Category: FCBC Rowing

Boat Club Women’s Captains Harriet Bradnock and Lizzie Knight compiled a Commemorative Programme to commemorate 40 years of women rowing in VIIIs at Fitz, and Tory Roberts (McNeil) and Fiona Miles contributed. I thought it would be a good idea to create a Late 90s Women post in case others want to add their own memories or photos.

Tory Roberts (nee McNeil) was Women’s Captain in 1997. She shared her comments:

I’ve just been able to dig out my old photos so I hope it’s not too late to share memories of women’s rowing at Fitz in the 90s.

The lure of rowing had been, for me, one of the draws of applying to Cambridge in the first place. I had never tried it before. In fact, a smattering of ballet exams and swimming distance badges were the sum total of my sporting achievements as a child, so I am not entirely clear how and why I felt this way – but, sure enough, it came to pass that I fell in love. 

A barefoot and statuesque Sarah Winckless was the first person that greeted my arrival at Fitz as a fresher. A term of novicing ensued, then into the first VIII. The camaraderie, the laughter and the drinking; glorious sun-baked days and late nights on the Cam and Thames at Easter dominate the memories of the years that follow.

1996 May Bumps Women’s 1st VIII

Bow H Jeffries, L Barnard, C Kay Russell, F Miles, E Stokes/L Ardwyn-Jones, J Powell, A Tabor, Str V McNeil, Cox N Maloney

Given my enthusiasm for the social aspect of the club, people, I suspect, rather underestimated my seriousness and ambition for the Women’s boat club when I put myself forward for election as Captain in my final year. Timing, as they say, is everything and momentum for success had been building since my matriculation. 

The Fitzbilli (in homage to the Ferrari logo) appeared on all our kit-with Fitz maroon and silver appearing only on the trim- we (I) thought black looked more menacing- we trained in the run up to all our races identically kitted out at all times.

I instigated the re-brand: new kit and training regimes but the success that ultimately unfolded for us that year is not exclusively mine to claim.  We were blessed with wonderfully dedicated coaches, some brilliant athletes amongst the new intake and enough of us bruised by falling just short in previous seasons to have a steely will not to do so again. Success was also by no means inevitable – although through the bonds we built that year and the faith we had in each other it felt like triumph would be our destiny. 

So, when it wasn’t (a brutal row over on the last day of the Lents) we howled and raged at the injustice of it all. I recall the utter desolation, sobbing on the bank, on that dismal grey day,  with the prospect of finals and a dissertation still ahead. 

1997 Lent Bumps Women’s 1st VIII – 3 bumps and a brutal row over

And then it was, at the Mays. A coming together of everything everyone had worked for; nerve shredding adrenaline and expectation converted to unrivalled euphoria in a matter of minutes – to a riot of colour and noise and Pimms. For that race, that day, that year, and for all the friendships and rowing that followed, I will be forever grateful. 

Thank you.

Fiona Miles adds some photos:

The photo of the man on his own is Tim Fisher-Jeffes, who was our lead coach, along with Nick Maloney and Andy Masters. Rob Friend coxed the boats in Lents and Mays. We had just missed out on blades on the last day of the Lents so it was amazing to win them later that summer- for some of us it was our last chance as we were in third year. I remember that we trained so hard- winning blades was almost as important as gaining our degrees- and the camaraderie and closeness that we developed as a crew is something that it’s never been possible to replicate.

I was Vice-Captain of the women’s squad at the time and Tory McNeil was Women’s Captain.

1997 1st May VIII – Blades

Bow Alex Tabor, Emma Swinnerton, Clare Thornton, Becky Lewis, Alice Thompson, Fiona Miles, Claire Edmondson, Str Tory McNeil Capt, Cox Rob Friend

Coaches Tim Fisher-Jeffes, Andy Masters, Pete Matthews, Nick Maloney

New Billygoat Derek Rutter (2018), keen to acquire a Boat Club Blazer and finding himself preferring the Maroon style, asked me when and why Fitz made the switch from Maroon to White. I am not aware of a later Maroon blazer than that of Adrian Tollet (1972) and I have heard various stories over the years such as

1. All blazers were maroon in the 50s and the white one was introduced as a Henley blazer when FHBC started competing there (but I have seen photos of white blazers from before WWII!).
2. The “1^st May Colour” is actually the crest and that non-1^st May colours can wear the white blazer without the crest.
3. There was a time when the Maroon was a 1^st Lent blazer and the white was a 1^st Mays blazer.

I asked some men who might know:

George Proffitt (1966) was in camp 1 and said: I was under the impression that the Billy 1st eight blazer was always the maroon with grey piping – until that is the college started competing at Henley. Then a white Henley blazer was introduced, and then became the standard for the 1st May crew. I think this change happened around the time John Adams was in the thick of an incredibly successful  rowing career in college and the 1st May eight gained access to the 1st division? Your remarks about earlier photos do tend to scotch this version however.

John Jenner (1954) is also broadly for 1 but mentions crests in a different way to 2: I do not know when Adrian bought his blazer (surely after 1972) but the latest replacement one from Clothier’s was mine a few years ago (5 or 6) and I had the pocket transferred from my old one (which if one looks closely is faded or a different maroon). Before that when Geoff Harrison was elected Billygoats president he had one made via Ryder & Amies.  In the old days R & A blazers were of a lighter maroon colour (as Ken Drake’s), but I have a feeling that Geoff’s is the darker maroon and was in fact made by Clothier. Adrian’s blazer is non-standard as it is trimmed with narrow maroon & grey ribbon (similar to that used for white blazers) as opposed to the usual wide grey ribbon.

