Newsletter#1, Michaelmas Term, 1999 (7th November)

Welcome back to the Isis. A significantly changed Isis for once, following the burning down of the OUBC boathouse during the early hours of Saturday, 25th September. All that remains are a few brick walls and a lot of rubble, surrounded by a wire fence with 'Keep Out' signs. In fact, marginally less inviting than the days when Catz had to boat from there. Since Albert Andrews' retirement as OUBC boatman ten years ago, the upstairs flat has been inhabited by various members of the OUBC squad (and seen some notorious parties) but last summer was vacated at the insistence of the landlord, University College. From the newspapers, it seems that the OUBC Director of Rowing couldn't quite resist a slight dig at Univ implying that had they been allowed to continue occupying the flat the building might not have been destroyed. Arson is suspected but, as far as I know, not proven. A combination of dampness and dodgy electrics seems equally likely to me.

Most of OUBC's boats are stored at Wallingford nowadays, but Wolfson, St Peter's, Linacre, Somerville and University Colleges lost all their equipment, along with various memorabilia stored in the upstairs rooms. St Benet's also used to keep their one and only boat at OUBC, but that particular weekend it was on the other side of the river for a spot of maintenance. I believe St Benet's is primarily a theological institution.

All the affected colleges seem to have been fully insured, and their new VIIIs have started to arrive on the Isis so we now have the strange sight of rather random novice crews rowing with old wooden oars in sparkling new shells. The real problem, however, with all these new boats (apart from thinking up names for them, preferably not including the word 'phoenix') is where to store them. There are rumours of some sort of temporary boatshed being erected at OUBC site but nothing substantial, and certainly no major effort to clear up the remains of what's there at the moment. I think I can confidently predict that racking fees on the Isis are about to escalate. None of which is a problem for us, of course, although had our new boathouse been delayed by a couple of years ...

I grant you that the OUBC building was picturesque to look at, but my own recollections are of how cramped and dingy it was inside - certainly compared to our current accommodation - and a general feeling that Univ considered the building and those who used it more of a nuisance than anything else. However, I realise that many of you were fond of the place and that it looms large in your recollections of rowing for St Catherine's, so I'll leave you this merry little tale which appeared the press last week. One anonymous undergraduate, for whom the OUBC boathouse clearly also held fond memories, recently felt moved to return a St Peter's plaque which he had stolen from the building last summer. It seems he took it as souvenir of the night he and a female tutor spent on the OUBC balcony 'taking the air', as the Daily Telegraph put it.

Moving on to more serious summer pastimes, Rowing Society Vice-President Matt Pinsent and his four had, even by their standards, a pretty satisfactory pre-Olympic season. They won all three rounds of the World Cup and retained their Henley and World Championship titles, and all without ever looking fully stretched. I think you'd have to call that a pretty blatant attempt to intimidate any potential contenders for the men's coxless fours title in Sydney next year. Despite this very un-British behaviour, I notice that his name was also among the 300 of the 'great and the good' of British society invited to the Lord Mayor's Millennium Luncheon (well, you always check these lists just to see if your name's on it, don't you?). Pointedly, he was just listed by name, not as 'Matthew Pinsent, Olympic oarsman' or any other qualification. Fame indeed.

Prior to the Gaudy last July, we got together an VIII from the 1970's alumni to go for a paddle: (cox) Graham Purcocks (M.72), (str) Hilary Arnold (M.75), Belinda Bawden (M.76), Phelim Daniels (M.77), Kevin Skinner (M.77), John Ibison (M.73), Rowland Hill (M.72), Ian Cook (M.75) and (bow) Steve Thompson (M.72). I intended them to start the outing with something gentle, but Graham had other ideas and there were one or two people who thought they might just have a little bit of a lie down in between getting back to College and starting on the pre-dinner drinks. Steve, a.k.a. 'Stonker' was (as we all recall) made of different stuff and I foolishly agreed to meet him back at the the boathouse the next morning so he could go sculling. He seemed delighted that the Catz scull was the very same boat that he used to row in. Personally, I'd say perhaps it's time we bought a new sculling boat.

Talking of the 1970's, doing a spot of research for the forthcoming History of St Catherine's Rowing, it occurred to me that we didn't actually know who rowed in the summer of '76 in the first ever St Catherine's women's crew. Even the aforementioned Hilary Arnold wasn't sure if she's been in that boat or not (she was). I don't think we were 'big' on this sense-of-history stuff back then. However, a little help from the Development Office and a lot of emails have produced a photograph and names for everyone except the cox (it's on the RS web-page if you think you might know). We also have no idea who rowed in the first ever men's VIII back in 1876, but somehow I don't think chasing-up email addresses is going to help with that one. One photo I'd still like to get hold of, though, is from the 1997 dinner when the Women's 1st Torpid 'persuaded' Steve Redgrave to join them for a few informal photos. So, if anybody's got a picture from that event ...

My copy of the new edition of St Catherine's Year arrived yesterday. Apart from the Rowing Society report (which, of course, we all turn to and read first) I notice the Dean's report also contains an unexpected little diversion into life as a member of last summer's 3rd VIII. I also draw your attention to the advanced order form for the History of St Catherine's Rowing, but since that is unlikely to be produced this side of Christmas you might want to treat yourself in the interim to a Rowing Society silk tie or bow-tie (£15) or badge (£5), available from the Rowing Society chairman, Bruce Mitchell (01684 292185).

More on the current Boat Club in the next newsletter, but for now I'll introduce this year's new captains: Simon Evans and Sarah Boddy, with Jen Rees as Captain of Lower Boats. All are second years. We seem to have lost a lot of experienced rowers since last summer, but nevertheless three crews were entered for Autumn Fours. The men's crews finished 11th and 16th out of 22 entries in the 'Four Oars' (Open) event, while the women finished 3rd out of 7 in the 'OUWBC Fours'. The Rowing Society continues to fund a women's coach: this year it is Peter Lee, formerly of Exeter College and Imperial College. With the extra income from the Madge sponsorship, we can also afford to fund a men's coach should they find someone suitable. Various combinations of our experienced rowers will also be entering Nephthys Regatta this coming Saturday, and at the last count, there were 5 novice VIIIs training for Christ Church regatta two weeks later.

Anu Dudhia (email: dudhia@atm.ox.ac.uk)

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