John Bishop a Peterborough City Rowing Club member since 1964 and now a junior coach at the club recalls the days when he was not always such an astute judge of young talent.

He said: "We had a team together for the Ball Cup in Hereford and in that team was a very young a rather skinny Peter Zeun. He was dead keen but at that point he hadn't really grown much and we took a real hammering in that event and I dropped him!

How was I to know he would go on to row for his country at the World Championships years later, but to be fair we did go on to win three events without him.

"Peter also had a habit of being sick before every race which we thought was odd at first. But it did show his intensity and it was that passion to be the best which drove him to the top of his sport - maybe I should have tried it too."


Current youth coach Bob Bridges has been with the club since the very start and has seen more than his fair share of action in his 60 years with the club.

"I am coaching kids now whose fathers I remember coaching when they were children so I suppose you could say I have seen it all in my time here.

"I remember when Steve Redgrave and Andy Holmes used to come down here to train in the early days before they won all their Olympic medals which is a nice little footnote for the club in the history of the sport.

"One of the funnier moments I remember in my time with the club - and there have been a few - was when one of our coaches, Dennis Marshall Smith, managed to ride his bike straight into the Nene while he was riding along the bank shouting orders at his crew.

"He got out pretty quick and there was no danger of him drowning but it took him a while to see the funny side I can tell you."


The lake

Plans for a 'flood balancing' lake to take pressure off the Nene were drawn up in the early 80s.
After input from Peterborough City Rowing Club, the lake was re-designed into a half-Olympic size rowing lake (left).
The course is 1000 metres long and is five lanes wide with a spare lane. In the middle it's five feet deep.

The boathouse

Having started with a handful of members in an old shed, some would say the 200 current members have never had it so good.
Having been awarded a Lottery grant to upgrade their building in the mid-80s the structure is now being renovated again.
Members have access to a fully-equipped gym and over 70 different boats and the club now boasts some of the best facilities in the country.

Past captians
(No captain was elected for the first two years of the club)

• 1950 - John Ashby


• 1951 - J. Palmer


• 1952 - John Roslin


• 1953 - Dennis Smith


• 1954 - E. Austin


• 1955 - Bill Osborne


• 1957 - Rolls Pollard


• 1959 - Bob Bridges


• 1961 - John Buchan


• 1962 - Brian Hawden


• 1963 - Gerald Hutchings


• 1964 - Walter Kulesza


• 1964 - Miles Jaggard


• 1966 - John Buchan


• 1968 - R. Akister


• 1969 - D. Hart


• 1970 - A. Uff


• 1971 - Steve Goose


• 1972 - Tim Rogers


• 1973 - Gerald Hutchings


• 1976 - Steve Brown


• 1978 - Adrian Corbert


• 1980 - John Canton


• 1981 - Neville Waller


• 1982 - John Canton


• 1984 - Steve Casey


• 1986 - Bob Bridges


• 1987 - John Canton


• 1990 - Tim Clarke


• 1992 - Quentin Laidlaw


• 1995 - Nev Waller


• 1998 - John Canton


• 2003 - Emma Puffell (Emma was the first female captain)


• 2004 - C. Calver


• 2005 - Bob Smith


• 2006 - G. Hine


• 2007 - Adam Carter

Past Presidents

• 1949 - John Crawley


• 1952 - R.J.C. Crowden


• 1953 - R.P. Winfrey


• 1954 - J.G.P. Crowden


• 1961 - H.S. Robinson


• 1982 - Brian Hawden


• 2004 - John Buchan


• 2006 - Lord Mawhinney


• 2007 - Rolls Pollard

Past Chairmen

• 1948 - Fred Addison


• 1969 - Rolls Pollard


• 2007 - John Canton

See also: Peterborough City Rowing Club's 60th anniversary
James Westgate reports on the 60th anniversary of a thriving city club.

Peterborough City Rowing Club: timeline of major events
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