February 2021 - Issue 8

BOATHOUSE CHATTER

➢ Welcome Welcome to Boathouse Chatter. Boris Johnson’s road map to take the country out of ‘lockdown’ has been published and provides a glimmer of hope that we will be back on the water in the not too Thanks for all the people who have distant future which is great news. The current direction of travel suggests that contributed to the Newsletter. You outdoor sport will be allowed to start again around the 29th March 2021 – just as the have made it a very full and varied weather is starting to improve! At this stage, all government and British issue. It would be great if we could guidance is subject to infection levels continuing to fall and vaccination levels keep the contributions coming in continuing to rise. The Trustees are keeping a close eye on the unfolding guidance and for future issues. Please let us know will send out details of our own return to rowing as we get closer to the end of the your news and what you’re doing month. to get by – stay in touch! Our Annual General Meeting will be held via zoom on Sunday 28th March 2021. Please keep an eye on the email forum and the website forum for regular updates and let us know if you plan to attend by emailing [email protected]. Please send your news to [email protected] by Sunday 21st March 2021. Next The Trustees continue to meet regularly. If you have any queries or concerns, please issue Sunday 28th March 2021 contact Dan directly at [email protected] .

Let’s work together to keep the chatter going…

Robbie Coleman is updating our Twitter account. Follow us on Twitter @PBDRC

DIARY DATES

➢ FRIDAY 25TH JUNE 2021 – DOGGETTS COAT & BADGE (POSTPONED 2020 RACE)

➢ VIRTUAL AGM – SUNDAY 28TH MARCH 2021

1 | P a g e

➢ Notice Board….

➢ COVID watch The ‘jab’ count is rising with the people below joining the ranks of the vaccinated!

John Skelton Philip Skelton Chris Spencer Frank Walker Nick Paul Richie Brown Steve Sale Migsi Helen & Maurice Sara & John B

➢The Bar The bar is currently closed.

➢ Circuits Monday & Wednesday from 5.30pm – contact Bev on [email protected]

➢Competition Time! The Thames looks particularly lovely at the moment. We will all be seeing it during lockdown at different times. Some of us will be working on the river -whilst others will be walking and running by trying to maintain fitness. So we thought it would be good to get as many different images of it as possible. Please send me your pictures of the ‘Thames during lockdown’ and we’ll share the best ones in the next Newsletter. Send via email to [email protected]

➢What’s good about the ‘Lockdown’ We are all frustrated with the Lockdown/(s) and it is difficult to find many positive things that have come out of the time we have spent confined to home and separated from family and friends. However, I am sure there are a few good things that we could share over the next few issues of the Newsletter.

It would be great to hear what you’ve been forced to do differently….. but have actually quite enjoyed or at least have learnt something new in the process. Send your ‘Lockdown Goodies’ via email to [email protected]

2 | P a g e

➢ Tea & cake -Windbags– By Markus Gesmann

With the lockdown continuing we still need little treats after our exercises. This one is for very light and airy little cakes, which you can adapt to your own taste. In Germany they are called ‘Windbags’. It is basically a variant of the French choux bun. This is another ‘essential baking with essential ingredients’ recipe. No fancy ingredients or equipment is required.

Ingredients: 60g unsalted butter 125ml water 125 flour 2 eggs

Place the butter and water into a small saucepan and set on a medium heat. Stir the butter into the water until it is melted. Add the flour and keep stirring. If you have one, it’s best to use a silicone spatula. The mixture will thicken up and will eventually form a ball of dough, which looks a little like mashed potatoes. Set the saucepan aside and let the dough cool down for about 10 minutes until it is only lukewarm.

Now is a good time to switch on the oven and set it to 180 Celsius.

Back to the dough in the saucepan. Beat the eggs together and add them slowly into the cooled down dough. Keep stirring. It will take a few minutes until you have a nice shiny dough again. It should resemble mushed potatoes with a lot of butter. If the dough is too liquid or wet add a little four, or if it is too dry add either a little bit of water or another egg. Whatever you do, be patient and keep stirring, it will come together nicely.

Line a baking tray. Take a tablespoon of dough and use a teaspoon to push it into one small heap on the baking sheet. You will end up with about ten little heaps. Transfer the tray into the hot oven and bake for 30 minutes. The moisture in the dough will create steam, allowing the dough to rise. So, don’t open the oven to check!

