Curlew is a rowing club in East London and is open to all ages and abilities. Although very successful, with crews at Henley for 10 of the last 11 years, we pride ourselves on our friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
The Curlew Christmas Party was a huge success! Thanks to all who attended and to those who volunteered their time in helping put it together. With the boys in snazzy suits, tuxedos, and Henley blazers and the ladies in their own brand new Henley blazers and gorgeous gowns, the Curlew lot cleaned up nicely! A great time was had by all, especially while dancing into the wee hours of the morning!
January Bar Night coming up! The next bar night will be on Thursday, January 12, 2012. Come to the clubhouse after training and enjoy a big dinner all for £5! The bar will be open as well. Our lovely Debbie will be treating us with some culinary delights fit for any rower's ravenous appetite.
See you there!
Since it was a grey, cold and windy morning on the docks where Curlew men and women train, it was unsurprising that it was also a race day. Being on home water, the Curlew Women's squad was hoping for some good results from the two boats entered to race for the club.
Curlew had a Women's coxed IM3 eight racing in the first division, and a Women's coxed novice four racing in the second division, in what was the first race for the majority of oarswomen in the boat. Although the race course was shortened this year due to repairs to the adjacent dock for the Olympics, the race would still be a gruelling row given the conditions and particularly since the Curlew Women felt they had something to prove!
The rolling start was well-executed by both boats, and they went on to row good races, encouraged at every stroke by some great home-grown curlew coxes. The eight went off second behind a strong mens coxless four and followed by several mens quads and sculls. Despite there being little chance of overtaking ahead, the women successfully held off all but one quad during the race, and once they were past they girls didn't allow clear water to build. The women in the four composed themselves excellently and rowed a good race, battling with a novice four which went off ahead for over a kilometre, which they ultimately overtook convincingly. A special mention to some excellent steering from the cox of the four.
The event gave some good results for the womens squad, with the four finishing third in their event and the eight first in their event and as fastest womens boat over the course. There were pots for the eight and, with a very competitive race rowed by all, the Docks Head provided a great platform for the squad to build on for the rest of the head season.
The new season has brought 9 or 10 new and eager oarsman to Curlew. With these reinforcements our aim must now be to truly compete at HRR 2012.
Our first goal of winter season is to glue these rowers together, creating a squad mentality – getting everyone rowing the way Head Coach, Ray Cassidy wants them to row. This is well underway with long ergs, long water sessions and plenty of fun on and off the water. With the men’s captain at the helm, Curlew is pushing harder, and training longer to achieve our goal of competing with the top clubs in the country.
With that in mind, IV’s HoRR was probably a race too soon with 50% of slots in both boats being filled with new guys. Both IV’s placed well in their category, considering some near misses and a lot of time not spent in the stream. Those who know the Tideway, know those crucial minutes in unfavourable waters really reflect in your overall position. Now is the time to consolidate and prepare for the HoRR in March where we will be looking for a substantial improvement on past season’s results.
For those who are interested in rowing for Curlew Rowing Club – please get in contact. We are looking at building on our 2011 squad, last year we had two VIII qualified for Henley Royal Regatta. Only three clubs in the UK managed to get two VIIIs into the Thames Challenge Cup, London Rowing Club, Thames Rowing Club and Curlew Rowing Club.
It’s like being back at the first day of school, I was standing there ridiculously early because knowing the unpredictability of the London transport network I allowed twice the time it should take (according to Journey Planner – what do they know, what if there’s traffic, over running engineering works or the dreaded ‘severe delays’ occurring on the line), I was beginning to regret the absence of coffee in my system and was beginning to wonder if the multiple layers I decided necessary last night were actually needed. After checking and rechecking the emails sent in the preceding week, just in case I’d misread them wrong, a bunch of similarly weary people started to arrive. It’s always hard when as an experienced rower you’re used to the comfort and safety of your old club to come along to a new one, but thankfully I needn’t have worried as without exception everyone was very friendly and welcoming!
And then down to the business of rowing. It is something of an experience rowing on the 2km course, which is right next to City Airport runway, and after a while the planes get less distracting – and even with the best efforts you can never beat them! Catching the DLR to training is always something of an experience, especially when going past the ExCel centre. So far I have experienced very excitable delegates for the World Trade Fair, comic book fans in full gear and fans of Britain’s Next Top Model – it always makes the journeys a bit more fun!
The training is what you would expect of a club with ambitions – but they understand that with work, it’s not always easy to make training sessions at the gym (which is Greenwich not the docks). I inevitably ended up doing most of my training at my gym, but missed doing the ergs with people – it’s just not the same.
