We celebrate and congratulate the Monkton oarsmen who have represented Great Britain in 1999. Their efforts and achievements have been recorded by the national and local press, television and radio, as well various publications by Monkton Combe School.

The talent, training, and hard work of these athletes have all been vital ingredients for their successes. We can perhaps learn from them, even if few of us can reach the same standards.

Many of us take part at a lower level in activities such as rowing. We do not share equal natural talent, the facilities and facility for training, or the time and temperament to train with such single-minded dedication. So should rowing be encouraged only for the experts?

Rowing, like other sports, caters for a wide spectrum of abilities and needs amongst those who participate, whether as athletes, coaches, supporters or administrators. At school level, there are examples every year of young people are are not particularly good at the sport, but who gain long-lasting educational benefits, both physical and social, by taking part.

Generations of pupils of all sorts have enjoyed their time at the river at Monkton, and it is often said by those who no longer pull an oar that the remember their time in the Boat Club with gratitude.

So let us support and encourage not only the talented high-fliers, but everyone involved in the sport of rowing.

Julian Bewick - November 1999