Thank you for your kind words and welcome. I have been part of the sport of rowing for nearly 40 years (which makes me almost geriatric, I know), and it has been a great privilege to be a member of this club for 28 of them. I don't want to concentrate on reminiscences tonight - perhaps there will be an opportunity for those at another time. We are all involved in rowing here and now, so I am going to share some ideas with you about what rowing is all about, and what makes it something of value.
It is certainly one of the best ways of maintaining fitness and health. School children are expected to exercise, and those who do so enthusiastically tend to be the ones who go on to later life as fitter people. All of us, and I include myself, ought to spend time regularly taking rigorous physical exercise. Some of you set a fine example, and train hard. Your health and quality of life are improved by this training, and you should stick to it far more regularly than some of us do. But this can be achieved by many sports, and I would not claim a unique place for rowing, though it is one of the best, and you can take part in it long after your days of competition are over.
You may have read recently that the Government came up with the idea that team games were rather a good thing after all, and that teachers should all be willing and able to supervise (their word) at least two team sports. Supervision has a place in the work of coaches, captains, coxes, but you will not gain many of the benefits of a team game if you are merely supervising or being supervised. One of the strengths of the sport we are talking about is that all of us involved in a club or a crew are part of the enterprise, and we go far beyond the supervisor-supervised relationship and way of working.
A reason which I will dismiss in one sentence is that rowing, like other sports, is a way of occupying people - the implication being that it helps to use up energy and time and keep us out of trouble. It does, but the motives sound negative to me.
Another reason for rowing is that it is fun. This should certainly be the starting point. Splashing about in boats has a fascination for many and there is no harm in this. Perhaps later on, this part of the sport changes into a more mature recreation. I know that many senior oarsmen enjoy their time at the river because it enables them to cast other cares of life to one side for a while. Speaking for myself, there have been many occasions on which I have popped my head round the Head Master's door or his secretary's and said that "I'm off to the river" - perhaps to coach, but also to re-charge batteries and come hack refreshed. A 1st VIII oarsmen told me the other day that his time at the river enabled him to work properly at school, and a 1st VIII oarswoman said the same. Rowing is but one of many good recreations - many people garden, go for walks, go and play the piano. I hope all of us find activities like this because we will be happier people for them. I have to say that there is sometimes an air of lethargy about at MCS. Of course there is a time for relaxing and doing nothing in particular, and I would not argue against that, but it is a pity that some of us who renew ourselves by activities we enjoy find that we are the subjects of mockery or antagonism. Stick to what you are doing, enjoy it, and encourage others to enjoy their recreation as well.
A more positive reason for rowing is that it is an activity in which one can aim for excellence - and I do not just mean speed and winning. We train for weeks on end and these outings are important to us. For long periods we are looking for good technique rather than ham-fisted speed. A musician has similar aims. Technical skill is worth achieving in its own right, and this is a valuable aspect of rowing. Girls may not be as strong as boys, but they often have more technical aptitude, and their boats can move just as beautifully as the boys'. The younger you are when you start, the better. I was delighted that one of our J13 scullers won a prize at Pangbourne for watermanship last month. My advice to the youngest here, and other boys and girls who should be starting rowing at the age of 10 or 11, is to get on the water, and your playing about in boats will be transformed into technical skill much more easily than when you are older.
Then of course, it is good to race and to win. That is one of the thrills shared by sports in general, and any of you who play any other game will know what it means. Rowing folk will claim a special place for rowing success, but standing back from our sport, we must admit that there is a sense of achievement whether you win a cricket match or a game of chess, solve a mathematical problem or delight an audience at a concert by professional playing of an instrument. But I must add a comment about these victories and losses in sport. There is a temptation to pigeon-hole sports results into two simple holes Win and Lose. (I think cricket have a draw as well, but cricketers talk of winning draws and losing draws!) I have seen a tendency to categorise rowing results in this way, and whilst I can understand why it is done, there is a little danger in it. We must take care that the public impression given by our reaction to wins and losses is a true reflection of what has really happened.
The 1st VIII beat Shrewsbury II at their regatta and lost to Shrewsbury I. The better race, and the one they will remember is the one they lost. The Girls VIII lost two over half term, but they learnt a great deal about what rowing is about, and came away from those regattas with their eyes opened wider than before. They have already gone on from there to more serious training, and next year they could compete at a much higher level. The J16 girls won the first ever MCSBC WJ16 event at Saltford. A Novice win is always a thrill, and one would not want to take that away from them. They assure me that they would have won anyway, and that their victory did not depend on the opposition veering into the bank. Similarly the recent J14 win was only the first of what I hope will be many of increasing worth.
I must mention three recent races here. The J15 VIII had an outstanding row at Nottingham in their final, and they must have realised that they had taken a great leap forward in their rowing career. It was of far greater significance than their event win at Monmouth, encouraging though that was.
