Barn Cottage
Charles Carroll
The following is from Peter Mallory's latest newsletter. It is the
story of Barn Cottage on Remenham Lane.
Peter has given me permission to post any of his newsletters on r.s.r.
I found the story of Barn Cottage fascinating, and I hope you will,
too. I think it may be particularly fascinating to those of you who
live, or have lived, in the UK.
By the way, Peter asked that I include the link to his website, so
here it is:
http://www.rowingevolution.com/
Cordially,
Charles
--------------------------
I returned to Henley this past January, and after I strolled past
Leander Club I was surprised to find only a few trees to impede my
view down the course. The Stewards' Enclosure? There was nothing to
enclose, and there was nothing enclosing it.
Only for a few weeks each year are the log booms, the grandstands, the
tents and the fences in their proper place. One might be forgiven for
imagining them up all year. After all, a regatta site is always fresh
and alive in the memory of an old oar. Close your eyes, and you can
hear the murmurs of the crowd as you row up to the start, taste the
fear rising in your mouth as the boats are aligned, feel the rush of
relief when at last the race has begun.
Here in the autumn of my days, the blood still returns to my veins,
the leaves to the trees, the hair to my head, they all come back to me
whenever I close my eyes.
During my recent trip to Henley, I took the time to seek out a tiny
brick Edwardian dollhouse called Barn Cottage. Diana Cook of Richard
Way Booksellers told me where to look for it. It has a little wing
off the back that Diana says had once been the old Henley cricket
pavilion.
You can find Barn Cottage on Google Maps on Remenham Lane just behind
where the grandstands will rise again in June. It doesn't give you
the name, but you can't miss it. You can even look through the
window. It was a summer day when the Google camera passed by, and the
cottage must have been completely hidden from the regatta site by
thick foliage. On the day I was there, the leaves were gone.
So what was I looking for in Barn Cottage? A bit of rowing history.
Colin Porter was a British rower in the 1950s. His good friend and
teammate, Christopher Davidge, described him thus: "Mr. Porter has
been a highly controversial figure in the field of British rowing. In
certain circles he has been accused of exerting a deleterious
influence by introducing a pseudo-American style and by preaching a
gospel of fanatical fitness to the exclusion of all technique."
Historian John Hall-Craggs: "He was a hideous looking oar, but he was
tough. He made his crews really sharp."
Beauty must be in the eye of the beholder. I've looked at films, and
I think he looked great. And Porter found great success as a member
of the Royal Air Force Base Benson rowing squad.
Porter: "I took over as officer in charge of rowing and found a small
group of about ten oarsmen, none of whom had come from elite rowing
backgrounds but all of whom loved their rowing enough to take the
initiative to be posted to Benson while they were doing their national
service.
"One thing that was obvious to us and to every other oarsman worldwide
was the absolute domination of the Olympic eight-oared event by crews
from the United States. [They] were all university crews, and they
rowed a style that was different from everyone else, with little body
swing [compared to the English] and very long slide movement. The
oarsmen were all very tall but appeared relatively unskillful.
However, these crews were extremely fit with strong finishing spurts.
Our little R.A.F. rowing squad at Benson resolved to learn as much as
we could about American rowing.
"It became clear to us that the great difference between the
successful United States college crews and all the British crews was
not so much the way they rowed as the way they trained. British
rowing traditionally concentrated on good rowing form. As crews
became tired, form deteriorated, so a crew was rested and the coach
tried again. Many miles were covered at a slow rate of striking,
concentrating on technique. Only in the final stages before a race
was racing rhythm undertaken. We concluded that most [British] crews
did not get really fit.
"We started what was, for Britain, a quite revolutionary training
system. The aim was never to go to bed until each one of us was
completely exhausted."
In 1953, Porter's R.A.F. crews won the Wyfold Fours and the Thames Cup
at Henley and Bronze in the coxless-four at the European
Championships. In 1954, they moved up to Silver behind Italy in the
European regatta.
After his military service was complete, Porter moved on to Thames
Rowing Club in London, but the club was not pleased with his
unorthodox training regimen. In 1955, he put together a coxless-four
for the 1956 Olympics. They completed the season undefeated, winning
the Stewards' Cup final by more than three lengths. Then no British
coxless-four was sent to the 1956 European Championships in Bled or to
the 1956 Olympics in Australia.
