Dear Everybody,

As promised, however late, the annual Captain’s Report....ahem....well, it has been a very busy year.  The club attended fifteen competitive events, and enjoyed something in the region of sixteen wins (not sure about the composite wins at Bradford, and not sure how to get that information).  Recruitment and wastage have gone hand in hand, but we have finished the year with more members than we started, so I count that as another triumph.  The two new sculling boats (Bill and Margaret) have both been victorious, and between the veterans and the juniors (and Rob Thornton, our sole senior), we will be mustering around fifteen competitive rowers and scullers this year.  

The Numbers:

Records for January 2013 show nineteen names in the Novice/Junior category:

Atkins, Chris

Atkins, Daniel

Bramley- Astle, India

Doleman, James

Herbert, Tom: Herron, Jack: Hill, Jasmine: Hutton, Abigail: Newton, Andrew: Kilgour, Joseph: Remer, Nicholas: Remer: JamesRemer: Sam: Rolley-Parnell: Emily-Jane: Shah, Thomas: Smith, Daniella: Thomas, Robert: Thongmee, John: Tipping, Emily

 One year later, and five remain: James, Jazzy, Andrew, Emily-Jane, and Tom Shah (Tom Newton is still with us too, but not in regular training).  So having said goodbye to fourteen over the year, we have added a further 21 names to the Novice/Junior list:

Doleman, Kate: Doleman, William: Dyer, Jane: Field, Chloe: Fleet, Louise: Forrester, Tom: Grant, Stuart:  Harries-Wood, Nathan: Huckle, Joe: Madar, Aurel: Meynell, Cesca: Meynell, Kitty: Meynell, Ellie: O’Connor, Ethan:  Payne, Milly: Payne, Sophie: Rhodes, Joshua: Rhodes, Tony: Venables, Sian: Walker, Jack

Making a total of twenty-five Novice/Juniors, and increase of six over the year (Tom Forrester has said he would like to continue with the club, despite his new job in Lincoln).  

In the Senior category, from a starting figure of eight (Tom Newton, Richard, Paul, Gillian, Alan, Rob, Chris Paget, and me), We have added  another five (Sue, Harriet, Natasha, Alex, and Kate Stuart) and lost none, bringing seniors to thirteen, and making a total of 38 bodies regularly using the club facilities to train for rowing.

Number crunching the Captain’Slog from 15/01/13 to 18/01/14 (AGM to AGM), produces the following figures:

Total log entries: 2,603

Breakdown:

Jan  80: Feb 164: Mar 235: Apr   243: May 244: Jun 205: Jul 230

Aug 224: Sep 277: Oct 222 : Nov 188: Dec 159: Jan 132

Over the same period the club competed at the following heads and regattas (wins in brackets): 

Northwich Spring Head – 4 entries (Women’s MasB/C 4+), 

Leicester Regatta– 5 entries (Men’s MasE 2x), 

Shrewsbury Regatta – 9 entries [both days] (Women’s MasB/C/D 4+, Men’s MasE 2x, Men’s Nov.1x)

The National Masters Championships – 1 entry

Trentham Regatta 8 entries (Gillian’s 4+)

Ironbridge Regatta – 6 entries (Men’s IM3 1x)

Henley Veterans Regatta – 1 entryBurton Regatta –  7 entries 

Bewdley Regatta – 9 entries (Men’s MasD 2x, Mixed IM3 4+)

Warwick Regatta – 5 entries

Bradford Regatta – 6 entries (?)

The Pair’s Head – 1 entry

Nottingham Autumn Head – 3 entries (Men’s Masters ‘E’ 2x)

York Autumn Head – 4 entries (Women’s J161x)

Soar (Loughborough) Head – 4 entries (Men’s IM3 1x, Women’s J17 1x).

There was a total of fifteen competitions attended, seventy-three events entered, and  sixteen? wins.

The club was granted £9,000.00 by Sport England and purchased two new Janousek single sculling boats (‘Bill’ and ‘Margaret’ – naming ceremony in the spring), and the club sculling blades (15 pairs) have been given an overhaul, with six pairs shortened for use by the juniors.

Although the club numbers have only increased slightly, the number of sessions has more than doubled,  good cause for optimism in the months ahead.

Yours,

Lewis