In my days there were only Maroon blazers and mostly made by Stuarts (then next door to Fitz House ) who eventually sold out to Clothier who had previously been making them anyway, (for some years after Stuarts moved to Chesterton Road). 1st Lent crews could have the College crest in wool and 1st Mays could have the gold & silver wire crests and I think 2nd Mays could have the woollen ones.

I too have seen a pre-war white blazer with trimming in maroon & grey cross strips. I cannot recall who had it or why it was awarded. As you say the current white blazers where introduced by Ian Codrington and Chris McCann (?) to go to Henley and when Clothiers were making many for all Colleges etc.  The trimming is maroon & Grey longways down the trim as it is (was) very expensive and almost impossible to get the cross trim (Don’t know what its officially called) and I think that colleges have discovered this and changed their design too. when their stocks ran out.

Adrian Tollet (1972) said: Blazer colours have certainly changed over the years. My understanding is this : Blazer colours changed to ALL maroon post war because of post war shortages. This suggests there would have been white blazers pre-war. In my day, the standard was 1st Mays : white with badge, 2nd Mays : maroon with badge, generic : maroon without badge. Since coloured cloth is more of a problem because of the need to match/dye it, common practice changed to : 1st Mays : white with badge, generic : white without badge. 

Ken Drake (1953) adds: My recollection does not differ much from what has already been written. I was under the impression that in my time the 1st May crew was allowed to wear the blazer with gold letters under the crest and 1st Lent crews were allowed to wear it with grey letters – possibly these were the ones referred to by John J as woollen. I deliberately waited until I had rowed in the 1st May crew before getting my FHBC letters added.

When I bought my blazer I did not think to ask everyone where they bought theirs and wrongly assumed they went to R&A. That was the reason I went there. Had I enquired of my fellow oarsmen at the time I would have found out that they went to Stuarts and would undoubtedly have gone there as well. There was no known policy that we should go to one or the other hence the situation I found myself in but obviously having bought it there was no way in which I could afford to buy a Stuart one. As everyone knows it is still the original that I wear when attending Boat Club dinners. The moth holes at one time looked as if my blazer had been decorated with smatterings of white paint but we have stitched up the larger holes so that is no longer as obvious as it once was.

Chris Gill (1965) needs to know the truth: I had always assumed that the maroon blazer was a 2nd Mays blazer and that the white blazer was a 1st Mays one.   The with or without crest variation is not one I’ve ever seen, nor would I know what it meant!

When you have the info, please let me know, so that I can tell the Scouse blighter who burgled my flat in 1969 and nicked my white one, what it’s significance is, as he parades up and down Lime Street in it!

As in so many things, John Adams  (1958) has the full details:

For many years there have been “mature” Billygoats attending Boat Club dinners in maroon blazers while students and some (less mature?) Billygoats have white blazers. Questions are being asked – Why are there two sorts of blazer? When was a change made and why?

When I joined Fitzwilliam House Boat Club in 1958 I recall there being a document which listed the F.H.B.C. Rules. These included a description of the type of blazer a member was entitled to wear. This depended on the highest level of Bumps crew in which he had rowed, Mays rating higher than Lents. (The rules also included the specification of a fine for members turning up late for an outing of, if memory serves, 1s 6d (7.5p) – I am not aware of the fine ever being levied.) The blazer specification in the Boat Club Rules in the fifties as I remember them is as follows

1^st May boat – white or maroon blazer with crest on breast pocket with F.H.B.C (embroidered wire)

2^nd May and 1^st Lent boats – maroon blazer with crest on breast pocket with F.H.B.C (embroidered grey)

3^rd  May and 2^nd Lent boat – maroon blazer with crest on breast pocket

Other boats – maroon blazer without crest.

Note – Until at least 1970 all crests were wire.

Here is a description of the route by which that specification was reached. Though after 1958 there are no records of rules regarding blazers of which I am aware, the story continues as far as the early 1970s up to which time I have good evidence.

1875 to 1908 – grey, then blue, grey again, then red/maroon

The path which the non-collegiate students of the 19^th century had to follow in negotiations with the Non-Collegiate Students Board (a University body) to have sports clubs with a name and with colours was long and tortuous. Details are given in Dr Grave’s ‘Fitzwilliam College Cambridge 1869-1969’.

A Cricket Club and a Boat Club were formed in 1874, and a boat first rowed in the Bumps in 1875. The 1875 uniform of the Boat Club was described as “a grey blazer trimmed with ruby, white straw hat trimmed with grey and ruby striped ribbon”.

These colours were kept for only a year; in 1876 the Boat Club hat was trimmed with orange and blue and the blazer was “blue with orange facings”. The colours for other clubs in the period to 1887 were described as “blue and buff” and whilst there was no Boat Club from 1879 to 1883, presumably when the Club restarted in 1883 it was in blue and buff/orange.

In 1884 the various Fitzwilliam sports clubs were combined (for financial reasons) and after much internal debate on colours it was agreed on 2 June 1887 that ‘red and grey’ would be the colours for all sports. Tailors in Cambridge were asked to quote for the supply of kit in ‘red and grey’ and the quotation accepted by the Fitzwilliam Amalgamated Clubs was from Messrs Charles Dixon of 6 Downing Street and included a “Boating Blazer, grey with grey and red diagonal ribbon”. The price was 16/- (80p) cash or 18/- (90p) credit.

After only three years, in 1890, change again: the Cambridge Review reported that the new blazer “is a red ground bound with grey silk. It was found necessary to do this as the grey ground of the old one went pea green.” So there it is – grey blazers look mouldy when they age! Perhaps that is why they had lasted only for one year when first tried in 1875.

In the revised Rules of the Clubs approved in 1908, the official description of the Boat Club blazer became ‘maroon and grey’.