Then the 1st VIII. At Nottingham they rowed magnificently. After the race, their coach summed it up, and I congratulated them as well. I remember making some comments earlier in the season about something after which I overheard some of the crew discussing what I had said. Their conclusion was that they would wait for BSM's comments for a definitive verdict on their performance. At Nottingham he gave it very briefly " You rowed well; you raced hard; you are a Henley class crew". He was right.
At Hereford, the crew had a tough race, made tougher because of a sick man on board, and they had to row with the greatest commitment and discipline to achieve the victory they gained. This commitment and discipline had been built up over weeks and months by the coach, the captain and by every man in that crew working together. That race goes on my short list of Monkton's Great Races.
Here we are getting somewhere near the strengths and values of the sport we are celebrating tonight.
For a small number, the very highest honours are sought. Here, over the years, there have been a few oarsmen for who have been given the talent to go to the top. We ought as a school and as a club to encourage that talent perhaps more than we do. It does mean a narrowing of interest, but if some of us are not allowed to become deep and narrow, these talents cannot be developed - and progress through life has a lot to do with developing talents. I must mention John Clark here. He has chosen to develop his athletic talents in a different discipline, but I am sure you will all join me in wishing him all the best as he strives for success.
Another talented sportsman is Jeremy Hepworth, who was Captain here a few years ago. He has already won a medal at Henley, and is now well on the way to representing his country in our sport. 1 spoke to him earlier this week, and wished him success during trials and important races this week-end in London.
High standards are expected and encouraged. I was talking with the owners of one of the hotels where the crews stayed at Nottingham, and they said that it was always a pleasure to welcome rowing people and canoeists into their hotel. These sportsmen were invariably polite and good guests. Other sports were mentioned, (and I will not repeat their names here) : one made generally poor guests, another was worse, and another was not welcome at all.
It saddens me when members of our own sport do not think high standards are important. You may have read of my dismay at the false starts coached into a crew last year by a former member of this club. We have now talked it through over dinner, and all is well between us. But the same club under a different coach did another false start against the 1st VIII last week-end, so they can expect another broadside from me soon. I saw about 50 starts at Nottingham where I saw only one false start, and was a starter for about 7 hours at Monmouth and Hereford, where one crew, the University of Westminster, attempted to cheat. The crew at Nottingham had no sympathy from the starter, John Millbourn, who taught here for a while, and the university crew had similar treatment from me.
We look for high standards. At first they have to be imposed from above, but they are strongest when imposed by the individual, as they have to be during a race, and ultimately in life in general.
When young oarsmen start rowing, they must depend on their coaches, their club, their captain, and other more experienced folk to help them along. They must be lead. But it does not take long in the structure of our sport for them to start working together as a unit. It is only then that they will begin to benefit fully from taking part. Let me give you a few instances of real successes in the club this term:
At the National Schools Regatta, I was coaching the J15 VIII. Some crews in the past have spoilt their chances of success and damaged their reputation by sitting up late watching TV when they should have been asleep. This year, I was totally confident that the crew would take their training seriously, and it was the Captain of the crew rather than the coach who decided when they should go to bed and the crew naturally did. Similarly, the 1st VIII chose collectively and individually not to drink alcohol in the weeks leading up to last week-end. (There is no need to point out later that one of them had a drink as a guest of his housemaster during that time.) These may sound trivial matters, but this transfer of responsibility to the individual has to be a real one. Of course, sometimes crews and individuals let the side down. There have to be hard words, but provided those involved have built up the right working relationship, problems can be put to one side and fences are quickly mended. The idea of a fence is not really a good analogy, because there Carl be no fences between the various participants of our sport. What I mean is that if the foundations are strong, the structure can withstand occasional misunderstandings and disappointments. Crews certainly have problems, and they are often sorted out by talking them through together, openly and honestly, Crew teas, creew talks, and perhaps even this dinner may seem extravagances to outsiders, but we often find ouselves coming out of difficulties stronger than when we went into them when we know each other well enough to talk without having to put up a front. As we all know a meal taken together is a good way of building up friendships. Many problems almost sort themselves out if we sit down at the same table.
This Boat Club dinner has been part of our tradition for many many years, and it is an important one. We are used to meals taken together in our families, with friends or, for some, at the Lord's table. These meals are visible signs of friendship. It is no coincidence that marriages are followed by meals for the friends of the bride and groom, and this seems an appropriate opportunity to give this club's very best wishes to Michael Cuthbertson and Dawn and to Lindsey Reynolds and Karen.
