Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019 GRYPHEN’S NEWSLETTER DOUBLE HEADSHIP SPECIAL

Newnham: Head of both the Lents & Mays – for the first time in Bumps history!

NCBC takes the helm: Our 1st VIII reclaims Headship in the for the first time since 2003.

Having started the 2019 May Bumps second on the river, with Jesus at Head, Newnham W1 lived up to widely tipped expectations and bumped Jesus on the Long Reach on the second day of racing, achieving “double headship” in both the Lents & Mays for the first time in NCBC history. Watch W1's Victory Lap here!

W1 featured on the University's Instagram

“Headships don’t fall easily, and the Jesus women put up a good fight. But the Newnham first boat was absolutely magnificent – they shone with purpose, courage and skill, and executed a simply brilliant bump.”

Dr Emma Mawdsley, Vice-Principal of Newnham Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 1

W1 crew photo, having bumped Jesus W1 Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019

Easter Term 2019 Crews

1st VIII Cox Gemma Claire-Ali Stroke Rebecca Smith 7 Katie Jones (Capt) 6 Nora Masler 5 Adriana Perez-Rotondo 4 Alice Cozens 3 Pippa Dakin 2 Rhiannon Smith (Capt) Bow Ellie Thompson

Coaches: Claudia Catacchio Tim Granger Michael John Gifford

Up 1: Rowed Over, Bumped Jesus W1, Rowed Over x2 at Head of River. 1st VIII with coaches at the Mays 2019 Boat Club Dinner in Hall.

2nd VIII Cox Zoë Cavendish Stroke Karla Boxall 7 Sophie Baldwin 6 Harriet Haysom 5 Jasmine Wells 4 Orla Horan 3 Millie Hopkins 2 Rosanna Barraclough Bow Annie Cipriani

Coach: Jenna Dittmar

Up 3: Bumped Wolfson W1, Bumped Lucy Cavendish W1, Bumped Jesus W2, Rowed Over as highest second VIII on the River. 2nd VIII at the Mays 2019 Boat Club Dinner Drinks Reception.

Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 2 Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019

3rd VIII Cox Catrina Bomford Stroke Stanimira Georgieva 7 Cait Findlay 6 Agnieszka Pająk 5 Helen Eastmond 4 Esme Fowkes 3 Héloïse Dunlop /Lucy Jarman 2 Lucy Walker Bow Alice Bell

Coaches: Charlotte van Coeverden Leah May

Down 1: Bumped by Emmanuel W3, Rowed Over x3 as second highest third VIII on the River. 3rd VIII at the Mays 2019 Boat Club Dinner Drinks Reception.

2018/19 Committee

Captains Katie Jones & Rhiannon Smith

Vice-Captain Karla Boxall

Lower-Boats Capts. Jasmine Wells & Annie Cipriani

Secretary Sitara Bartle

Social Secretaries Zoë Cavendish & Sophie Thorpe

Regatta Secretary Evelyn Svingen NCBC 2018/19 Committee at the Mays 2019 Boat Club Dinner. Treasurer Karla Boxall The 2018/19 NCBC Committee would like to thank the Gryphens Equipment Officer Hannah Jones for their support throughout what’s been a fantastic year for the Development Officer Hannah Jones boatclub. We wish the incoming Committee the best of luck!

IT Officer Sophie Baldwin An archive of NCBC’s previous year’s committees can be found here.

Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 3 Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019

Mays 2019 BCD – Celebrating Newnham’s Year

Dame Carol’s speech On the back of such a successful year, the May’s Boat Club Dinner was the perfect chance to reflect on what being part of NCBC really means. The courageous history of the boatclub serves as inspiration to every member, and during their years for Newnham, each member gives back and themselves becomes part of NCBC's history and achievements.

Dame Carol Black, the current Principal of Newnham, steps down from her role at the end of this academic year, having served as Principal for 7 years.

Her speech at BCD celebrated the “fantastic things” she’s seen us do “whether it’s the thirds, the seconds, or the firsts”, and praised the “total community” NCBC is – “you are a wonderful, wonderful group of women”.

Over the last few years, Dame Carol “I just really want to has led the construction of Newnham’s thank you for being the “Dorothy Garrod” building, with a spirit of Newnham.” rooftop gym containing new rowing Dame Carol Black, machines which she hoped “have Captains, Katie & Rhiannon Principal of Newnham helped”. She ended with a toast to NCBC:

“I just want to raise a glass to every woman who now rows for Newnham, and all those in the past, and to say can we look to the future. To Newnham women!”

Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham

Whole Boat Club at Mays 2019 BCD Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 4 Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019 Further Racing News Henley Women’s Regatta

Newnham W1 joined forces with Fitzwilliam in June to trial for Henley Women’s Regatta. The composite crew put in a great row, coming out just 2.7 secs shy of qualifying for the regatta, and hugely enjoyed their experience of racing on the course!

Easter Term Races Fitz/Newnham composite crew Champs Eights Head 2019 – Newnham W1: Fastest May's 1st boat

City of Spring H2H 2019 – Newnham W2: Fastest May's 2nd boat

W2: outstanding balance!

NCBC race in China NCBC were invited to race in the 2019 Nanjing International University Regatta in China. Rosanna Barraclough (NC 2018), Hele Francis (NC 2011), Yfke Van Dee Heijden (Girton) and Morgan Morrison (Homerton) represented Cambridge in a coxless 4, and placed second in their division!