1909 to 1939 – maroon or white

The earliest meetings of the Boat Club for which minutes have been found were those held in 1921. The record of the October meeting that year includes -“The following order of Colours was fixed :-

1^st May Boat   Blazer (red or white or both) with crest & letters, Scarf, Zephir, Socks & Cap

2^nd May Boat      Red Blazer, with crest & letters, Zephir & Socks

1^st Lent Boat       Red Blazer, with crest only, Zephir & Socks

2^nd ditto               Red Blazer, with pocket only, Zephir & Socks

3^rd ditto                Red Blazer, without pocket, Zephir only

All other members wear white shorts, white zephir and dark coloured socks.”

The above is taken from the Boat Club record of  a meeting of June 1921.

In the above June 1922 photograph of The Prodigals (a Fitzwilliam student club) I K C Bell and O B Pask (in the centre of the back row) are wearing their 1st May Blazers – white, trimmed with diagonal ribbon, presumably in red (maroon) and grey and so the same as the ribbon on the grey blazer of 1884. The blazers certainly look identical to that worn by John Willett (1^st May Boat 1947 & 48) at Bumps Suppers in 1961-62, which was trimmed with maroon and grey diagonal ribbon.

White blazers for 1^st May Boat members were probably around before 1921 – so from 100 or more years ago. They and the red (maroon?) blazers almost certainly were supplied by Ryder & Amies who advertised in every Fitzwilliam Journal at that time that they were “Sole Official makers of Fitzwilliam Society Colours. By Appointment Outfitters to Fitzwilliam House.” (They continued to advertise in Journals until 1974 using a similar wording).

In 1932 the Boat Club Committee discussed uniform again.

The 1st Lent blazer is “red (special shade, kept only by Messrs. Ryder & Amies) bound in grey silk ribbon or grey flannel, with College crest and letters, either wire shield and gold wire letters or silk shield and grey silk letters”, with the 2nd Lent boat missing the letters. The 1st May blazer is “white flannel with red and grey diagonal braid all round edges and across pockets etc. with wire shield and wire letters on pocket”, and the 2nd May again missing the letters

John Adams continues:

In 2013, the FHBC blazer pictured above was offered for sale on e-bay with the description “A 1937 blazer”. Trimmed with grey ribbon, this blazer has lettering F H B C below the crest on the breast pocket in grey – a 2^nd May or 1^st Lent blazer.

1945-1960 – maroon reigns

Fitzwilliam House Boat Club did not function during the war – only a handful of students were in Fitzwilliam. But the Club was restarted in 1945.

John Willet’s is the only white blazer known to have been owned by any member of the Boat Club in the period 1945 to 1960. How and when did he get it? Like several others who matriculated in 1946, John graduated after only two years at Fitzwilliam. It is possible that he had one year at University before the war – Fitzwilliam admitted a number of such men following their being demobbed. But Lt (A) F J Willett, RNVR, who was awarded the D.S.C. in 1945 for service in the Far East, was only 18 when he joined up in 1940.

No doubt clothes rationing, which began in 1941 and continued until March 1949, would have limited the sale of jackets and purchase of a Boat club blazer in that period would have been a great extravagance. From 1949 maroon blazers were worn by increasing numbers of Boat Club members; the blazers acquired by crews in the next ten years were all maroon. Why white fell completely out of fashion is unknown – the “Rules” would still have included provision for 1^st May Boat members to have them. Perhaps all 1st May Boat members who acquired a blazer did so before gaining a place in the 1^st May Boat. If that happened in say, 1949 to 1951, maroon blazers would have been established as the norm and thereafter with no-one around sporting a white blazer, any member setting out to get himself a blazer would have gone for the maroon.

1960-1962 – white returns

At the General Meeting of the Boat Club in June 1960 Robin Mackness was elected Captain and I was elected Secretary. In our first term in post we discussed blazers and Robin declared that the appropriate colour of blazer for a College appearing at Henley was white. (He had rowed there in the RAF crew in the Thames Cup when doing his National Service.) To appear at Henley had been a declared aim for the Club for years so together we went to Ryder & Amies to place our orders.

They had the specification for Fitzwilliam white blazers but though they had not made one for some time they still had the specified grey and maroon diagonal ribbon in stock. But there was a problem. They had only enough ribbon for about one and a half blazers and could not get more. Ribbon of that type was no longer being manufactured. They suggested our blazers be trimmed with longitudinally striped maroon and grey ribbon – with maroon on the outer edge on the lapels and grey on the upper edge on the pockets. And that is what we got.  By the time of the Lents Ian Worthington, one of the two others from the 1960 1^st May Boat who was still in the Club, had also got himself a white blazer.

The above photograph of the 1961 1^st Lent crew shows the three of us in our new blazers.  The sharp-eyed may spot something which I have only just noticed – after 59 years! The blazer which Robin (in the centre) is wearing differs from the other two – it has no crest on the breast pocket. (But the crest is there a few months later – when the May crew photograph was taken – see below).

By Mays 1962 the white blazer was worn by all rowers in the 1^st Boat.

The below photographs of the 1^st May Boats of 1960 to 1962 show the increase over that period of the popularity of the Boat Club blazer, and that being white – three out of nine with none white in 1960 to nine out of nine, eight white in 1962.

 

1st May Crew 1960

1st May Crew 1961

1st May Crew 1962

Post 1962

I believe a maroon blazer was never bought by a member of a 1^st May crew after 1961 but other members of the Club continued to acquire maroon blazers, with crests but no letters, for at least the next ten years.

No written record of any change to the rules which existed in 1958 is known.