Another success - a member of the 2nd IV, making quite certain that others had sandwiches before he had his own; the whole of the MCS team at Wallingford, sitting under a tree watching one of our crews racing, and urging them on as a club. Genuine and unstinting support for each other at the river, in the tedious jobs that have to be done - like loading boats - and worse, unloading them - sweeping the steps after the cows have been past, and so on.
Leadership. We all have our places in the whole picture, but a Captain has a special responsibility. This year's captain, like nearly all his predecessors, has had a profound influence on his crew and has actively helped the rest of the club. I have no hesitation in congratulating him on a job being well done. He has by quiet encouragement, commitment and sportsmanship, been an example worth following, and he has been a fine ambassador for our club and our school. It has been a privilege to work with him this year. Others lead as well, and some of their success can be seen from outside the enterprise. I have been lucky to see the work of some at close quarters this year. Strokes, coxes, coaches are all in leading positions, and their influence is crucial. But our sport is one where we all play our part,
Now we have our critics. It all takes too much time, they say. It takes over our lives, we become obsessed by it. These are harsh thoughts, and I know that the way they are sometimes expressed to you gives you what is known here as 'grief'. We all need goals and ambitions, and any that can be achieved without personal inconvenience are not to my mind worth very much. Worse still to have no particular goals or ambitions at all. I have heard of an exam candidate who reckoned that he could do no work for many months, and then just swat up the subject the night before the exam. He got an A, so I suppose he goes in the 'Wins' pigeon hole and he lifts his school higher in the league table, but I'm not convinced he had achieved anything of real value.
If rowing is one of your 'things', then by all means it must be important. You will lose a certain amount of personal freedom if you take part - training is not easy; some of us like our hair longer than others; some have been known to like it shorter - isn't life difficult! But our loss of personal freedom is more than made up by the huge benefits of taking part in a worthwhile activity. Rowing is not the only undertaking of value that we pursue, and other people have different interests. I hope that we do not 'give grief' to those who enthuse about other activities. But I would not listen to siren voices who represent apathy. Above all, it will help not only your club, but the wider Monkton if we can encourage each other in our various enthusiasms. If one part of Monkton suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part should rejoice with it.
In the same way, in a school like Monkton, we do not have the freedom to do exactly as we please. We are part of a greater community, and we give up freedom. The individual's wishes have sometimes to take second place for the good of the group, but the group must also be profoundly conscious that it is responsible for the good of each of its members. We certainly have to give things up - academic subjects which are not provided; sports which might be enjoyable but would divide our resources too thinly if they were here; and so on. Provided that the community life of which we are a part is a valuable one, then we can gain much more than we give up.
Friendship and Trust. At the very heart of our sport is the trusting friendship which grows between those who row together. In a hard race, each man has to know that everyone has equal commitment, otherwise the enterprise fails. This trust built up in a crew is a precious and long lasting one, and after the racing is over friendships are maintained for years. When we go to Henley, some go to be seen and to be entertained. They go to the hospitality tents - known as hostility tents by the rest of us - on the Buckinghamshire bank. They are not rowing folk. The young go to race - and here I wish the 1994 Monkton crew all the best in their endeavours which have been such a credit to their club, their school and their sport. Others like me go to Henley to renew and maintain friendships many of which were formed in the days of racing. We also meet new people, and the standards set by the sport are a firm foundation for friendships made.
Friendship based on taking part in activity such as rowing is a strong one which can withstand the buffeting of bad times as well as good. I said I would not recollect, so forgive me just once. This time last year the night before the NSR, one of you was involved in a nasty road accident. I know he appreciated the support he got from his friends in the club in the time it took him to recover. Years ago a member of one of our boats learnt on the night before NSR that his father had been killed in a car crash in Kenya. He stroked a fine race at the regatta, and was supported by his friends in the boat during those crucial days before he could go home to his family. It was with great sadness that we all learnt of the death of Richard Cook, a 1st VIII man some years ago, in the recent Chinook helicopter accident. The club was represented at his funeral recently, and it did not come as any surprise to me that the Captain of Boats of his year was there, as well as the parents of another crew man who could not be present. Our thoughts then and now are with his family. (We all remembered Richard at the dinner by standing quietly for a few moments.)
Yes, we all have friends in this club, and it has always been fortunate in them. Parents are marvellous supporters at regattas, and when they give hospitality to crews. Old Monktonians, both boys and girls, support Bluefriars, which in turn provides some of the funds which enable you to take part in races and expeditions out of term time. OMs travelled many miles to support us at Nottingham, Monmouth and Hereford, and we should all be grateful for their encouragement. Henley tickets are expensive, but are sent to us year after year by OMs who are glad to support the new generation.
So the toast I give is to rowing. It is a sport that for 115 years has been one of the important cornerstones of Monkton; whether it has been part of our lives for five, ten, twenty, thirty or forty years, or it is new to us, we should not hesitate to raise our glasses to Rowing.