The Salopian no. 160 - Summer 2017

68
OLD SALOPIAN NEWS
Paul Manser, for a well-earned
sabbatical, Philip Randall focussing on
single sculling in a serious way and
two or three other members of last
year’s crew retiring or choosing to row
less intensively, Phil Wood has worked
ceaselessly to keep sufficient people
together to compete in an eight. He
managed to form a really good crew,
including some Sabrina members who
have only recently stopped rowing
intensively at School or university, to
row in the Head of the River on the
Tideway, only to find that the event
had to be cancelled because of the
adverse weather conditions. He is
optimistic that Sabrina will field an
eight to compete at Marlow and try
for qualification for the Thames Cup at
Henley for a second year in succession.
By the time you read this, we will
know how things have turned out.
Phil is planning to have a really
competitive crew for the 2017/18
season so, if you have recently finished
rowing at Shrewsbury or university or
have taken a few years off but fancy
the excitement and camaraderie of
being a member of a good crew, please
get in touch with him (email philip.
wood@stantonralph.co.uk).
Over the course of the year, not only
has Phil been working on having a
crew for this season and preparing the
ground for a 2018 crew to represent
the Club, but Miles Preston has started
to gather together Sabrina members
who live within travelling distance
of London Rowing Club at Putney to
form a Sabrina group there – either to
row with the ‘Irregulars’ or to provide
support for the group. So far, there are
some 19 members of this group, of
whom six are rowing.
After stopping rowing when he was
22 and having taken 44 years to get
back on the water, Miles is only too
aware that if you have rowed seriously,
when you stop after leaving School,
university, the National Squad or
whatever, your instinct is never to get
back in a boat because it will be a
waste of time if you don’t train at least
six days a week. Miles is hoping to
persuade Sabrina members, who may
well now have high-pressure jobs and
family commitments, that there is merit
in getting back on the water, even if it
is only once a week or even less, to get
some exercise and fresh air and, most
importantly, to meet up with some
kindred spirits away from the pressures
of everyday life.
Therefore, if you are someone who
has given up rowing but can see that
it might be fun to have the odd outing
with other Sabrina members and you
live within travelling distance of London
Rowing Club, please get in touch with
Miles to work something out.
If we can get a London base up and
running and maintain and build up the
Shrewsbury base, you never know but
it may be possible to establish groups
in other parts of the Country. At the
moment we are considering Glasgow,
Newcastle and Bristol as possible
centres, so if you live within striking
distance of any of these places and
are interested in getting rowing again,
please get in touch with Miles.
(miles.preston@milespreston.co.uk)
RSSBC Scholarships
Over the past year, Sabrina has
embarked on developing the RSSBC
Scholarship scheme with the objective
of granting scholarships to two pupils
a year to support them for two years
in the Sixth Form. So far, one student
started at the School last September and
another one will start this September.
The aim is to have two such pupils
in the Sixth Form at any one time.
The people we are looking for have
to be both very intelligent and in the
absolutely top echelon of rowing in the
country for their age.
To do this, Sabrina has to find £30,000
per annum, which is a considerable
amount of money. If you would be
willing to give something towards
this scheme, no matter how much,
please will you get in touch with our
Captain, Nick Randall. Obviously,
large donations are very welcome but
a monthly donation over a period of
time of £5 or £10, particularly if Gift
Aid is available, will be a great help as
well. Don’t feel, therefore, that if you
cannot make a large donation, there is
no point in making one at all. On the
contrary, any donation will be most
welcome and will go towards helping
to finance someone through the Sixth
Form and, who knows, to enable the
School to win at Henley again!
A Sabrina First
As luck would have it, in the year
that marked the 150th Anniversary
of the founding of the RSSBC,
Sabrina managed to attain an historic
achievement in the form of an eight
made up of Sabrina members (many of
whom hadn’t competed at top levels
for some years) qualifying to take part
in the Thames Challenge Cup at Henley
Royal Regatta.
In 1932 Sabrina competed in the Silver
Goblets and Nickall’s Challenge Cup
at Henley and in 1946 a Sabrina four
competed in the Wyfold Challenge
Cup, but never before had the Club
produced an eight good enough to race
in a Henley event.
The crew formed in the autumn of 2015
and trained solidly through the winter
months, competing in four head of
the river races at Chester, Wallingford,
North of England and the Head of the
River Race on the Tideway. For the
main Head, as a new entry, the crew
started in 183rd position and ended up
in 98th place, breaking into the top 100
- a very creditable performance.
Training continued into the main racing
season, with the principal aspiration
being to qualify to compete at Henley,
the previous year’s crew having
failed to do so by a small margin. In
preparation for the Henley Qualifiers,
the crew entered Marlow Regatta with
hopes of doing as well as it could.
The 2016 Sabrina crew holding the Public Schools Challenge Vase Cup for IM 3 VIIIs. L-R: Al Hagger, Philip
Randall, James Russell, Lettie Tay (cox), Matt Walker, Philip Wood, Richard Shropshire, James Kynaston,
Rob Homden, Paul Manser (coach)