–John Adams

As Adrian said, common practice since the mid-70s has been  1st Mays : white with badge, generic : white without badge, however, taking John Adams’ 1958 rules and updating for the change to College status, the latest agreed Boat Club rules for blazers that the Billygoats Society are aware of are:

1^st May boat – white or maroon blazer with crest on breast pocket with F.C.B.C (embroidered wire)

2^nd May and 1^st Lent boats – maroon blazer with crest on breast pocket with F.C.B.C (embroidered grey)

3^rd  May and 2^nd Lent boat – maroon blazer with crest on breast pocket

Other boats – maroon blazer without crest.

So Derek can buy a Maroon blazer if he so chooses, and Chris can head up to Lime Street to enlighten that scouse blighter.

The only time FCBC won at Henley Royal regatta was in the 1970 Visitors’ Challenge Cup. The victorious crew comprised: Stroke – Charles Lowe, 3 – Neville Robertson, 2 – Stephen Kerruish, Bow (steers) – Charles Bennion.

The crew planned to row over the course at this year’s regatta to celebrate the 50th anniversary of this tremendous feat (with Stewart Wallis substituting for Steve Kerruish), but coronavirus put paid to that idea.  As some may know, HRR are planning some YouTube output for broadcast over the Regatta weekend this year and wanted to include the row past anniversaries as a part of this, so they asked the FCBC crew for some photos and reminiscences – “In this connection it would be really helpful if you were able to collate some memories of your regatta week, photographs, video (or cine film!), newspaper reports etc, notes on what crew members have gone on to do in the rowing world etc and, to save us having to check the records, the crew names”. As you know, I am never one to let FCBC rowing memories pass by without a post so here it is.

We have not come up with any photos of the crew racing at Henley but they can be seen in this photo of the 1970 1st May VIII.

Stephen Kerruish had this photo of the 1970 Ladies Plate VIII, with him rowing at 6. He says: The 1970 crew was really good. We won the Head of the Cam, Senior Eights at Cambridge Regatta and were Head of the River. We were knocked out of the Ladies Plate by a Dutch crew who went on to win it, I think. Four of us won the Visitors Cup at Henley Royal Regatta that year.

The crew compiled the below in response to HRR’s request.

Charles Lowe writes: Unfortunately we don’t seem to have any photo of the crew in the final configuration (with me at stroke) but here we are in a different order.

In answer to your question as to what happened next, all of us went on to be the stern four of the Fitzwilliam VIII that rowed over Head of the Mays at Cambridge for the third consecutive year in 1971. We also entered the Light IVs again at Cambridge in Autumn 1970 though lost to the eventual winners (Jesus). The same IV rowed in the Visitors’ at Henley too in 1971 where we got beaten in the semi-finals by the crew that went on to win: UL. According to the official records “Fitzwilliam started at 43 and were still at 40 at the Barrier… Fitzwilliam kept going hard…”. I’ll admit to having no memories of that race at all.

Of the four Visitors’ heats in 1970, I kicked myself afterwards for not memorising the Barrier and Fawley record times as on the Friday, which was an easy race against First & Third Trinity, we were only one second outside the record for both – we could have easily speeded up a bit to chalk up one or two course records at the time.

I went on row for Cambridge in Orio in the summer of 1970, and in Egypt in December 1970. I was elected Secretary of the CUBC in 1970/71 so elected to focus on that (which in those days involved singlehandedly organising all the University rowing events including the Lents and the Mays) and didn’t row in the Blue Boat. I don’t think any of us continued rowing after leaving university, though I did pick it up again in the late 1990s and rowed in various veterans event including Head of the Charles without distinction.

I recall my mother complaining that at prize giving we meekly took our medals and the cup and stepped off the podium, whereas other (as it happens mainly overseas that year) crews stopped and posed for photos with much jubilation. My happiest memory was drinking champagne out of the Visitors Cup itself. Rowing in that four was the height of my rowing experience – we were all good mates, we moved as one, we were very fit, we could go from paddling light to a racing pace in one stroke without the need for anything to be said at all, and our different personalities gelled so well: no other experience approached that level of enjoyment.

Charles Bennion writes: As for memories, I recall that at least 2 of the races were won easily after the competition steered into the barrier. Of all the rowing in the light 4, racing at Henley was the most challenging for steering. On all other races, there would be corners in the river, giving me a chance to navigate using transits on trees and other features when coming out of each corner. With Henley, the river is straight and the only transit was on Temple Island which rapidly became too distant to be helpful. Thank goodness we finished before any of the 6 lane 2,000m dead straight venues were built such as Holme Pierrepoint near Nottingham. But perhaps they have satnav nowadays!

Another memory was prize giving. We were presented with the Cup and then it was immediately taken from us to be returned to some secure vault until the following year. I think Fitz were left with responsibility for paying the insurance premium for the year but I may have made that up!

We were of course living on that leaky but glorious old houseboat on stilts on Rod Eyot. The four of us were also in the Fitz Eight that was competing in the Ladies’ Plate. The records will show but I imagine we were racing twice a day until the 8 was knocked out.

I fully agree with Charles L’s comment that ‘Rowing in that four was the height of my rowing experience – we were all good mates, we moved as one, we were very fit, we could go from paddling light to a racing pace in one stroke without the need for anything to be said at all, and our different personalities gelled so well: no other experience approached that level of enjoyment.’ and as for his magnificent trousers in the photo – I’m speechless!

Charles L remembers the Ladies’: We sadly were beaten on the Wednesday by the ultimate winner of the event, GSR Aegir, Holland by 1 2/3^rd lengths in by far the fastest time of the day (7.02). GSR Aegir’s winning margins in subsequent races were also significantly greater than over us. On the Friday they set a new Regatta record for the competition.

