October to December
The beginning of October brought a most encouraging new entry to the Boat Club. There were a number of oarsmen from school first boats as well as several experienced ones from Camridge. Persuading some of these Cambridge men to continue rowing has been a long job and so when training began we were only able to put one Senior IV on the water. Apart from this we had two Junior VIIIs and a Junior IV.
Training Programme
Training for the United Hospitals Winter Regatta began immediately; Mr C Hudson took over the Senior IV while Mr J Currie and A B Ayers looked after the first Junior VIII. G Libby took the second Junior VIII and Mr P Brass the Junior IV. We had some ten keen novice oarsmen who have so far had a poor time of it. This is due to the fact that demand for tub-pairs and fours at Chiswick becomes greater every year, and it proved impossible at times to get all the novices on the water during the short times when we had the boats allocated to us. On top of this, there was the fact that there was no one available to concentrate on coaching these men, and so P Cheetham and JK Anderson had to coach whenever they were not rowing themselves. In spite of this, we produced two novice fours for the regatta.
The Senior IV went out three and sometimes four times a week while the other boats were only able to manage Wednesday and Saturday outings. Fortunately, we were blessed with some very pleasant weather in October and it was not until near the regatta that the towpath took on its grim winter look and life started to become unpleasant for us coaches.
During the six weeks before the regatta it was very encourageing to see people turing up for the two weight training sessions every week. Although a few found the weights somewhat prohibitive at first, it was good to see bodies slowly knocked into shape after the months of summer idleness.
By the middle of November the Senior IV, having had stroke and two changed over after about four weeks of rowing, was not looking the best Senior IV that we have produced in recent years. The Junior VIIIs were both lacking something; the "A" VIII the ability to really apply the strength that they had gained during the past month and a half, and the "B" VII the gift of all turing up to Chiswick on the same day at the same time!
The Regatta
Bart's chances in the regatta may not have looked so promising, but by the end of the day it was clear that this was the best the hospital had done for at least twelve years. We were entered in seven of the nine events; of these we reached five of the finals and won three of them, including the two principal events - the Senior IV and the Junior VIII.
A scratch Senior IV was eneterd, but lost in the first round to a reasonably fit St. Mary's crew. This boat met our other four on the semi-final and with the imperturable stroking of J Martin St Mary's were beaten by them. In the final Bart's were able to get revenge on St. Thomas's who have beaten our Senior IV several times in recent years by some very close margins. Our thanks to W Garson for staying in England to row for us, when he could have retired to warmer parts for a well deserved post-finals holiday; also to Mr MC Stallard for sparing the time as this year he is captain of London University BC. Mr C Hudson, who faithfully coached them, was rewarded by seeing the first Bart's win in the event since he rowed in it in 1953!
In the Junior VIIIs the "A" eight had three races, the first against the Royal Veterinary College, the second against Westminster and the final against Guy's. In each race they were up by half a length to a length within the first half minute, showing that they had a start that none of the crew knew existed! After this there was little trouble and the weight-training that most of the crew had diligently followed was rewarded by two to three length wins in each race. Bart's B unfortuntely went out to Guy's in the semi-final.
The Junior IV beat London and then were faced with a strong Guy's four in the semi-final who later won the event.
In the Novice Ivs the B crew, with the aid of one opponant scratching and another being disqualified, were able to reach the final in which there were three boats. One of these sank and so Bart's came in a good second. The A four were knocked out in the first round. There is some good material here and several are over thirteen stone, so that with training in the novice eight next year we should be able to produce some good men for future first eights.
The small boat events we competed in were the Senior Sculls, Pairs and Double Sculls and we were in the finals of two of these. In the senior sculls TM O'Carroll did extremely well, beating last year's winner easily and finding little trouble in beating the Guy's sculler in the final. AB Ayers and PC Cobbs reached the final of the Double Sculls by beating St. Thomas' in the first round, only to be faced with an experienced St. Mary's pair in the final. Even so, they put up a creditable performance and had they managed a few more outings they could well have won. A Crowther and D Parr would have reached the finals of the Pairs had they not allowed an experienced St. Mary's pair to push them out of the stream, as they led over most of the course.
