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.
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 BOAT1988
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
The Billygoats supported a group of current rowers to go to Oxford. Novice Captain Daan Timmers reports:
The Oxford trip was a great success! We spent all of Saturday afternoon at the St Edmund Hall Boathouse, rotating through the available rowers with two eights out at any one point.
All boats were mixed colleges and mixed genders, and we ended every session with a short bumps-style race along Boathouse Island. In the meantime the others were getting to know the Teddy Hall rowers while enjoying some food from the barbecue.
In the evening we convened in the college bar and went for dinner and drinks together. Most of us stayed in St Edmund Hall, with spare couches and sleeping bags provided by the Teddy Hall rowers. On Sunday morning, we had brunch in college together and then we set off back to Cambridge. We will be organising a return trip in Cambridge soon, likely next term. I’ve attached some photos.
Thanks again for the Billygoats support.
Women’s Captains Emily and Shannon sent this report on their entries in the Winter Head:
Today marked the first races for the women’s side so we thought we’d give you a little update. We had our W1 and NW1 enter Winter Head. NW1 did really well, with no crashes or crabs, and all very much enjoyed it too! They finished with a time of 14:54.
W1 had a great race, and ended with a time of 10:04.6, coming 8th out of the college women’s first boats. Looking at the Lents starting order, we beat the 5 crews ahead of us and also beat Sidney (chasing us). It’s good to know that we’ve maintained the strong position we ended up in at the end of Mays. The attitude and atmosphere around both the crew and the boathouse was really great too – lovely to see some Billy pride back in action!
Now we’re excitedly looking ahead to Fairbairns, with a step up in our training between now and then and high hopes for a really good race.
Here is a summary of the excellent FCBC results of the May Bumps 2022, with a few historical comments
M1 went up 4 (++++), got their oars, ending 4th in Div 2, the last time M1 went up 4 was in 2007
M2 went up 2 (0++0), ending 14th in Div 3
M3 went up 2 (0,+3,-1,0), ending 5th in Div 5
W1 went up 3 (+++0), ending 8th in Div 1, I believe this is the highest ever position for W1 VIII (W1 IV was 4th in the late ‘80s, but when the women switched to VIIIs in 1990 W1 were in Div 3 – must have been a getting on race)
W2 went up 1 (++0-) ending 5th in Div 4
All crews went up, total result +12.
Well done all!
There is a video of M1’s bump on the last night, perfectly planned to give a great view from Osier Holt, on the Billygoats Group on Facebook.
Successful crews depend more on the athletes than the boats they race in. As well as providing equipment, the Billygoats Society supports athlete development by helping the Boat Club to enter off-Cam races, and with coaching and training camps. This term the Society supported the Boat Club to enter the Head of the River Race and Women’s Head of the River Race, and also to have an Easter training camp at Henley. Captain of Boats Maisie Matthews writes:
On Monday 4th April, 30 members of Fitzwilliam College Boat Club travelled down to Upper Thames Rowing Club for our pre-Mays training camp in Henley-on-Thames. After a sleepy coach journey, and unloading the most densely-packed trailer we’d ever seen, we were ready to get out on the water for our first outing.
Despite anticipating a very wet week, the rain eased up just as we began our first sessions. Our coxes got used to the new stretch of river, using the opportunity to practise using the rudder only on the drive, something which is hard to achieve on the Cam. They also made the most of Tony’s walkie-talkies, not just for in-ear coaching feedback, but also chatting to each other to incite some friendly competition between crews as they chased each other up and down the Thames. Mixing up the crews in each session meant our less experienced rowers were able to learn from those more senior, whilst the seniors had the opportunity to try out new seats in the boat and practice developing their own technical consistency. With six outings across three days, we could really feel the improvements in each session as the crews took on feedback and put the miles in to solidify what they had learned.