Steve Kerruish writes: Charlie Bennion and I rowed in the 1971 Goldie crew which beat Oxford at Reading Head and were fourth in the Head of the River in 1971, only behind Leander and two Tideway Scullers crews. I coached KCS Wimbledon 1980 to 1989.

Charles L: They also beat Isis that year. Steve went on to get his Blue in 1972, again winning.

Neville Robertson adds: Rowing in this Fitz Visitor Cup IV was the peak of enjoyment of my rowing career, better than the Radley Third eight, better than the Fitzwilliam Head of the River crews over three years, and better even than rowing in the Blue Boat. I felt we were so well attuned to each other in mind and body, so well balanced in strength and stamina, possessing a brilliant steersman, and well supported by a brilliant boatman, George Chapman.  We could have gone on to even greater things, if we had had the luxury of just concentrating on the IV!

Harriet Bradnock and Lizzie Knight, FCBC Women’s Captains 2019-20, have made a commemorative programme to mark 40 years since Fitz women first rowed in the Mays. Harriet said:

It seems somewhat strange to be writing this email rather than giving a speech at BCD, but here we are! As you may (or may not) know, 2020 marks the 40th Anniversary of women rowing at Fitz, and the 30th Anniversary of Mays being rowed in eights. We wanted to celebrate this history and the achievements of the women’s side over the years, and produced a commemorative programme with some highlights! We had planned for it to accompany a successful Bumps campaign, although alas that was not to be.

Nevertheless, the programme is attached here for you to enjoy!

We will be getting some printed copies for anyone who would like one. If you’d like a copy (or two!), please let me know (hfkbradnock@gmail.com) and I’ll put you on the list, and will be back in touch soon! (They’ll probably be a couple of quid each, to cover the postage!)

2020 Commemorative Programme

 

When they saw the Early 80s post, David Stanley and Mike Blogg (who both coached in the early 80s) remembered their 1974 crews.

DS: We (the 1974 May crew) were quite good – got 3 bumps and a row over to go 4th I think. We bumped St Catharine’s first night, rowed over chasing Emmanuel on the second night and bumped them on the third night, and then 1st and 3rd on the last night.

The crew list included Donald Dumbell (Captain of Boats) at Bow, David Reddaway (now Sir) 2, (the late) Matthew Clark 3, Bob Greatorex 4, Chris Henderson 5, Doug Imeson 6, Michael Blogg 7 and David Kitchin at cox, who went on to steer the winning Blue Boat in ‘75 (and, oh yes, is now Lord Kitchin, Justice of the Supreme Court). I was at stroke.

MB: The Mays crew was based on a pretty decent Lent boat, which made two bumps (Emmanuel and Pembroke), moving to sixth in the first division. It included Steve Klingopulos and Dave Curry in the bows but missed Bob Greatorex (who was busy with medical studies, as well as being our finishing coach) and David Stanley, who was equally busy in Goldie, inflicting psychological damage on Isis (and the Cambridge Blue Boat) and doing teaching practice.

Lent 1974

The 1974 1st Lent boat won it’s oars. This photo was behind the Fitz JMA bar for several years. Crew: David Kitchin, Dave Reddaway, Mike Blogg, Doug Imeson, Chris Henderson, Matthew Clark, Donald Dumbell, Steve Klingopulos, Dave Curry. Matthew Clark and Dave Curry also coached in the early 80s.

MB: We also had a mixture of those who had rowed before and a few (Doug, Chris and I) who had learned at Fitz. Doug Imeson moved to St Edmund Hall after graduating in 1974 and rowed for Isis. Messrs Reddaway, Dumbell and Greatorex went on to row for the victorious CULRC crew in the very first lightweight Boat Race at Henley in 1975, but in 1974 they were still mere mortals! David Kitchin, of course, coxed Cambridge to victory in the 1975 Boat Race. I’m sure that Strongley is right about the bumps – he would certainly remember chasing and then catching Emma, as David Sprague, a Cambridge Blue who eventually rowed for GB and is a mate of his, was in that crew and bragging rights were at stake!

DS: Yes, I take the opportunity of asking Sprague at least once a year of who was stroking the college that bumped him on the third night of the ‘74 Mays. Bragging rights have a perpetual nature!

We also represented Cambridge University at the British Universities races at Holme Pierrepont. I think we were a couple of lengths up on University of London somewhere around 1600 metres on our way to gold when Mike crabbed and fell in, so we stopped, backed down and fished him out! [Mike, you must have a copy of that press coverage somewhere!]

MB: At BUSF, at Nottingham, we were winding it up against UCL (representing London) when I got caught in, thought that I could extract it and got ejected from the boat. It all seemed to happen in slow motion and then I was swimming. Fortunately, I only had my own rigger to dodge, as I was at 7. Doug, sitting behind me, said that there was no question of continuing as he was laughing too much. As a result of my disgrace, I was driven back to Cambridge by Tim Shaw in his red sports car!

This was written up by Jim Railton in the Times – he was their rowing correspondent, along with his other duties in Oxford. He knew that I was also captain of swimming as our paths had crossed on the Varsity Games committee earlier in the year, so of course that made it all ‘hysterically funny’.

DS: I think Doug said if he had realised you were going to leave the boat he’d have held on to you! I expect the oar might have done you some serious damage.

We also got to the semi-finals of the Ladies Plate at Henley. I think we beat Oriel Oxford in the quarter final and got a photo of us passing Stewards in Sunday’s Telegraph (I think) a length and a half up, looking splendid!

MB: I have a hard copy of that Sunday Telegraph photo of our ‘majestic’ race against Oriel, one of us against Durham (pretty crushing) and some of us in practice. My father may have taken some snaps of us during the bumps from the Plough, but I may be confusing the years.