Let the buns cool down a little in the oven before you take them out. The cooled buns can be filled with e.g. whipped cream, jam, or a savory filling since the buns don’t contain any sugar. I like the following butter creme:

Ingredients: 1 tsp sugar 4 tsp flour Optional: flavor of choice, e.g. vanilla, Cognac, etc. 125 ml milk 60 gr unsalted butter

Use the same saucepan again and mix together the sugar, flour and milk, plus any additional flavoring. Heat the mixture over a medium & bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring continuously. The liquid will thicken after a little while before it starts to simmer. At this point add the butter. Melt and mix it into the creme. Let the creme cool down before you spread it into the buns. Finally, you can sprinkle some icing sugar over the windbags, or drizzle melted chocolate on top. Voilà, you have profiteroles. Enjoy!

3 | P a g e

➢ Battersea Park – Rasher’s Bond Girls -picture provided by Rasher Skelton

In Issue 6 of Boathouse Chatter we learnt about the events employed to raise funds for the new boat house. One of the events took place over a weekend in Battersea Park and provided people with the opportunity, (for a small fee), to have their picture taken whilst sitting in the Silver Aston Martin used in the James Bond films. This is a picture of ‘Rasher’s Bond Girls’ who were charged with encouraging people to have their photos taken in the car. It was a real family affair… from top left are Rasher’s sister in law Pauline, his sister Barbara and cousin Ann. In the car, on the phone -his wife Mavis. Mavis made the dresses – all in club colours.

➢ Henley -Silver Goblets win 1966….picture provided by Rasher Skelton

The Silver Goblets & Nickalls’ Challenge Cup is an event for men’s coxless pairs held annual at the . It was established in 1850 as the Silver Goblets race, replacing the Silver competition. It became the Silver Goblets & Nickalls competition in 1859 when Tom Nickalls presented the Nickalls Challenge cup to go with the Silver Goblets.

In 1966 Ray Easterly and Jerry McCarthy from PBDRC took on the 1964 Olympic Gold medallists (George Hungerford & Roger Jackson of Canada), in the semi -final and won! Ray & Jerry showed true grit as they came from behind to row through the race favourites. They were eventually beaten in the final by the East German pair of J Lucke & HJ Bothe.

4 | P a g e

➢ Ladies in Lycra – by Richie Brown

Girls rowing at Poplar first occurred when they popped their heads above the gunnel as some girlfriends who decided to come to Putney and have a paddle when their boyfriends were up there training in the ‘60s. This I mentioned elsewhere when replying to Tash’s post who felt that Frank Walker was against female members. Being as his wife-to-be was one of the girls rowing at Putney he was definitely in favour in that instance.

Along with Frank’s future wife Elaine were; Peter Holdeman’s intended Iris, Mickey Lane’s future trouble and strife Kathy, John Skelton’s wife Mavis, her sister Pauline, Barbara Skelton, John’s sister who married one of our stars and a couple of girls I can’t remember who made up an . Needless to say after most of them achieved their dream of marrying an oarsman they retired from the sport to blissful domesticity. Some of that’s true!

Thinking about it now Lycra hadn’t been invented then so I suppose it was not so much Ladies in Lycra more like Ladies in Lurve!!!

This was long before the new boathouse was built as there were no facilities for women available in the original club, and even if there were some would probably have opposed lady members. Remember this was before women’s lib was prevalent and men’s lib was.

So with the new boathouse guess what? No women’s facilities were provided. Only later on in the ‘70s was the committee room made into a ladies changing room with showers built in, most of which I seem to recall was done by Alan Lane who went on to marry one of the girls who took advantage of his hard work. No fool him!

Before this, pioneers like Helen Scott (now Coughlan) along with Pauline Gardner and Sue Read, daughter of Harry and who lived in the flat, were the first to row from the new clubhouse. I seem to remember that they either changed in the flat or used the men’s changing room after we had vacated it with Harry standing guard. This didn’t last very long when Helen met Maurice and Pauline met Milky, (I’m sure there was a film called something like that). About this time Globe had admitted ladies so Sue went over to the dark side and joined them. Traitor!

Women’s membership gathered pace towards the end of the ‘70s and into the ‘80s, coincidentally about the time that I stepped back from having any say in the running of the club..... make of that what you will.

So after about 40 years of skirt where are we? Well, I reckon around half the membership today is of the female form so long may it continue. I think that women’s approach to rowing (and ) is to be admired inasmuch as whilst men seem to get in a boat and try to pull the riggers off the boat with brute strength when they first start rowing, forsaking the finesse needed and gradually learning that strength and fitness only gets you so far, ladies go in the opposite direction and seem to learn how to move the boat first before developing the power needed to increase speed.

