This letter was written by the Captain in May 2004 and sent to a small number of supporters who came up trumps and funded a new boat for the boys' 1st VIII, with some left over for another boat as well. If you read the reports of other crews' progress in 2004, you will see that new boats are also needed for the Girls and for Junior boys. If anyone would like to contribute towards the considerable cost, the crews concerned will be more than grateful.
Dear Bluefriars,
I am writing to you on behalf of the 2004 1st VIII who
would like to have a new boat in time for next season.
Rowing crews always have a lot to be grateful for and Monkton crews are particularly fortunate to have constant support and encouragement from parents and the Bluefriars Trust which itself gets all its funds from friends of Monkton rowing; most of them have benefited from similar encouragement in the past. The current generation of crews is grateful for all the support we get, and I take this opportunity to thank you all.
The 2004 crew is young and all its members will still be at school next year. At the beginning of the season our aim was that 2004 should be a development time building up to a successful season in 2005. We started training seriously in January and, somewhat to everyone‘s surprise, we began to move the boat quickly.
In February we made an attempt on the standard head race course at Monkton and nearly gave our coach heart failure when we did the second fastest ever recorded time. When we heard the time, we wanted to try again to see if we could beat it. JMB wanted us to do it again to make sure his timing had been accurate - in fact he said that he thought he might have made a mistake. So we had another go two days later and recorded exactly the same fast time. JMB said that he couldn‘t understand how we were going so fast because we were so incompetent as individuals, but he began to see that we had the determination and drive that would bring success. Ever since, we have trained harder and harder, both on the water and in the gym. Occasionally JMB has even been heard to say that our progress has been excellent - a comment that he doesn‘t make very often. We have made a good start to this term, coming second out of 12 entries in our event at Wallingford, beating Hampton 2nd and 3rd VIII and Eton 2nd VIII. They had all beaten us at the Schools‘ Head. Two weeks later we lost by just one foot in a final at Coate after five races. We came down with a bump at National Schools, where we failed to get through a round.
As the current crew will all be available next year, we are already looking forward to being even better in 2005. The Bluefriars Trust has just given us a new set of oars to replace the second-hand set, which the 1st VIII has used for several years; this has given morale a huge boost. Even before the oars arrived, as a complete surprise to the crew just before the National Schools Regatta, we had decided that a new boat for 2005 would increase confidence and speed not only for us but the rest of the club as well. Our current boat is showing its age and is due for the next stage of the replacement cycle; like rowers, boats do not stay in peak condition for ever. On current form it is very likely MCSBC will have fast 1st VIIs for the next few years and a new boat will help us to achieve our aims and potential.
Funding for a new boat presents us with a challenge! It is all too easy for us to expect the best to be presented on a plate, but the whole crew has decided to make their own efforts to raise at least some of the money needed. Some of us will be working on building sites over the summer; others will be doing office work. Even those who are not in a position to earn much money are going to earn a little. Between us we reckon we can put about £2,000 into the fund. We hope that friends and supporters will consider matching the amount we earn. Perhaps you would match the £1,000 earned by a building labourer or possibly give 10 times what a less well paid worker manages to earn, boosting say £50 earned by one of us to become £500.
We realise that our contribution to the fund will only form a small proportion of the cost of the boat and we are enormously grateful to the donors who have already provided substantial contributions. I do hope that you will help us to reach the full amount. To use a rowing metaphor, we have already reached Fawley on the Henley course; we just need your help to row us past the Grandstand to the finish.