At Henley we beat Durham University in our first race. They were living in tents at Henley and it poured every day during the week before the regatta – I suspect they were grateful to be able to leave, go home and get properly dry. Then we beat Oriel on Saturday, but lost in the semi-final later the same day to University College Dublin, who were pretty fast and went on to beat UL in the final on Sunday.

In the official Henley records, it says that “Fitzwilliam won their two races rather more easily than their one length verdict suggests. They led Durham by half a length at the quarter mile, and although Durham attacked incessantly Fitzwilliam never looked like being caught, and gradually increased their advantage to the mile. Against Oriel they gained more quickly and had a length and a half at the three quarter mile. They were then down to 32 and did not answer Oriel’s finishing spurt”. Another photo of this race, taken from the other side (the enclosures), gives a much stronger impression of our dominance.

I recall a bit of Henley colour: we stayed on an island in the middle of the river south of Henley bridge next to Wargrave Road – the house was originally Dame Clara Butt’s houseboat which had been hoisted up onto land – and spent many an hour in the launderette in town drying out our kit after being soaked by the weather in our first week of training. We also went looking for crews to race during our outings and put in an impressive piece against Leander’s cadet crew, holding them off, much to their surprise. Actually, we timed our effort perfectly and wound down just as they seemed likely to start gaining on us.

For what it’s worth, in 1975 we also lost to the eventual winners of the Ladies Plate (UL, coincidently stroked by Sprague), but we were still on an upward curve in terms of Cambridge college rowing and finished second behind LMBC in both the Lents and Mays.

Henley Royal Regatta Ladies’ Plate semi-final 1974 – FCBC v Oriel Oxford, from the back page of the Sunday Telegraph.

This photo (taken from the other side) makes it look even more convincing.

And in practice – heading Lady Margaret in a ‘dabble’.

For the summer, taking in the Mays and Henley, I recall that the crew was coached by David Christie (of Shrewsbury School), Alf Twinn (CUBC boatman), Billygoats and Cambridge Blues Charles Lowe and Chris Gill and finally Tim Shaw (Thames RC), although I would need to find my May Bumps Supper programme to be absolutely sure. This covered a range of coaching styles from traditional to fairly unconventional, but with bags of experience and a lot of hard work thrown in. We (especially Strongley) also fed our own ideas into the mix which probably helped with race planning and adapting to what was happening during races.

As has been mentioned elsewhere, three pages which presumably detailed the 1967-8 year were at some point removed from the Boat Club Record Book. George Proffitt and contemporaries have spent their lockdown time wisely by recreating these records for us. I have added them to the Record Book and post them here.

Fitzwilliam College Boat Club 1967-8

See also  before the headship

 

 

Inspired by the Early 80s post, Iain Reid sent this picture from 1979 for our archive – a very fine crew which contained three Blues!

Ally Jelfs (rowing Blue) was recovering from illness, Dick Tyler was a rugby Blue and M J Savage was a golf Blue.   Roly Beevor was Captain of Boats so must have been in the 3^rd boat because he had been ill too.

 

I hope everyone is well in these difficult times. The coronavirus lockdown has given me the time to dig around in the attic for some photos of the early 1980s FCBC men’s crews. This was a time when women had just arrived so it is nice to also have some photos of women’s crews from Kathryn Ogilvy. I would like to add more to this post so if anyone from that time has photos of other crews please send them and I will add them. In particular, it would be nice to have some more on the women’s crews of the period, and perhaps on the men’s 1st boat in 1979-81 – extensively mentioned in the record book but I have no photos.

Luckily, the FCBC record books have entries for the years 1980-81 and 1981-82, the only entries after 1973, so there are some scanned pages as well as the photos.

I have updated this post with some new additions: BCD menus with crew lists and a press cutting from Doug Webb and photos from Astrid Kopmels. 

1979-80

At the Fresher’s Fair in 1979 I was somehow convinced to try rowing. I think this is the 1st Men’s Novice VIII for Fairbairn’s 1979. Some wayward heads.

I think the crew is Grey Giddens, Doug Webb, Bernard Szczeck (additional z courtesy of Doug’s menu), Pete Phippen, Richard Belger, Tony Geater, Mike Harrison, Dan George, Mike Tucker.

Here is Doug’s menu which does not, in fact, include the above novices or any women.

I remember as well as the Fairbairns and Clare Novices we did a Reading Novice Regatta and I thought it would be handy to go home to South Wales for Christmas straight from there. The bus dropped me miles from the station and I had a very big suitcase (no wheels in those days) so by the time I got on the train I was in a very bad mood.

Phil Bateman-Champain and Alan Ramsden join for this crew which I think is the 1980 Lent 3rd VIII. Heads remain wayward.

Doug’s menu claims 4 is Tony Geater, and includes a women’s VIII, coxed by S Brown (Mr).

This is possibly the May 1980 3rd VIII. At 7 it includes Paul Flood, who was JMA President in my first year.

The menu shows 6 men’s VIIIs and one women’s IV.

1980-81

Though the women arrived in 1979 and were certainly rowing in 1980 and 1981, there is no mention of any women’s rowing in the record book. Perhaps the women’s rowing was separately managed? There are, however, two women mentioned as coxes of men’s crews – Tracy Johnston coxed the 2nd VIII in the Fairbairns and Lents, and Hilary Farnworth coxed the 3rd VIII in the Lents and 2nd VIII in the Mays.

1980 Fairbairns 2nd VIII, crew listed in the record book extracts.

The menu is inaccurate for the above crew, the record book is correct.

and 1981 Lent 2nd VIII

George Chapman the boatman got his picture in the paper following the Lent 2nd VIII crash described here.