We have also seen two girls who joined after a learn to row course, Anne Prestidge and Sara Brewer, deciding to show us what they had learned by rowing across the Atlantic. Getting their money’s worth there for sure! Actually they sculled the high seas as after her learn to row course Sara, along with another girl who’s name escapes me, decided to tame this aspect of the sport when one Sunday morning she asked Nick and myself to take them out in a quad. If we’d known what this mad woman intended to attempt maybe it would have been a kindness to have refused. I say girls but of course Sara became the oldest woman to row the Atlantic on stepping ashore in Antigua. There’s no truth in the rumour that she was one of the youngest when they set off from La Gomera! I jest, what a magnificent achievement. Take a bow Anne and Sara.

Nowadays of course ladies have taken up positions in the management of the club with some becoming officers and trustees. How long before a Lady Captain? Also these days we have girls from all over the world here, some with funny accents (Yorkshire anyone?) and it started with those Cockney girls all those years ago.

Finally it has to be said chaps that Ladies in Lycra look much better in it than their male counterparts!

Regards all Richie (still a woolly shorts man)

5 | P a g e

➢ My Early Years 1980 - 1984….by Chris Spencer

I am now collating the club’s history from 1980 to 1990 to add to the previous memoirs from 1854 to 1980. Below are my memories, although not too detailed from 1980 to 1983. If you wish to contribute, whether in detail or just a few snippets, then please email me at [email protected]

The picture on the left shows the club tops in the 1980s. The picture on the right shows Roger & Chris around 1985.

Growing up in the club during the early 1980s was an education. Training was hard and competitive. Winter training was geared towards peaking for the Scullers Head in March; thereafter the side by side racing season began. Most people would pick their races and would normally work on a two week cycle racing on the second weekend, after reducing the workload of the training just prior to the race.

Basic winter training would consist of possibly a ten mile run on a Monday and Wednesday, followed by a heavy weight session, tapering off to more reps than weight as the Scullers Head approached. This was the era before we had rowing machines. Tuesday and Thursday sessions included a run around Greenwich Park which always turned into a race, followed by a commando circuit at George Green School. The training was so effective that the club attracted members from other clubs who wanted to be part of the sculling group. As a young kid, everyone aspired to improve on their performance, particularly when sculling. Sessions at weekends would normally consist of a long steady-state scull capped at rate twenty four to Tower Bridge or, depending on tides, the newly built Thames Barrier. Due to the fact that the pleasure boats didn’t work during the winter months, the water was normally very good. Martin Spencer would normally organise the sessions with up to 30 scullers racing back to the club. Either Bobby or Martin would be the anchor man starting at the back. Sessions were handicapped so that even the slowest would finish at the club at the same time. As a kid I would possible start first but over time I would gradually move myself back. Everyone aspired to be faster and improve on their positioning the following week. We didn’t know much then about UT1 and UT2 training; sessions were just always flat out and it worked. It all paid off, with Martin Spencer winning the Scullers Head in 1980. Bobby Prentice was always up there too, as were many of the other scullers. In fact ,at around this time the club had over 25 scullers in the top 100 of the Scullers Head, possibly the most of any club in the country.

Club Racing was a key part of the club and taught us to have a competitive edge. The club held about six races each season during the summer months and, bearing in mind that many of the newer members were novices, by the time that they raced and won their novice status most had had the experience of racing many times, something which their novice opponents never had. Many of us learnt how to race from an early age, even if it was to just get a few feet lead from the start of the race or to learn that the feeling of lactate burn was a normal feeling when racing. They were held over about 2000 meters and were invaluable to many of us.

In 1980, the club was in good standing and had an abundance of outstanding athletes as members. Martin had already won the Scullers Head and that year the club also won medals in five events at the National Championships, including our only ever medal in a sweep oared event. The crew was Bobby Prentice, Martin Spencer, Eddie Wells and Dave Nankeville. This was an era when the National Team competed at the championships. It was an event that everyone wanted to win so that they could call themselves National Champions of Great Britain.

1981 was another successful year and training continued in the normal successful format. Billy Hickman won Doggett’s and Simon McCarthy was selected for the Junior World Championships in the quadruple sculls. Roger Spencer rowed in the inaugural Queen Mothers Cup at Henley in a composite crew. Philip Skelton was captain and a group of members fondly known as the “The Footballers” had joined the club the previous year. Billy Blunden was in charge of the George Green sessions and training remained competitive, explosive and hard. I was normally partnered with Barry, Billy’s 15 stone brother when I was aged just 14 or 15. Believe me, he was heavy when training included deep squats and piggy back races. The “Footballers” included Alan Taylor, George Bartlett and Dave Paul and they began to train in an eight. Over the next couple of years they would become very influential members of the club. By 1981 both John Roberts and Colin Seymour had rejoined, having retired from International rowing. Ian Gold who was a former junior international was now training to break into the Marlow based National Sculling team. The club was looking promising as Ian, being only 21, was young enough to be the link for the good juniors who were coming through over the next few years. Even John Dwan was still in his twenties. The club had future potential. However, tragically Ian was killed in a car accident.