The day was a most encouraging start to the year. The last few weeks of the term were spent in trials for first and second eights, these will be finished by the beginning of January and the crews will stay together until the end of the summer term. Only by doing this can we hope to have any real success in the Bumps and summer regattas.
The Annual Dinner was held in the Charterhouse Grill the day afetr the regatta. This proved a success but next year we hope to be able to announce the date earlier so that more past members of the club will be encouraged to come.
In the University Winter Eights we only had one crew entered and this was our B Junior eight in the Novice division. Unfortunately they met the Guy's crew in the first round who had beaten them a week previously and who went on to win the event.
At the AGM of the United Hospitals' Boat Club, AB Ayers was elected Captain and J Martin secretary for 1965-66.
As well as MC Stallard we have three others taking part in trials for the University crews. This of course is a loss to the club, but even so we a forming what could well be a very good first crew for 1966.
It was dissappointing to see very few Bart's supporters at the UH Regatta, especially as we did so well. I sincerely hope that there will be far better support at the Head of the River Race, and even more important, the Hospital Bumping Races in May. It is most encouraging for crews to have support from the bank, and if you really find the winter weather too much, then a few summer evenings by the river at Kew can be very pleasant indeed.
Crews competeing in the UH Winter Regatta:
Senior IVsA: W Garson, RH Bentall, MC Stallard, J Martin (str) B: D Parr, A Crowther, PC Cobb, AB Ayers
Junior IV: P Lageard, a Roderick, C Sykes, R Franks, J Barrett (cox)
Novice Ivs A: J Shaw, R Rayner, M Williams, S Whitehouse, A Boon (cox) B: G Kidd, R Hodson, J Sorrell, D Stringer, G Radcliffe (cox)
Junior VIIIs A: M Castleden, I Stephen, D Davies, P Cheetham, JR Boston, JK Anderson, M Simmons, P Carey, J Winner (cox) B: S Whiting, E Walsh, R Hayward, PG Houlton, J Baker, R Rodgers, J Blake-James, RA Williams, P Smyth (cox)
Pair: D Parr, A Crowther
Double Sculls: AB Ayers, PC Cobb
Senior Sculls: TM O'Carroll
Boat Club Ball
The Boat Club Ball will be held on Thursday, February 24th at College Hall. Double Tickets 35/-, available from:
A. Roderick, Abernethian Room, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, EC1
On the evening of Thursday the 24th February, the walls and floors of College Hall once again throbbed and groaned to the pattering of many hundreds of tiny feet. Another Boat Club Ball was in session. The chief source of barotrauma was the Hobs Kin, who provided an adequate beat in the recreation room. Next door a fair assortment of 'eats' awaited the hungrey ones, ranging from rolls with mystery centres to vast (and tasteless) meringues. For those who could take so much and no more, sounds of a more subtle nature were available from the New Magnolia Jazz Band, who were enthroned in the main dining room. Both bands were well patronised. Later on everything stopped for a cabaret given by the Bonzo Doggs Doo-Dah Band. Anyone who expected something unusual from this title got it in full measure. Between odd prancings and explosions, some more than reasonable musicianship could be heard, despite microphone difficulties - or was that deliberate too? A similar sort of sound might be achieved by listening to Mozart ona building site with one's head immersed in water.
Like the Rugger Club Ball, this event is a now a very welcome and necessary part of the social landscape.
S.A.R
January to March
By the middle of January the 1st and 2nd VIIIs were settled and proceeded to go out on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the 1st VIII unchanged and the 2nd VIII witha few alterations.
J. Currie and R. Nicholson coached the 1st VIII and P. Brass, J. Gordon, G. Hayter and M. Kettlewell the 2nd VIII, we are all most grateful for the help they have given. The 2nd VIII met with disaster in February when their boat was irreparably damaged ina collision with Thames Tradesmen, since when they have had to borrow a clinker boat from the University.