Porter: "[The European Championship] was won by our old adversaries
from Cannottieri Moto Guzzi, Italy, but of course there was no entry
from Britain. They could hardly have sent any four other than us, and
it was obvious that Thames Rowing Club officials were not supporting
our selection in spite of our winning the Stewards' Cup for the club
at Henley.
"I record without further comment that Thames Rowing Club was not
going to win any events at Henley in the next forty years."
So where does Barn Cottage come into the story?
After the disappointment of 1956, Colin took a year off, did a little
coaching, and then moved on to Molesey Boat Club in London where he
sculled alongside his '56 teammate and friend Mike Beresford. Both
started spending weekends in the extra bedrooms in the pavilion out
back of Barn Cottage, which was owned by an old oar named Teddy
Selwyn. Social gatherings there tended to include recreational rows
out of Leander Club, just a short walk from the cottage, with many old
Blues and ex-R.A.F. Benson oarsmen in attendance.
Soon the idea was hatched to boat composite crews of the best oarsmen
available, regardless of college or club affiliation, under the name
Barn Cottage Boat Club.
A Barn Cottage composite eight comprised of Australian single sculler
Stuart Mackenzie, the 1957 European Singles Champion, Christopher
Davidge and David Leadley, the 1957 European Pairs Champions, Alistair
Davidson, Mike Beresford and Colin Porter from the undefeated 1956
Stewards' Cup four and two more members of the old R.A.F. Benson
squad, won the 1958 Head of the River by eight seconds.
For the spring of 1958, Porter and Beresford teamed with John Vigurs
and Simon Crosse to form a potent Barn Cottage coxless-four. In the
Stewards' Cup, they defeated the University of Washington in the semis
and National Provisional Bank in the final. In the final of the 1958
Commonwealth Games coxed-four in Cardiff, Wales, they won Gold over a
Canadian shell coached by Frank Read and made up of members of their
1956 Olympic Champion coxless-four and Olympic Silver Medal eight.
During 1958, Porter also found the time to write his seminal book,
Rowing to Win.
Barn Cottage Boat Club eventually went Head of the River five times in
a row. Their 1960 coxless-four, rowing as Molesey Boat Club, won
their heat over the American Lake Washington four at the Rome Olympics
before illness crippled the Brits in the final.
In 1962, Barns Cottage won Bronze in the eight and coxed-four at the
Commonwealth Games in Perth.
As athletes retired and British rowing moved on, Teddy Selwyn
continued to live in Barn Cottage. Years later when he fell on hard
times, the Henley Royal Regatta bought the property and allowed Teddy
to stay on. He was there until he passed away just a few months ago.
When I visited the property in January, Barn Cottage stood forlorn and
largely forgotten, but I was utterly charmed. I could close my eyes
and hear the doors to the cricket pavilion slamming and Teddy wishing
the young men well as they piled out, crossed the road and headed to
Leander for their weekend outing on the Thames.
Carl Douglas
Pedant's corner: "National Provincial Bank". From the days when
business house rowing was a force in the land, before the days when
bankers were persuaded by smart Alecs that their clients should be seen
as prey & that banks could take risks because governments considered
them too big to fail.
In the final of the 1958
> Commonwealth Games coxed-four in Cardiff, Wales, they won Gold over a
> Canadian shell coached by Frank Read and made up of members of their
> 1956 Olympic Champion coxless-four and Olympic Silver Medal eight.
>
> During 1958, Porter also found the time to write his seminal book,
> Rowing to Win.
>
> Barn Cottage Boat Club eventually went Head of the River five times in a
> row. Their 1960 coxless-four, rowing as Molesey Boat Club, won their
> heat over the American Lake Washington four at the Rome Olympics before
> illness crippled the Brits in the final.
That, & other GBR under-performances was not unconnected with the daft
belief of some in blazers that the GB team could dash out to the heat of
Rome just days before racing without time to acclimatise.
>
> In 1962, Barns Cottage won Bronze in the eight and coxed-four at the
> Commonwealth Games in Perth.
