in the middle section and then so, so slowly into the finish at 738km.  It wasn’t their fault the Rhine resembles the A1M but with enormous barges rather than lorries, somehow three abreast on the reduced width river.  It wasn’t their fault the wash from the less restrained barge drivers was such we had to stop rowing, hold the blades on the surface and ride out the waves, watching as what looked like a tsunami passed up river behind us.  And because none of this was their fault, and because they gave us a silver medal for coming second in our class and a decorated plate for entering the race for the first time, I think we should go back and I think lots more Goats should take part. I can’t speak highly enough of an event so well organised, so welcoming and so hugely friendly. Thanks to Angela for driving and taking memorable photographs, Christophe for seeing us safely over a challenging course and Stefan the rowing club ex-pat. living and working in Cambridge who was the vital link in the run-up to the event.  Huge thanks also to Richard for sharing his enthusiasm of an event he rowed before and wanted to do again: well done.

Nick Tittle [1976]

2010

1030am Saturday 9th October 2010.  So, here we are again, one year and one week after the last time we did it.  Four Billygoats back on that most mighty of European rivers, the Rhine.  We’re on the pontoon below the Bayer rowing club in the chemical town of Leverkusen, being pushed off into a fast running stream that will help our boat travel 42 kilometres down river to Hamm, a pretty garden suburb of Dusseldorf.  We did it last year, so what’s changed and what hasn’t?  This is the 39th running of the Rhein Marathon, meticulously organised as always by RC Germania Dusseldorf 1904 e.V.  Again they have arranged our hotel rooms, boat, blades and a cox licensed to steer on the Rhine, this time it was Wolfgang Wacke.  Again they have treated the foreign crews to a pre-race meal of pork knuckle and apparently limitless supplies of alt beer.  The Irish are here again, but with even more from Fermoy Rowing Club, including juniors to race against an increased entry from the Swedish school.  But we have changed.  Neil Gardner stepped in when Richard Henning gracefully retired after last year’s race.  We’re sculling, not rowing, because it must be more efficient and kinder on ageing bodies over this distance.  A brave decision as Clive, Neil and I all came to sculling late in life.  Actually, Clive only came to sculling this summer, for this event, so top marks for commitment.  Fortunately Roly is a safe pair of hands, Eton long ago recognising the importance of sculling to a young man’s development.  All we have to do is what he does.  To ensure some chance of imitating the master we practised, not really in the spirit of good natured amateurism but increasingly common.  We sculled over the Boat Race course from Putney to Mortlake and back on the Friday morning of Henley, coming up in the afternoon for the Billygoats dinner in Leander: a classic summer’s day with glorious sunshine and no hint of rain.  In August Clive, Neil and Roly went out on both the North Tyne and the Tyne from Newburn into Newcastle City Centre.  Two sessions we all repeated in September after Neil and I had also doubled on the Dee.  What these sessions showed, apart from the fact we all live in different places, is how warm and welcoming the rowing community is.  Aberdeen, Hexham, Thames and Tyne United Rowing Clubs kindly allowing us to use boats and coxes, even following us in a coaching launch [well, trust does have to be earned] So, after all the prep, how did we go?  Coming off the water after 2 hours 39 minutes, the 1st and 2nd fastest crews in the whole race were in our category [Masters coxed quad, 50 to 55 years] as was the fastest foreign crew at that time, X-press, so we knew we were in a tough category.  By the time the final results were posted we fell into the second half of the 143 boats that finished.  But, but, but, if we can find 13 minutes, 30 seconds a mile, we climb up into the first half.  The challenge is to scull through the waves of passing barges.  Not so much head-on as the bows of the Rhine boats are designed for this and the experienced cox will steer into them.  The problem is finding the water when the boat is corkscrewing as the waves of barges going in opposite directions come together.  Can we go faster?  Yes we can and next year is the 40th anniversary: see you there? 

Roly says we can have 1 more beer before the race starts

Roly says they won’t see us if we come out of the sun

Roly says only another 32k to go

Roly says we can overtake the Invisible Men

2011

Three is a lucky number: Goats on the Tyne and Rhine 2011

One of the many differences between being employed and being in full-time education is how much harder it is to organise outings.  When crew members live in Germany, London, Northumberland and Scotland it takes a lot of planning and some compromises, like not getting out as a full crew before crossing the start line of the race.  The compensation is rowing on other rivers, which, during last year’s preparations for the Rhine Marathon, included the Dee, the Thames and the North Tyne.  We also sculled on the Tyne a couple of times, from the ever-welcoming Tyne United Rowing Club at Newburn down to Newcastle Gateshead and back.  Somebody else must have thought it was a good idea because this year British Rowing organised the Great Tyne Row on 24th July, part of the Explore Rowing Summer Series.  It wasn’t a race but was an opportunity to row through Newcastle and out to Tynemouth through the Port which isn’t usually allowed, probably because of these quaysides.