The novice eight improved greatly under the dedicated coaching of Brian Ayers, but were foiled by ill health during march
University of London Head, March 5th
1st Vii started 21 - finished 3
Barts were not enetered for this event last year and so started near the bottom of the order amongst the new entries. It was rowed from Mortlake to Putney - 4.5 miles.
This was the first time the crew had been over the whole course although we had done similar distances furthur upstream. After a good start we quickly settled into a rating of 30 and by Barnes Bridge we were coming up fast on Westminster Hospital. Between Barnes and Chiswick Eyot, we overtook three boats, but this left us witha long gap to the next. This was unfortunate as a crew alongside gives tremendous encouragement ina racve of this length. However, soon after the mile post we passed another and by London RC we were nearly up with 16, but just failed to catch them before the finish.
We finished third and this gave the crew a great boost, especially as the next hospital, Guy's were 42 seconds behind.
Reading Head, March 12th
1st VIII started 139 - finished 57
2nd VIII started 145 - finished 140
Once again we were placed low down in the starting order as we didi not enter last year. The weather for Reading Head is notoriously bad but this year the authorities could not have picked a better day.
After the usual wait of an hour and a half above the start the 1st VIII came down to the starting line on fairly smooth water with a light following wind. Martin took the crew off at 36 which dropped to 32 after the first minute and a half. Before the mile post we had overtaken crew 138, the Royal Dental Hospital. The next crew was some ten lengths ahead and so we rowed the rest of the course with little opposition as Vesta, the crew behind, gave us no trouble. Only as we came to Caversham Bridge did we come right up with the next crew. We went over the three and a half mile course at 32 but when the rating went up over the last half mile it had little effect. In many ways the row was dissappointing as we had hoped to finish far higher than we did and the time of 15mins 19secs although leading the London colleges only brought us up to 57th in the final placings.
The 2nd VIII had a little fracas with the one crew that passed them but apart from that had a good row and moved up five places.
Tideway Head, March 19th
1st VIII started 193 finished 48
2nd VIII started 254 finished 252
3rd VIII started 325 finished 323
Before the race there was a desperate rush by everyone to get "Bertie" in order again afetr months of disuse. Even then, the 3rd VIII only just managed to get on the water in time after the last minute appearance of their stroke!
This race is rowed over the boat race course from Mortlake to Putney, with boats starting at 10sec intervals.
The 1st VIII went off at 36 dropping to 32 in the third minute which was maintained over the whole course. Soon after Barnes Bridge we overtook two crews and shortly afterwards four more in quick succession. By Hammersmith Pier we were left in our usual position of having to chase a crew a long way ahead. We had become used to rowing in a vacuum after the other Heads and managed to come within a few lengths of the next crew by the finish. Despite this lack of opposition over the last two miles we came 49th, and being the first Junior crew we won the Junior Pennant. This, I believe, is the highest Bart's has ever come in this race and when we saw some of the crews we had beaten it made us view the timing at Reading witha little scepticism.
The 2nd VIII, in a clinker boat, rowed well and passed one crew coming 252nd, gaining two places.
The 3rd VIII had an enjoyable outing! After a steady row from Mortlake they pulled the boat up at Putney, and after emptying it of water they refreshed themslves at the London RC before paddling back to Chiswick in the dark. John Merrill kept up the morale of the crew by leading them in song on the journey home.
The Crews:
1st VIII: G. Libby (Bow), R. Bentall, G. Lamberty, P. Cheetham, B. Cutler, K. Anderson, C. Cobb, J. Martin (stroke), J. Winner.
2nd VIII: I. Stephen (Bow), A. Roderick, R. Hayward, R. Williams, M. Simmons, M. Hinds-Howell, P. Houlton, R. Franks (stroke), J. Hollingshead.
3rd VIII: A. Boon (Bow), R. Rayner, J. Shaw, J. Merrill, J. Blake-James, A. Whitehouse, M. Williams, P. Smyth (stroke), G. Lodge.
Events in May
11th,12th,13th United Hospitals Bumping Races, Sat 14th London University Allom Cup Regatta at Chiswick, Sat 21st Chiswick Regatta.
Keith Anderson