I was lucky enough to be selected for the Fours Head crew, which saw us decamp over to West London for the event. Although the Dock can get busy, it is nothing compared to the sheer scale and ‘organised’ chaos of Fours Head! Almost 500 crews of varying ability (although the minimum point requirement means that crews should be fairly competent) on a course of xxx miles certainly makes for some interesting rowing. We were fortunate enough to boat from near the start, which meant we didn’t have to boat too early and got to see the first hundred crews race past before we even needed to get on the water – however, it did then mean we had to row the course all the way back! The race itself went in a blur – we took one crew quite early on and were chasing another for much of the course. It also helped that we had a crew chasing us down, and one thing I have realised about the club is that we are stubborn and refuse to be taken down easily (they didn’t overtake us, or in fact get close enough to overtake). After an even more exhausting row back, we derigged the boat at a fairly impressive pace – but then when the call of hot showers and alcohol is calling it’s amazing what you can do! The boys had packed away hours before, but had waited in the bar (so selfless of them!) so we could swap war stories! Typical post Fours Head activities followed – decamping to another bar and then as it was Bonfire Night the apparent tradition of Blackheath fireworks, followed by a well needed rest!
I would honestly say that as an experienced or novice rower, you will be hard pressed to find a more friendly and welcoming club in London. After only a few weeks of being here they have made me feel as if I have been a member for years. They maybe a small club in numbers but more than make up for it in spirit – Go Curlew!
Adrian Dewey and I both joined Curlew way back in May, 1986, and we soon found ourselves in a novice four together. Adrian was the natural choice to stroke the boat because of his previous rowing experience at Cambridge University with Lady Margaret Hall Boat Club and he cut a striking figure in their flame red boat club top. We did not experience much success in the early days, but we won a few races, we were enthusiastic and this helped to spawn a much larger and more successful squad of rowers. Adrian was always good humoured and dependable and his presence contributed to the sense of cameraderie within the club. Adrian's commitment to the rowing club was always more spiritual than training, however, but he maintained his association with Curlew throughout the past 25 years, often popping up at Xmas Dinners or Henley and always with a broad smile and a jovial greeting. For Adrian, rowing was only one string to his bow, because he pursued a wide range of other interests which he also excelled in. He was a very talented musician with a passion for the clarinet. He was a linguist with a keen interest in the German language and culture. Adrian also became a father long before his peers at the club and he devoted himself to bringing up his son, Rupert. It was clear to me that Adrian's thirst for acquiring knowledge and experience of the world was not just academic but represented a deep love of life. This makes his passing at such a young age have a particularly tragic quality and I was deeply affected when I learnt of his death. He had heroically tried to beat his cancer and his recent cycle ride around Sweden was meant to be a recognition of this achievement, but he was cruelly struck down again on his return and he died shortly afterwards. Our thoughts are with Rupert and Alison. Rest In Peace, Adrian. Tim Knight on behalf of Curlew Community Those wishing to attend Adrian's funeral please note will be held on Monday 14th in Greenwhich;
St Alfege Church I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ray Cassidy and Rick Geer for all they did last season, the aim from day one was a simple one…two VIII at HRR. It may sound simple, but it had never been done before – we had in the past gotten two boats at HRR before, but that was back in the days of doubling up and it was not two VIIIs. But then rowing is always about pushing boundaries, aiming higher and setting goals which some think are unachievable – and that is what we did. Every member of the squad pushed boundaries, achieved personal bests and committed everything for the goal of Henley. Granted like everything in life, it was not a smooth ride – there were bumps along the way, but thanks to the guiding hand of Ray we transformed from a squad of half a dozen rowers left from the previous year’s campaign to a senior squad which put to shame many “BIG” clubs. Results were never convincing, a win at Poplar, Reading regatta, an ok finish at HoRR – but nothing to suggest HRR was a given, not even for the 1st VIII let alone the 2nd VIII. But what was our aim when we set out in September 2010? Two VIII at HRR, what was the result? HRR 2011 saw for the first time in Curlew History two VIII lining up on Wednesday, it was one of my greatest achievements in rowing and made every bump along the way even more satisfying – what will 2012 bring? Friday? Let’s keep pushing… "Rowing is a sport for dreamers. As long as you put in the work, you can own the dream. When the work stops, the dream disappears." Matthew Richardson Well what a year for Curlew RC ladies squad! The 2010/11 season saw the ladies go from strength; seeing numbers, results and a presence that had not been felt for some time. So as Co-Captains of the squad, we couldn’t have been more proud of everyone’s hard work, determination and team spirit which undoubtedly underpinned our results. Smashing our target for the WeHORR, making a final at the Met, and topping the season off with a quarter final finish at Henley Women’s Regatta, are to name but a few of our many great achievements in 2010/11...And don’t even get us started on some of the great culinary achievements delivered throughout the year too; they say you can’t go to war on an empty stomach, well the same applies to races and tiffin! But the time has now come to hand over the captaincy, and we do this with great pleasure knowing the new captains, Grainne Mohan and Laura Donovan, will most certainly take the squad on again to the next level in 2011/12. We know there are exciting times ahead and wish them every success.
Adrian's friend and ex Club Captain
Greenwich Church Street
London SE10 9RB
2011 Closing address Men's captain
Club Captain 2010/2011
2011 Closing address Lady's captains
Thank you all and good luck.
‘Debanie’
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