When I started at Monkton over a year ago I was told that I would encounter many obstacles and problems during my time here. I thought that I was prepared for those problems and in fact probably would have been if they didn't all happen in the space of three days!
It was my first Schools Head with the school and I was looking forward to seeing Monkton crews perform on the Thames against the best schools and clubs in the country. I thought that the crew's preparation was good and that I (with help from JMB) was pretty organised in terms of transport, accommodation, food etc. However, little did I know that there was someone or something out to make it as hard as possible for this week-end to run smoothly.
It was decided that the first eight should travel up a few days before the event so as to get an outing on the Thames. We loaded the trailer and with me towing for the very first time it was going to be a long and nervous trip. How right I was; 30 seconds into the journey I tried naively to make a right turn onto the A36 at the top of the drive between the canal basin and the main road, and unfortunately took a chunk out of a very nice tree as well as a chunk out of the bow of the Junior Colts eight. Devastated, I rang Mike to own up to my misjudgement and thankfully he wasn't too worried or upset that I had given him more work to do. After 30 minutes of holding my head in my hands we headed off on our journey. It wasn't going too badly until it started getting dark and I decided to switch on my lights. Nothing. The lights weren't working. I rang JMB (who was following just behind the trailer) and we pulled over into a garage to investigate further. After several new sets of fuses we realised that the wiring on the trailer, which had been repaired recently, must have been incorrect. The only thing to do was to unhook the lights and get JMB to follow directly behind me. Dangerous, yes, but the only option we had. Once we left the services I decided to take the wrong exit and ended up going several miles in the wrong direction around Stonehenge. Frustrated and angry I made the most of it by admiring the wonders of this magnificent site.
The rest of the journey wasn't too bad and we managed to get to St. Pauls by 6pm or so. [GPR forgets to mention here that not only was the trailer short of lights, but the driver had no map and didn't know where he was going! The Boat Club radios came into their own, and were used at every junction and roundabout between Stonehenge and St Paul's to keep the trailer on the right road. It would of course have been easier if the car had led from the front, but with no trailer lights, the car had to be at the back of the the convoy- Ed]
JMB left me and some of the boys to unload whilst he got the key to the Church Hall at Parsons Green, where we were to spend the night. It was thought that he would be back in 20 minutes so we could head off, get some food and go to bed. However, we didn't take into consideration that Fulham were playing at home and the traffic around Hammersmith Bridge was awful. Two hours later JMB managed to get to us and we got some well earned food and a good night's rest.
The following morning the crew, JMB and I headed off to St. Paul's to go for a row. It was a typical day on the Thames, windy and cold; but despite the weather the crew and coaches were excited about being on the water. The crew set off and JMB boarded the launch to get it started. As I stepped out to get in the launch I slipped down the embankment and fell straight into the water, neck deep. Surely not another mishap! The luck of the Irish was certainly not with me this weekend.
The crew had a good outing considering they were as wet and cold as I was. We had planned on a second outing but decided that it would be best if we dried off and warmed up, so we headed back to the accommodation.
Keeping eight young men and one young woman occupied is never an easy challenge, but in the afternoon we headed off to the cinema to kill a few hours. Both JMB and I parked the cars in the nearby multi-storey complex and joined up with the crew at the cinema. We hadn't even thought about checking the time that the car park closed and when we arrived back the car park was firmly locked! My sense of humour was well and truly lost at this stage and I knocked on the security guard's door. After some choice words from both sides the security guard let us out, but at a price - £25 per car!
I thought that that was going to be the end of the mishaps and disasters, but how wrong I was. I had organised a coach to pick up the other school crews at Monkton at 6am, to give them time to get to London, rig their boats and have some time with their coaches. At 6.15am I got a phone call asking where the coach was! 'What do you mean, where is the coach?' It hadn't arrived and the guys were getting agitated. I just could not believe what was happening. Was I in a terrible nightmare only to wake up in a few moments relieved it was a dream? Unfortunately it wasn't a dream but it was turning out to be a nightmare. A few phone calls later we managed to get the coach to Monkton although an hour late!
For the rest of the day I was prepared for a continuation of disasters but thankfully they never came. The first eight had a reasonable row and finished within 30 seconds of the winners of first eights. Not a bad ending to a disastrous weekend.
Thankfully we got back to Bath in one piece and I could close the door on what can only be described as a strange experience, one which I never want to go through again. [We look forward to next year's instalment of the saga! - JMB]