We also had the privilege of coaching from FCBC alumni Carole Burton, Ian Hall, Emily Lees and Andre Neto-Bradley. Tony did a great job leading the coaching, cycling back and forth between crews, with the extra support from Billygoats giving each crew further dedicated coaching during their outings, and a new set of eyes on their rowing and coxing. This was really useful for all members of the squad, novice and senior, as they worked hard to impress our alumni coaches and take their insights on board. The breadth of experience at the camp, from those who have been rowing for 60 years to those rowing for only 6 months, really showed us how important it is to dedicate time to coming together as a club, as there is so much we can learn from each other. For a lot of FCBC rowers, this was their first time training outside Cambridge, so for many of them this camp acted as a turning point in terms of cementing their commitment and love for the sport. Crew selection for next term will definitely be a lot more difficult following the progress we’ve seen this week!
As well as the three full 8+ crews going out every day, we were also able to make the most of our small boat flotilla throughout the week, with some of our senior members taking out pairs, doubles, and singles. There was also a chance for some rowers to learn to scull for the first time, using the wider and straighter stretch of water as a slightly less terrifying area to practice than the convoluted Cam. Although we managed to make it through the week with no capsizes, a rower and a cox still both managed to take a dip by walking backwards off the pontoon on Tuesday. Hopefully this is a skill they won’t bring to their training next term, but at least we can say we created some memories.
This was also a brilliant week in terms of our collective bonding as a club. Whilst we normally only cross paths at sleepy 6am outings, this week all crews across both sides were able to spend time together on and off the water. We are very grateful to Carole Burton for accommodating some of us at her house on Monday night, and to Maple the dog for all his support. Those of us staying at the hotel will look back with fond memories of bleary-eyed hash brown consumption and post-training beers – staying in a Wetherspoons was a real cultural experience. Having the whole squad together at UTRC really integrated the crews and strengthened all our friendships with each other, hopefully including the makings of some future captains and committee members.
This camp could not happen without the generous support of the Billygoats and we would like to thank every member for enabling us to have this opportunity – special thank you to Dan George for some late night calls and managerial skills that pulled this all together.
Feedback from some of our rowers on the camp:
“I think the camp really helped us to bond as a crew and get to know people from other crews. I also think the amount of coaching we got was amazing and incredibly helpful. Dedicating a time period simply to rowing really helped everyone to improve.”
“The training camp in Henley was an amazing opportunity to prepare us for a hard term of rowing both physically and mentally. It was great to not only see big improvements in both my own technique and that of others but also to have some quality time to bond as a crew. Bring on Easter Term!”
“It was really good to be able to row on a much less busy river than the Cam so you got to row more consistently and work on technique etc without getting stuck in traffic. Plus for £30 it was very accessible to join, considering all the facilities and staying in a hotel.”
“Training camp was probably one of the most useful things for the squad as a whole because it massively helped with cohesion and brought together all the squads which was really nice to see. Different from the last training camp in Norwich where the men and the women sat on opposite sides of the room! It was an amazing opportunity to try new things too. People could learn to scull, row different sides, row different positions and with different crews. This has been awesome because during term time you don’t get to do that because time is short and stressed, and outings are maximised for bumps training in set crews. It definitely made me feel the love of rowing all over again and I hope it did for others too.”
“As an international student having the opportunity to row at the historic Henley was an amazing and memorable experience. And having the FCBC community support us to do so is just one of the many things that sets studying at Cambridge apart from other institutions. It was also very helpful to have the space and time to really work on my rowing and make some changes. The coaching that we got from our alumni was really insightful and it was great to see that there is a way to be involved in College rowing after I graduate!”
“Even the small opportunities that being away from the Cam provides are invaluable, such as being able to take photos of the whole club in front of Temple Island, or giving the other matched eight that sweet, sweet ‘BOWWWWBAAALLLLL’ as we battle paddle down the whole HRR stretch. I’m sure camp will have inspired the lower boat rowers to try even harder in their training so that they can aim for the top crews, and it will definitely have ensured that FCBC traditions carry on into years to come.”