Riyad recalled: “for the weigh-in, I drank 5 pints of orange squash, wore two heavy jumpers and my wellies, and held my homemade cox box. No one asked me to divest myself of any kit. Hence, my weighing in at an impressive 8 st. 2 lbs. My racing weight was about 7 st. 10. Ah, the good old days… “

1981-82

Women are now integrated into the Boat Club – at the very beginning of the entry we see that there was now a Women’s Vice Captain – Sally Howes. There were equal numbers of men and women competing in the Fairbairn/novice term and the Lents saw 3 men’s VIII and 2 women’s. Representation was patchy though – the University Fours was men only, and in the Mays there seem to have been 4 men’s VIIIs but only one women’s IV. However, Kathryn’s photos below show evidence of another women’s IV which must have been competing, though perhaps not in the bumps, which I think had limited space for women in those days. At the University level, Sylvia van Kleef was the first Fitz woman to get a Blue, and two other women got into the later stages of trials.

The University Fours were the first races. Just in case it’s not clear from the last line, the Clinker IV lost by 32 secs beaten by Robinson in 7.30, so a time of 8.02, a little quicker than the Shell IV in their fastest heat. Just sayin’.

Here is that University Fours 1981 Clinker IV

Here is the Fairbairns 1981 1st VIII

Women’s 1st Novices in Clare Novices Regatta 1981, coxed by Kathryn.

Lent term

Women’s 2nd Lent VIII 1982, coxed by Kathryn, with Hilary Farnworth (who also coxed a bit) at 2. The crew list in the record book (above) is not complete, but Doug’s menu comes to the rescue.

May term

I believe this is the Women’s 2nd IV May 1982, but there is no crew listed in the record book. Can anyone shed any light?

Kathryn Ogilvy (Spink), Jo Place, Sally Howes, Heather Shepherd, Nicky Rensten. The menu confirms the above 2nd womens IV, and also shows a 3rd IV, but their exploits are not recorded in the record book.

I was not in the 1982 Mays as I contracted “fat hand” from the filthy conditions in the boathouse. I believe a couple of others also succumbed. The  benefits were an Early Warning in my finals and a lot of opioids.

1982-83

1982 Fairbairn Cup and Emmanuel Sprints Winners. The key to our success was short hair, as provided by Bernard The Man, and the coaching of Dave Seddon, whose outing plan was the same every day – paddle down to the P&E, firm to the lock, spin, firm to P&E, spin, firm to the lock, spin, firm to P&E, paddle home.

You will notice I was asleep for most of it.

After the race we sent our captain, Geoffrey Norman Bindley, to complain to Jesus that were were impeded while overtaking Pembroke on the approach to the motorway bridge, and ask for a time reduction. “You don’t need one” he replied through gritted teeth. We had beaten Jesus by 15 seconds, so there was no chance of a repeat of the 1968 result, when Jesus beat Fitz into second place by 2 seconds, after Fitz were given a 3 second penalty for jumping the start.

There was manly naked dancing in the changing room that day, and the singing of the crew song.

The photographer from Eaden Lilley told us this was the traditional method of taking photos of winning boats. I have never seen a similar photo before or since.

Astrid Kopmels arrived in 1982, and she thinks this was her novice boat.

In Lent 1983 several members of the men’s 1st VIII were ill with a virus, so we lost the momentum  of the Fairbairn win and went down 3.

Here’s a posed photo of 1st May & Henley crew 1983

Here is a picture of the Boat Club in summer 1983

We went to Henley 1983, and beat another Cambridge College (possibly Christ’s?) on the Thursday before losing by 1/4 length to Harvard, who won it. The 1/4 length looked good until one checked the times – Harvard had gone 4 lengths up and dropped the rating to about 22. We paddled over the course behind them then went down the enclosure at 40 and very nearly caught them before they realised we were having a go.

More of Astrid’s photos, possibly Lent or May 1983 women’s 1st VIII (or 1984)?

1983-84

Here are some of Astrid’s photos. I think this is the Lent 1984 1st VIII at a head race.

May 1984

Astrid’s picture quiz: who are they, what are they doing and how did they do that?

In 2013 Billygoats Society Secretary Emeritus and Vice President John Adams continued writing about selected entries from the Boat Club record books:

Across the Decades 2013 –  from the Fitzwilliam Boat Club Record Books

The Boat Club Record Books cover the years 1920 to 1982 but there are several gaps, most significantly the years 1973-80. This piece consists mainly of extracts from those books. A search of other records, covering the club’s earliest years, has revealed that 2013 is the hundred-and-thirtieth anniversary of a significant event in its history – the first resurrection of Fitzwilliam Boat Club.

Fitzwilliam students had first rowed in the bumps in 1875 at the bottom of the 3^rd division, the lowest. In the period to 1879, they had mixed results, from four bumps in both Lents and Mays in 1876 to a fall of three places in both Lents and Mays in 1879. There was then no Fitzwilliam boat for several years, the Club having been wound up in the Michaelmas term 1879. In 1883 the Club was reformed and rowed once again in the Lents, starting at the bottom of the river (not under water!) and making one bump. But until 1912 there were periods when there was no Fitzwilliam Boat Club. In the 101 years since then, the only gaps in the life of the Club have been 1915-18 and 1940-45.

Ninety years ago – 1923

For the 1923 Lents the record includes “the second boat, all freshers except two, was very fast, and exhibited remarkable staying powers over the course.”  In the five seat of that boat, weighing 11st 4lb, was one W. W. Williams.