6 | P a g e

Gary Annis continued the club’s success in Doggetts by winning the 1982 race. Roger Spencer was now National Junior Champion and he was selected as the Junior Sculler to race at the World Championships in Italy. The picture on the left shows Roger & his dad (coach), leaving for Italy in 1982. He had previously won at Nottingham International, National Schools and was the fastest Briton at Ghent. I won a silver medal in the J16 event at the nationals and was selected to race in a junior for England against France. By this time, the club was still doing well but membership of the top scullers was dwindling. The club continued to enter the Eights Head of the River with its first crew finishing in the top thirty; in fact the club had never failed to finish outside of the top forty.

John Dwan and Fred Burwood raced at the nationals in the Men’s Double scull event winning a bronze medal in 1983. John, Fred and I were joined by Sean Maloney and raced in the Men’s Quad event, narrowly missing out on the bronze medal but we had never sculled together before and three of us sculled hands right over left whilst Sean was left over right. It was a bumpy ride. Possibly, with a bit more practice we could have improved on our placing. It was 1983 and I won the Junior National Championships in single sculls and in doing so broke the British Junior record for both 500 meters and 1000 meters. Despite this accomplishment, I was overlooked for selection for the World Championships but instead was dispatched to Scotland as the England representative at the Home International which I won. Peter Hickman continued the club’s success in Doggetts by beating fellow club mate Timmy Keetch.

1984 saw Martin Spencer become Club Captain but competitive sculling membership was low due to a number of scullers either returning to their clubs, joining other clubs or just retiring. The club was about to enter a new era with an influx of new younger scullers. Over the following few years the club would continue to win medals at the National Championships and have Great Britain representation although the general success of earlier years by so many would never be seen again.

To be continued….. Chris

➢ School life in Lockdown(s)….by Celna Bekker

School life in lockdown(s) has found a new rhythm; we are now fully equipped to teach online, have weekly conversations with parents and children, and even celebrate successes during weekly Zoom assemblies. Home visits and support for those in need of food and essentials have continued and as a school community we have remained closer than ever.

Like so many other schools out there, we have allocated all, but a few of our iPads, laptops and Chromebooks to our families so all children can access learning. Children of key workers and those who are vulnerable have continued to attend school, learning alongside their classmates remotely.

If there is one thing this pandemic has taught me, it is this; humans (regardless of age) adapt. Parents have been brilliant at supporting their children’s learning at home and even 6 year olds have mastered using platforms such as Google Classroom and Zoom.

After the Prime Minister’s announcement last Monday, we are hopeful. We cannot wait for our pupils to fill the corridors and classrooms once again, as there is one missing piece to this puzzle; human contact! Hopefully, we will soon be able to have whole school assemblies in the main hall, we will be able to sing, have playtime as a whole school (not restricted to year group bubbles) and even celebrate our school’s 20th anniversary in September!

For now, we are taking one day at a time, planning our recovery curriculum and preparing the classrooms for Monday 8th March.

7 | P a g e

➢ Lockdown Goodies – by Bernarda Elizondo

When we were children, my parents decided that my brother and I would take piano lessons. To say that we weren’t thrilled would be an understatement, my bro even less than me. But learn to read the notes we did and years later, as he became a father, he decided he would buy a piano, start playing again and of course have his children do the same. Life goes full circle… Whenever I would listen to my brother playing, I thought how nice it would be to do it again, however there were always reasons no to: Not enough space, not enough time, a preference to spend my spare time outdoors, etc. And then along came this last lockdown with our beloved Club closed and rather uninviting winter weather accompanying it. Left with no alternatives to fill my spare time, I finally got myself a digital piano and got started again. It never ceases to amaze me how the things we learn as children never really leave us and how right my father was when he was urging us to play the piano again because “when you have music, you are never alone”

➢ Bewl Bridge Virtual Regatta– by Paddy Boyle

The second Bewl Bridge virtual regatta was well attended by the Club. We had 11 competitors who completed 15 events. A few competed in several events including an erg and a run, doubles and a quad. There were 638 competitors representing 51 clubs, so competition could be expected to be tough - and it was. While we didn’t actually manage to win any of the rowing races, there were some pretty decent times achieved. For 5 of our 8 rowing races we had 2nd or 3rd places.

