Alumni
Association Dinner 2008
Saturday 4th October saw another successful First and Third Association reunion. The day began with informal drinks and lunch at the Fort St. George pub where the assembled fortified themselves for the rowing that afternoon.
Four crews had organised re-unions, as well as a number of other members who were keen to re-live the good old days. The crews that boated were:
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In the 1958 May Boat, Bow 3 kindly subbed on the day for Tim Heywood-Lonsdale, Henry Armstrong, and Richard Pardy (who all made it to the dinner though!). Note also that they didn't row the May races in a IV in 1970 - just some of the crew couldn’t make the reunion. If you happen to know any of the few details we are missing, please let us know.
So in the end we boated 4 eights, a four and a pair! Perhaps even more impressively, despite fairly windy conditions everyone managed to have a fun outing and return to the boathouse without incident. Many thanks to everyone who rowed, helped on the towpath and with organising the boats/equipment (particularly Iain). We have a few photos of the rowing but if you have any others do please email them to include on the website.
Following the rowing there was also a brief boat-naming ceremony, where Eliza Brandt named the new Empacher VIII "Black Prince", Erica Thompson named the new women’s pair "Freyja" and Iain Law named the new tracer single "Tracey". The Club continues to encourage members to spend more time in small boats which does seem to paying off with excellent results in VIIIs over recent years.
Following the boat-naming all those at the boathouse had a few spare minutes to squeeze themselves into their old club blazer and stripies before the dinner back in college. Over 100 past and present members joined the dinner, making for an excellent occasion with many different crews represented and able to appreciate the success of the current First and Third crews - in particular holding 3 of the 4 headships in 2008.
Given the success of the day we are already looking forward to the next dinner, in 2010 and hope to see so many of you there again.