It is some years since an O.M. Bluefriars crew has entered a race. This year we have been invited to put a crew in for the 'Plum Pudding Eights', a private race which will take place on Saturday 18th December over the full Head of the River Race course. The total entry is about 25 crews, mostly based on the Tideway; handicappers try to ensure that all crews finish together. (I gather that their efforts sometimes lead to 15 or more crews shooting Barnes Bridge together!) The atmosphere is informal, and re- freshments are provided in Thames R.C. after the races. Please let me know by the end of November if you would like to be in the Bluefriars crew. I will make the selection on 1st December, giving top priority to active oarsmen; next to ex-oarsmen who claim to be reasonably fit; lastly to, the keen but unfit! We will have two or three practice outings in London on the days before the race.
Plans are being made for an Open Day at the river; it is hoped that a large number of O.M. oarsmen will take the opportunity of going afloat in the afternoon. Further details will be published with the O.M. Gazette next Spring.
I will be coaching my twenty-first First VIII in the 1990 season, which seems a good reason for holding a party. All members of 1st VIIIs from 1970 to 1989 have been sent invitations with this News Letter. Other oarsmen may wish to join them on the river at Monkton on O.M. Day in June 1990.
A Boat Club heirloom was found during a tidy-up in the old Bursar's huts. It is a pewter tankark inscribed 'Monkton Combe School 1889. H.G.Rosher (bow), J.M.Targett (2), C.O. Lloyd (3), E. W. Brooke (str), R. B.Coare (cox).'.
One of the two eights built during 1989 in our own workshop has been named The Reverend H. Carpenter, after the founder of the Boat Club and another Tallboys, after the builder of a boat supplied to the school in 1889 by an Oxford boatyard. (See R.D.H.'s History of the Boat Club, page 6).
It has not been the custom to publish Bluefri ars financial accounts, partly because the sums involved have been small, and partly (it must be confessed) because they have not had all the i's dotted and t's crossed in the past. Now that the accounts have been put on a computer, I can offer to show them to any member who would like to see them. Computerisation has brought home to me how very grateful the club should be to all those who subscribe funds. We have helped school rowing far more than ever before; individuals who have needed help to go on expe- ditions have been enabled to take part, and crews at all levels have had entry fees and other expenses covered. A large part of the cost of the expedition to France was paid for by parents of those who went (Bluefriars put about £1,200 into the trip); all other expeditions were paid for entirely by Bluefriars. These trips included the Head of the River Race for three crews; half term rowing in the Summer for two crews; July rowing for 3 crews and August Bank Holiday rowing for a First Four.
Our funds bought a new ergometer, which has turned out to be a very popular training aid; also a large tent and two small ones for use on camping expeditions.
A large quantity of rowing kit is now bought through Bluefriars rather than through the school; the small margin of profit covers ex- penses and goes towards paying for holiday rowing.
A rough breakdown of the accounts is as follows:
INCOME
Standing Orders £1350
Contributions £700
TSB Prize £2000
Small Boats Head £500
Parents (France) £3300
TOTAL £7850
EXPENDITURE
Entry Fees £350
Expeditions £1000
Equipment £1000
France £4500
Printing Newsletter£200
We welcome all supporters of rowing at Monkton; in particular, oarsmen who have recently left school, other OMs, parents of current members of the Boat Club. There is no fixed annual suscription, but many members give an annual donation by Standing Order. Please use the form printed in the middle of this newsletter if you want to start such payments or increase them. Standing Orders made recently range from £5 a year to £100 a year; we are grateful for all of them, and you can be assured that the funds generated are used well and appreciated by current members of the school Boat Club.
Your attention is drawn to the order form in the middle of this newsletter. We normally hold good stocks of the items in the list.
I repeat my annual request for rowing blazers which you will never wear again! Member of 1st and 2nd VIIIs are very grateful for the blazers that have been given to me in recent years for safe keeping. I am always grateful to readers who send in articles for printing in the newsletter. We probably have too much about the 1st VIII, and I would be happy to cut down what is said about them if I could replace it with something more interesting!
I am also grateful for an spare Henley tickets that readers may have; the 1st VIII and their supporters are always grateful for them.
Plans are afoot to take two crews (1st and Colts VIIIs) to France for training during the Easter holidays. It is likley that the venue will be Nantes, which should make travelling easier than it would be to Macon. We will have to wait until crews are selected before making a final decision. Talking of France, I must apologise that Macon has occasonally appeared as Macon in this newsletter!
For the first time, we have included advertisments in the newsletter. Both the School Boat Club and Bluefriars have used the services of all the advertisers, and we can thoroughly recommend them.
Spartan Sports of Malvern supply rowing clothing. The service they have given us during the past two years has been excellent and the quality of the goods supplied has been consistently high.
Wordstream Limited provide an extremely efficient type-setting service, which has enabled us to produce far better Newsletters, for the past three years. The data is prepared by amateurs at school and sent to Wordstream either by electronic mail or on computer disc. The Typeset material is sent back to us by return of post.
The Ralph Allen Press is a very efficient local firm who are are always helpful with printing jobs both large and small. They take the typeset material from Wordstream and turn it into the finished Newsletter.
We recommend these firms without hesitation and hope that some of our readers will find opportunity to employ them. If any reader is connected with a firm which would like to advertise next year, please get in touch with the Editor.