Newnham has also been invited to race at the World University Rowing Regatta in Xi’an, China, in 2020.

Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 5

Crew at Nanjing, 2019 Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019 From the Archives… 100 Years of Racing

Formally founded on 30th May 1893 as “Newnham College Rowing Society”, for the first 20 years or so of its existence, the boating provided by the Rowing Society was purely for pleasure, with no question of competition, and mainly in pairs and IVs. It wasn’t until 1917 that the Rowing Society formally changed its name to the familiar Newnham College Boat Club – its first act under the governance of its own internally elected Committee.

From 1919, NCBC made rowing in VIIIs its principal activity – still unheard of for women at the time. Having bought NCBC's first eight that year (a wooden, fixed- seat clinker from Trinity), the next step was finding some racing opposition. The obvious choice, for a club representing the women of Cambridge University, was to challenge Oxford to a race. However, in 1919, the Oxford authorities wouldn't permit the race, nor would they when the challenge was repeated in 1920.

Whilst Oxford were not willing to make the step to women racing in VIII's, the London universities were more open to the idea. The London School of Medicine for Women (LSMW) agreed to race Newnham’s W1 (below) over half a mile at the Marlow Regatta. This was the first race between women's college VIIIs in Britain, and below are some fascinating items from the archives which bring this race to life, and the preparation (or lack thereof!) that went in to it.

1919 1st VIII Cox B. Clerke Stroke D. Collier 7 M. Wiseman 6 D. Ellis 5 M. Chrystal 4 D. Lovell 3 J. Angus 2 K. Andrew Bow D. Jenkin

London School of Medicine for Women at Marlow: won by 1.75 lengths. This was the first ever race to be held in Britain between women's college VIIIs. The NCBC 1st VIII in 1919, ready to race against LSMW at Marlow.

Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 6 Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019 Extracts from the Captain's Book*

^ “Easter Term 1919. A fixed seat clinker-eight match had been arranged with the London School of Medicine for June 14th, a practise was begun in earnest. The Trinity eight had been bought, and fixed seats put on it.” ^ June 13th: “Had a short outing at Marlow in the morning, 11:45” “Very much liked boat. Decided that the course for the race to be from the Vicarage to the Bridge. London won the toss & took the Bucks station.” // June 14th: 10:30: “Paddling better, a good & cheery outing. All luck to Newnham this afternoon!"

^ Photo of the NCBC crew rowing on the day of their race against the LSMW at Marlow, the first ever race to be held in Britain between women's college VIIIs. 14th June 1919.

^ June 14th 3.0pm. Race against London School of Medicine. “Very little wind. Fine. Smooth water. Bad start. Splashing & not well together. Took her off at 42. Dropped to 34 in the middle & picked up to 38 for the last fifteen strokes. First half of the course not good. Beginning not hard & finish splashy. Began to draw away from London about half way. Stroke slower, & got together much better. Finished up with quite a good swing & time. Great improvement. Ended 1 ¾ lengths ahead. Reach rather short through whole race.”

^ Race programme belonging to P. Chrystal (presumably Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 7 M. Chrystal in the NCBC crew), signed by both crews on the back. From the Newnham Archives. *Click here to view larger, full-resolution versions of the images. Lent 2019 Newnham College Boat Club Easter 2019

In the following years, NCBC continued to seek races in VIIIs, expanding its opposition to include crews from Marlow Ladies RC, Reading UWRC, King's College London, and University College London. However the increasing focus on racing brought with it concerns for the health of female rowers, both over whether the female body was robust enough for the sport, and on speculation that the act of rowing would damage a women's ability to bear children. Simultaneous issues were being raised over attire, with the oarswomen petitioning to be permitted to discard their gym tunics for more suitable shorts, which were considered to be indecent at the time. Permission was only granted by the Principal once the Captain had rowed around her office on a footstool to demonstrate the suitability of the shorts!

In addition to the new shorts, in 1925 the gryphen's head from the College's arms was chosen to be the emblem of NCBC, embroidered on blazer pockets and emblazoned on trophy blades. The gryphen remains the symbol of NCBC to this day, and is the reason the alumnae of the Club are collectively known as “The Gryphens”.

In the eight years following the end of the First World War, NCBC broke the mould of women's rowing by choosing to race in VIIIs. Furthermore, it had not only raced but beaten other university VIIIs. All that remained was to race Oxford. The story continues on the History page on NCBC’s website...

Many thanks to Hayley McDermott (NC 2012) for writing the History page on the NCBC website, on which this article is based. For further information, refer also to the excellent book "From Newnham College Boat Club to CUWBC” by Iris Winifred Preston. Looking Ahead: 2020

W1 – 1st on River – campaign to maintain Headship! – being chased by Jesus W1

W2 – 16th in Division 2 (4th highest W2) – chasing Corpus W1, being chased by Queens’ W2

W3 – 13th in Division 3 (2nd highest W3) – chasing Murray Edwards W2, being chased by King’s W2

Gryphens will receive an invitation to the Lents Boat Club Dinner, please RSVP by the deadline if you wish to DATES TO SAVE come to what will hopefully be a very enjoyable BCD! 5/6 December 2019 – Fairbairn Cup* *Invitation to race in the Gryphen’s Boat will be 3 to 7 March 2020 – Lent Bumps sent to all NCBC alumnae in Michaelmas Term!

Hannah Jones, Development Sec 2018/19 8