>
> As athletes retired and British rowing moved on, Teddy Selwyn continued
> to live in Barn Cottage. Years later when he fell on hard times, the
> Henley Royal Regatta bought the property and allowed Teddy to stay on.
> He was there until he passed away just a few months ago. When I visited
> the property in January, Barn Cottage stood forlorn and largely
> forgotten, but I was utterly charmed. I could close my eyes and hear the
> doors to the cricket pavilion slamming and Teddy wishing the young men
> well as they piled out, crossed the road and headed to Leander for their
> weekend outing on the Thames.
Also, IIRC there was an interesting, but not much discussed since, Barn
Cottage/Oxford controversy - in which BC were repeatedly denied the
chance to race or challenge for national selection ....
Cheers -
Carl
--
Carl Douglas Racing Shells -
Fine Small-Boats/AeRoWing Low-drag Riggers/Advanced Accessories
Write: Harris Boatyard, Laleham Reach, Chertsey KT16 8RP, UK
Find: http://tinyurl.com/2tqujf
Email: ca...@carldouglas.co.uk Tel: +44(0)1932-570946 Fax: -563682
URLs: www.carldouglas.co.uk (boats) & www.aerowing.co.uk (riggers)
ng...@aol.com
> > For the spring of 1958, Porter and Beresford teamed with John Vigurs and
> > Simon Crosse to form a potent Barn Cottage coxless-four. In the
> > Stewards' Cup, they defeated the University of Washington in the semis
> > and National Provisional Bank in the final.
>
> Pedant's corner: "National Provincial Bank". From the days when
> business house rowing was a force in the land, before the days when
> bankers were persuaded by smart Alecs that their clients should be seen
> as prey & that banks could take risks because governments considered
> them too big to fail.
>
Do any of the banks run a rowing club now?
Back in my disastrously misjudged attempt at being a financial high-
flyer (early 80's), I recall Barclays, Midland and NatWest all had
boathouses next door to each other, each with its own boatman a la
Oxbridge college. There was a Business Houses Head around the time of
the HORR, and even an Interbanks regatta in the summer.
Weren't Ibis the rowing arm of Prudential as well?
Not seen any of those for a few years now.
Richard du P
>
> Do any of the banks run a rowing club now?
I'm sure someone from HSBC at Putney will give you an affirmative
answer.
Otherwise, Natwest colours are still carried by Parr's Priory, a few
hundred yards upriver at Barn Elms; other survivors of those Business
Houses Regattas and Heads include the various armed services, the
Metropolitan Police [most recently with MAABC in the former Ibis
Boathouse Chiswick] Walbrook [no longer proclaiming a BP connection as
far as I can see] and Cygnet, still in the Civil Service Boathouse at
the time of our last committee meeting. Horseferry maintains its BRA
listing.
I can't find in the BRA ..... Barclays, Ibis, Lensbury, London
Transport District Line, London Transport Buses, though former members
of most of those are still in evidence around the [English] Thames
Tideway.
The London UK Business Houses Head continued into the 1990s, supported
by Netherlands business houses certainly in William III's tercentenary
year 1988 if not later, ceasing when we recognised that we couldn't
run it on an increasingly crowded river with adequate safety cover.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
Richard du P, Cygnet RC
James Elder
wrote:
> After his military service was complete, Porter moved on to Thames
> Rowing Club in London, but the club was not pleased with his
> unorthodox training regimen. In 1955, he put together a coxless-four
> for the 1956 Olympics. They completed the season undefeated, winning
> the Stewards' Cup final by more than three lengths.>
...although, in tribute to the recently departed Gordon Dear, it may
be added that in the 1956 Stewards "RAF Macmillan's crew" (which
included Gordon and was an "unofficial" Thames crew - only one crew
per club being permitted in the Stewards') lost by only 3 feet to the
"official" TRC Porter four in the first round.
For someone like me who only joined TRC in 1999, it's impossible to
unpick precisely what happened in that era and why - and with the
death of many of the protagonists in the last few years (Gordon Dear,
Maurice Legg, Geoffrey Page, John Macmillan etc etc), it is all
beginning to slide out of living memory.