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| Please contact Bryan directly for details and booking
of this historic event. Riverside Tel/Fax 01905 429924
From ex President Bryan Griffin SBC Dear President Don and Members of SBC THURSDAY 5 JULY 2001 EVENING 50 years ago I had the privilege of rowing at HRR for the 1st time, in a crew consisting mainly of members who had brought a renaissance after the war to SBC. We clawed our way up through Novices, Junior and then Junior-Senior VIIIs. This making the Club a force to be reckoned with. Three of the squad members went on to secure 4 Henley Medals, in the next 5 years. One of those members, Jimmy Green, was chosen to be in the IV, that represented GB in the European Championships. The Cox Tony Christie becoming Thames Punting Champion. During that period the Club was unfortunately burnt down. We were temporarily housed in Tims We successfully went on to win in a new V111 called, appropriately, The Ashes. Insurance only covered the cost of a couple of boats, but we entered Henley Royal Regatta. Besides the hard work put in by the team on the water, we had to face the daunting task of buying the site and building up, not only a fleet of boats but building the Club House. The then Secretary George Smith and his wife Gwen loaned us the money to buy the site and we all worked very hard to raise the money to build the boat house and pay off our debts that have been inherited today. It would be nice if all members, who have enjoyed the Club over the years, got together to meet those Golden Oldies and share stories with them. Tim Capell, one of the current members has put a lot of work into collecting the artifacts and history of the Club and it may be a fitting time to display some of our memoriabilary. Mike Pattinson for example has the cap and blazer of Harry Scott-Freeman a key figure in the Club for the first half of the last Century, who helped to establish the club onto the site in the old rented boathouse. This was about 100 years ago. The complete origins of the Club are not quite certain and may not have been the Green and White that we have known in our lives before the 1890s. Never the less there was an Amateur Rowing Club in existence in the 1850s in Staines, so the Club is probably celebrating 150 years along with the Regatta that was founded in 1851. The year Henley Regatta became Royal with the visit of Prince Albert. The plan, that I have tried to initiate, with the consent of both the late President lan Rogers and our new President Jonathan Steele, is to use the Remenham Dining Marquee after racing on the evening of Thursday 5th July for a get together & SBC Celebration. This will enable both old and new to intermingle and exchange stories. Those at work could just come for the evening. Tony Christie has undertaken to help. Jimmy Green is making a special effort to fly over from America, Mrs Pring our Landlady for HRR 1951 will come, and Ted Bell our oldest member (who rowed with the Club before the World War ll.) has said that he will attend. Pass on the message. COST - MEAL PRICE + SMALL OVERHEAD, DRESS AS FOR REGATTA TIME 7
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