Tideway Scullers Annual Club Dinner

On 21 April we held the annual dinner a stone’s throw from TSS - at the Dukes Meadows golf and tennis club.  The food was great, and the wine flowed for those not competing the next day at Hammersmith Regatta! Those enjoying the evening included most groups and squads and there were coaches, alumni and non-rowing partners there too. 

 The tables were named after recent Olympics and competed via a quiz on rowing and rivers. Questions included - Where is the biggest tide in the world? How long is the HRR course in metres? In which city did women first compete in Olympic rowing? Can you name the tune in the 8 second intro before Johnny Cash starts singing ‘Rowboat’? Top quiz honours went to Rio who won free toasties for a week. 

The highlight of the evening was a speech by eternal champion of the club, Alan Campbell, the man who wore non-regulation TSS socks in the “A” final of London 2012 when he won his M1x bronze medal. Alan is also a multiple winner of Wingfield Sculls, the Diamond Challenge, the Scullers Head, a medallist in multiple World Cups and Championships. He glossed over all that and told us instead about his life as a rank-and-file member of Tideway Scullers, and the support he got from everyone, notably Chris Williams. And then, famously, how Bill Barry helped him become a world class athlete over four Olympic games - from Athens through to Rio. Alan was passionate and optimistic about Tideway Scullers, and at his most lyrical when he just talked about the pleasure of moving a single well on the tideway. He will be a fan of TSS until his dying day, so if you missed the dinner there will be other chances to hear Alan speak.

On fundraising we didn’t match the stellar performance of the junior dinner last autumn, but even so we made a healthy profit which is already being used to fix and replace ageing outboard engines. Big thanks to everyone who came.

Jamie Priestley - TSS Social Secretary