Eze was top man in both the Masters C erg and run. The winning time at Masters C was pretty quick at 16:38, but Eze managed a respectable 3rd place in a time of 18:17. In a field of 24, this was an impressive result.

Bob was narrowly pipped by 0.1 seconds to finish in 2nd place in a field of 12. He posted an impressive erg time of 18:52:3.

There were strong improvements from the January virtual head with pretty much everyone showing more than a 20 second improvement. Sara had the most improved run at around 44 seconds quicker, with Toby chopping 41 seconds from his January time. All of the running results were in the top 3, with some categories having more competition than others!

Well done to all who entered the February virtual Head and especially well done to those showing great improvement from their January race.

Depending on the news from Boris, we might see Bewl Bridge organize another virtual head in March. Let’s hope that we are back on the water again soon, so no more virtual racing is needed.

February 21 Winning January 21 Total Name Category Time Time Time Position Entered Ezequiel Antar MAS C 8.17.0 16.38.0 18.18.0 3 24 Bob Milligan MAS G 18.52.3 18.52.2 18.56.3 2 12 Paddy Boyle MAS F 20.25.1 18.40.9 20.47.5 11 22 Simon Perriton MAS e 20.28.0 18.09.9 22 33 Anita Newland WMAS D 21.52.0 20.58.8 22.18.0 6 10 Simon & Eze 2 X MAS D 19.22.5 18.40.4 3 6 Bob & Paddy 2 X MAS G 19.38.7 19.21.3 19.51.7 3 5 Bob. Paddy, Simon, Eze 4 X MAS E 19.30.6 18.45.6 3 6 Ezequiel Antar MAS C RUN 20.27.0 20.27.0 1 4 Matt Dixon Ward U23 RUN 21.34.0 19.11.0 20.42.0 3 8 Rita Newland WMAS D RUN 22.31.0 22.31.0 23:.0:0 1 5 Mark Moss MAS B RUN 23.45.0 19.52.0 23:.0:0 2 2 Anita Newland WMAS D RUN 23.52.0 22.31.0 24:.0:0 2 5 Toby Haggith MAS E RUN 28.24.0 28.24.0 29.05.0 1 3 Sara Brewer WMAS G RUN 30.26.0 30.26.0 31.10.0 1 1 John Brewer MAS F RUN 32:.00:5 32:.00:5 1 1

8 | P a g e

➢ Bringing the Boats to Life…. The second of our series of explaining how our boats got their names…

Come On my Son Is a crew boat, currently rigged as a quad. The names is credited to Joyce Curtis - Les Curtis’s wife who used to chant ‘ Come on my son..’ when supporting Les at rowing events. Joyce worked for Waitrose for many years and so when Waitrose donated the boat - it could only be called one thing! A great way to ensure that the memory lives on.

Canary Wharf Is a crew boat, currently rigged as a quad. The Canary Wharf was purchased using funds donated from Canary Wharf – hence its name.

Lee Lee Is a crew boat, currently rigged as a . This is named after a friend of John Roberts whose nickname was ‘Lee Lee’.

Sir David Hardy Is a crew boat, currently rigged as a quad. Sir David Hardy, was a club president who donated funds to the club which were used to purchase the boat. The Sir David Hardy was the third reserve boat for the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

➢ Amsterdam – Seasonal views of the Amstel River in Amsterdam– Nick Paul & Val Lenoel

The weather in the UK has been pretty chilly during February. It also appears to have been icy cold in Amsterdam. Val sent us some pictures of people skating on the Amstel River – where it is more usual to row! This triggered some happy memories for Nick who spent a few days rowing along the River Amstel in 2005. The temperature was a little warmer- but equally stunning views.

The picture on the right shows Nick Paul, Steve Sale & Roger Chastell join forces with some of Phillipe’s German rowing friends to row along the Amstel River in Amsterdam. The picture on the left is a winter version of the Amstel where the ice is strong enough to house speed skaters!

9 | P a g e

➢ Pictures of Thames in lockdown…. Please continue to send in your pictures of the Thames in Lockdown…

➢ Andrea Stock Beautiful sunny, calm Thames & Majestic Tower Bridge

➢ Rita Newland Early morning in Wapping – beautiful sunrise

10 | P a g e

➢ Anita Newland Key workers – barges catching the tide & keeping London moving during Lockdown

Solitary catcher in the early morning mist and breakfast time for the birds at Canary Wharf

11 | P a g e