It wasn’t a race but we did win the prize for the fastest time, which Roly subsequently drank, in just under 2 hours, ahead of Oxford Academicals who won the fastest women’s prize. .While they had their photographs in September’s Rowing and Regatta magazine [only fair as they are much better looking than us, although Roly’s head and shoulders do appear alongside some suitably complimentary comments about the event and the organisers], we had the immortal words “The first crew home – the Fitzwilliam College Cambridge Billygoats.”

A big thank you to Simon Cole for stepping in, literally in the picture below, for Neil Gardner at 3 and Steph Charlton for perfect steering on the day, despite challenging conditions caused by a very strong and very gusty wind.  Thanks also to Tyne United Rowing Club for the boat, the sculls and letting us go faster than them on the day.

So, enough about preparation what about performance in the main event, our 3rd and their 40th Rhine Marathon on 8th October?  This was a race and we completed the 42km course from Leverkusen to Hamm Dusseldorf in 2 hours 47 minutes, slower than last year [“oh dear, that’s not good”] but everyone was slower with the first crew 6 minutes down on last year’s winning time due to low water, a reduced stream and a head wind on much of the course [“ok, that’s not so bad”], that left us looking like this at the end

We finished 86, better than last year’s 117 [“good”] and out of 170 finishers rather than last year’s 143 [“very good”]  The 3rd fastest overseas crew, behind X-Press in second, beating all the Irish crews from Fermoy Rowing Club [“good”] and 6th in our class, Masters 50-55 years, beaten only by German crews.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWAChRVN0l8 to see us catching and passing our second French crew on the finish line and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwachrvn0l8 for a typical Rhine barge and the weather conditions on race day.

Thank you to our great friend and overseas part-time Goat, Wolfgang Wacke, for his calm and confident steering, always appreciated when you’re at bow on a very busy working river.  And, as always thanks to RC Germania Düsseldorf 1904 for organising the event, booking hotel rooms, the boat, blades and fuelling us up with Pork Knuckle and Alt Beer the evening before the race.  Long may it continue, maybe we can win Masters 60-65 in 2021 when they run the 50th edition?

Crew – Roly Beevor, Neil Gardner, Clive Woodman, Nick Tittle

Rhine Marathon 2023

The Rhine Marathon is back in the calendar as a Billygoats fixture and 2023 saw a slight change in personnel. Neil Gardner and Clive Woodman were competing for the 12th and 11th times respectively, our President Ian Clarke for the second year and Simon Cole came in for Roly Beevor.

Our programme started with a weekend training session in Cambridge after which our preparations took a more idiosyncratic turn with Ian powering his coastal scull down the River Avon, Simon shoveling several tonnes of topsoil, Neil climbing a Munro and touring the Basque Country and Clive honing his sculling technique riding a motorbike 3,500km through northern India (pictured).

Wolfgang Wacke (surely now a de facto Billygoat) coxed us once again and we all feel profoundly grateful to have an expert at the helm to steer us safely through the Rhine’s commercial shipping.

Conditions were more benign than in 2022. The nature of the course means that crews are almost certain to face headwinds over at least some of the 42kms. 2023 was no exception but the fact that the wind freshened over the day was compensation for a very early wake-up call.

Clive Woodman took the stroke seat and settled us quickly into the now signature Billygoat Rhine Marathon rhythm. We have learned over the years how to negotiate the sometimes spectacular wake created by the Rhine barges – surfing skills would not go amiss – and persevered well through the more challenging parts of the race.

It says something about the scale of the challenge that the crew builds for the finish from 5 kms out. It was a well-judged effort and we all reckoned we had run the tank dry by the finish line.

We were satisfied with our 2h 40.47m time which placed us 82nd= out of a total field of 161 crews, 5th out 20 overseas crews and 6th out of 8 crews in our Masters F age category. We are still two rungs below the oldest age category and are all keen to see the next generation of Billygoats emerge for this unique event. The camaraderie of the competitors and the hospitality of the race organisers, Ruderclub Germania Düsseldorf 1904, make it an unforgettable experience.”