The decade of the 1990's has already seen a very considerable change in schools, and particularly in boarding schools. Many have changed from being all or largely single-sex to being co-educational and many have seen changes in their entry patterns. In addition, the recession has placed financial restraints on all schools. Monkton has been no exception to all of this.

Much of this change has had positive effects, both at Monkton and at other schools, but it has inevitably meant re-evaluation of many areas of Monkton's life, including rowing. Not least because of the importance of rowing to Monkton, a Boat Club Working Party was set up by the Governors with the following terms of reference:

"To recommend the appropriate shape and style for the Boat Club in the future. This to include consideration of management, administration, staffing, numbers and size of boats, sex mix of pupils rowing, equipment (e.g. launches, Land Rover, trailers), boat building and purchase and sale of boats, appropriate competitions in which to partake, the right location for rowing, school time-table, etc."

"To recommend how the Boat Club should be funded. This to include consideration of appropriate budget both for what the Boat Club wishes to do and what a school of Monkton's size can afford, and also possible alternative sources of funding."

Charles Green, a Governor and former banker was asked to chair the working party. His protests of ignorance of rowing seem to have been as a virtue rather than a disadvantage! His only exposure to the sport however was at a significant level. He was responsible for his Bank's sponsorship of the England Eight for the seven years leading up to the Los Angeles Olympics - this brought him into contact with several leading figures in the sport.

The team included two other Governors: Diana Lucas, who is the Governor with particular responsibility for staff liaison, and Professor Michael Keighley, an OM and ex-1st VIII oarsman who chairs the Governors' Strategy Review Committee.

Godfrey Bishop, an oarsman and coach of considerable skill; Ken Gibson, another ex-Ist VIII oarsman and member of Bluefriars; and Anthony Constantinidi, a Junior School parent and an international oarsman. The working party thus brought a range of skills to its deliberations: knowledge of the school from inside and out, and love of and expertise in rowing and an awareness of the importance of the OM and Bluefriars involvement.

And what of the findings? First and foremost, the Working Party endorsed the continuing importance of rowing to the School's life. The rowing tradition, built up so faithfully over many years, was seen as worth preserving and developing, not for sentimental reasons for for very practical ones. Among them were:
- it caters for those who are not gifted ball players
- it generates a high level of fitness
- it generates team spirit
- it accommodates flexibly ranging numbers
- it caters for boys and girls
- it provides competition at a range of skill levels
- it enables the School to make a mark at national level
- it is important to the School's image and marketing.

These advantages were worth preserving and worth accommodating in spite of the relatively high costs and pressures on staffing and time-tabling that are involved.

The recommendation here is that the School should appoint a new Director of Rowing. He or she should be a qualified subject teacher as well as a skilled oarsman or oarswoman with recent high level competitive experience, coaching, administrative and interpersonal skills. He or she would be responsible to the Director of Sport for all aspects of policy and control of rowing including strict adherence to budgetary procedures.

Monkton has been spending significantly more on the sport than schools of comparable size and achievement. the recommendation is that, in current terms, budgets should be held at £35K per annum, which should be affordable and adequate to sustain competitive rowing in the light of a realistic assessment of the School's competitive strength.

The present facilities at Dundas aqueduct should be retained, augmented by a nogotiated storage facility at Saltford for the training of senior crews. Aspects of health and safety at Dundas should be addressed, but boatbuilding, except on an occasional basis specifically approved, should be discontinued. A maintenance capacity is vital and will of course be retained.

The School provides equipment for the sport whereas for most other sports parents bear the cost of e.g. cricket and hockey equipment. It was felt that the introduction of a termly charge for rowing would rectify this imbalance (£25 for Third Form; £35 for Fourth Form and above); this would include the ARA Registration fee where appropriate.

The Land Rover would be brought into the School transport fleet and would be replaced as appropriate - as would trailers which may be in early need of repair.

The recommendations may well involve some reduction in staff, with possible consequences for the coaching strength. This will need to be addressed as a management issue within the School, and will be alleviated when a new Director can be found. The working party also pressed for timetabling flexibility, especially to acknowledge the fact that the 1st VIII may be drawn from more than one year. This too will present management challenges for the school which should be overcome with goodwill on all sides.

The Working Party expressed a warm tribute to the Club for all it had done to augment the school's provision for rowing over the years. It suggests with some temerity that this support might continue, especially to help with keeping the fleet of boats up to date. The School is preparing for a continuing campaign for development generally and in considering how the needs of the Boat Club should be articulated in this respect. A debt of gratitude is owed to the boatbuilder in recent years for anticipating changing needs, with the result that the current fleet is adequate for foreseeable needs - but the ability to continue this facility cannot be sustained, and other ways of dealing with this must be found. The support of Bluefriars has been invaluable over the years; and it is the Working Party's belief and hope that it will have an even greater role in the future.