The procedure for getting a place in the Bumps at this time was very different from that now used. In the May term, the record states that the second boat “endeavoured to ‘get on’ but were beaten by Peterhouse II by 1½ secs. The next day Pothouse were, in turn, beaten, and finally the ultimate winners of the G.O. Races failed to bump off the bottom boat.”

Eighty years ago – 1933

Starting second in the 3^rd division of the 1933 Mays, the 1^st VIII bumped three second VIIIs before catching Corpus I at Grassy on the Saturday. “The Club has never before been so high in the 2^nd division, nor has any 1^st May Boat even before gained its oars.” reads the record. Like a number of other entries in the books, this note is inaccurate regarding historic detail. In 1919 the boat had finished in the same position on the river (13^th in Division 2, 28^th overall) and fifty-seven years earlier the 1876 May Boat had also made 4 bumps. But the 1933 result was still a worthy achievement.

Seventy years ago – 1943

No record – no Boat Club. Fitzwilliam had very few students during the war and there was no Boat Club.

Sixty years ago – 1953

In the 1953 Lents, the 1^st VIII made four bumps, two on the Thursday in moving from the 3^rd Division to the 2^nd, whilst the 2^nd VIII went down three places and the 3^rd VIII went down four. The Mays saw the 1^st and 2^nd VIIIs make two bumps.

The 1^st VIII was the first bumps crew for which the Club had obtained the services of Alf Twinn, the CUBC boatman, as coach. (The President and 1^st VIII cox at the time was Brian Skinner who had won a trial cap in 1951.) In the record book it states, “Alf reckoned our oar handles were red hot or ice cold.”

Fifty years ago – 1963

The 1962-3 winter was a cold one and the Cam froze. The spirit and drive within the Club at the time is exemplified by the steps taken to ensure training continued. The record for the term begins “The term presented a great problem initially – the Cam was frozen. Our one and only attempt at an outing was doomed to failure because an ice floe put a hole in the boat [a clinker]. As the first VIII was the only one that really had to get afloat, the captain took us to Earith which has tidal waters. However, after one outing there the river froze!! Finally the VIII went to St Neots where the river was ice free thanks to the Electricity Generating plant up river. All those searchings for water were essential as the VIII had to have water on which to train. There were some changes and it was necessary to let the boat settle down. We rowed for nearly four weeks at St Neots and on the afternoons that we did not go to the Ouse we were put through the rigours of circuit training and weight lifting at Fenners.”

The training bore fruit. Though the Lents were cancelled in the Head of the River Race they “started 43^rd and passed four boats to finish 23^rd overall.”

The crew showed their determination in another way. “The need for a shell VIII in these head races has grown imperative over the last few years – and finally the crew themselves purchased the 1956 CUBC shell. It was launched on 11^th March by Mrs Grave and named Billygoat. It is the first shell the club has owned.”

In the May term, glandular fever removed the secretary from the seven seat in the 1^st VIII until 10 days before the races. The boat was unsettled until he returned but improved thereafter and “had three bumps on the first three nights and on the third night rowed over as sandwich boat in the 1^st Division. This position did not improve on the last night as they could not catch the Selwyn boat ahead.”

At Henley the VIII were beaten by Corpus in the eliminating heats but a last minute decision to enter a IV in the Visitors brought some success – the first ever win by a Fitzwilliam crew at the Regatta. “On the first day they drew and beat Downing easily in 8‑21 in spite of erratic steering. This was an extremely good effort since they had only been in the boat for less than a week, and general inexperience of light fours was prevalent in the crew. On Thursday they met a St Thomas’s Hospital four who beat Billy in 7-44, partly because of unfortunate steering before the booms.”

Forty years ago – 1973

In the 1973 Lents the 1^st VIII bumped Downing and Queens’ to finish in 8^th place in the 1^st Division. “The second VIII consisted of a number of experienced oarsmen with one or two of the better novices and was coached intensively with about five outings a week. They started near the top of the third division. A combination of these facts lead to them getting five bumps (as sandwich boat on Thursday) and thus gaining their oars.”

The record for the Easter term is incomplete. It begins by reporting on the coaching that term and the second paragraph reports “Tim Shaw brought the crew back under control, also working on technique of the whole stroke. The crew settled down and put up some quite good times. Freddie Page coached us” And there the report of 1973 ends at the bottom of a page: the following two sheets have been torn from the book.

These are not the only pages to have been removed: three sheets between the records headed “Henley 1967” and “Year 1968 – 1969” have been cut from the book.  Since two different removal methods have been used, the implication is surely that there have been two who decided to censor the content. One wonders who and why?

There are no more recent records in the Boat Club books but a summary of how the 1^st boats have performed over the decades to date is included below.

Fitzwilliam in the Mays
Snapshots over the decades
	Men’s  1st Boat			Women’s  1st Boat
	Progress in year	Finishing position		Progress in year	Finishing position
		Posn	Div		Posn	Div
2013	-3	13	1	+2	4	2
2003	+1	17	1	+3	9	2
1993	-1	10	1	0	14	2
1983	0	9	1	+6	16*	1
1973	-3	7	1	Fitz women first rowed in the Mays in 1980
1963	+3	1	2
1953	+2	2	3
1943	No Mays boat
1933	+4	2	13
1923	+1	3	2
1913	0	16	2
1903	No Mays boat
1893	+1	15**	2
1883	No Mays boat
*   From 1974 until 1989, women’s Mays were rowed in IVs.  In 1983 there were three divisions, each of 22 crews
**   Prior to 1887 the Lents and Mays were not held as separate events. There were three divisions: only the second and third divisions rowed in the Lents, only the first and second in the Mays.For several years from 1887, in the Mays there were two divisions of 16 boats.