News & Events

Posts per page: 3 | 6 | 9 | All

Cygnet Captaincy Update – April 2026
Author: Neil Pickford |
23rd April 2026
Evening all,

Now the Head season has come to a close, and we move into the regattas (the first being Hammersmith this weekend) I thought i would give a brief update from the captaincy.

Head season round up
Cygnet has fielded competitive 8+s in both Hammersmith Head and HORR, and a 4x in Vets Head. Hammersmith Head - 293^rd and 11^th in the division.HORR - 312th overall and 14th in the small club. Importantly though, as the crew passed the club they were overtaking the crew in front.Vets head - 6^th in the OP D 4X-
Overall it was a fitting end to the head season, showing that the hard work in the shed has paid off, and set us up well for the summer (arguably more enjoyable) regatta season.

Training update
Well done to all those who did a 2k last week, and for those that havent we will have another in a few weeks so no escape! Now the weather is improving, it has been great to see more of the squad down at the club ( "fair weather rowers" ) and look forward to this continuing throughout the summer season. Tuesday night sessions have returned, starting the 28^th April. 7pm OTW, so please arrive before this (6.45). Note additionally, these sessions will only be ran with a minimum of a 4 man boat, so please sign up on fitclub.

Scamp
Scamp will be held over the weekend of 5^th – 7^th June, to coincide with Walton and Weybridge regatta. More details on specifics to follow, but please mark the diary.

Dates for the diary
- Boat naming ceremony 23^rd May
- Scamp 5th-7th June
- Cygnet OGM 19^th July
Please continue to update on fitclub your availability for the various regattas, outlined in the below email chain.

Learn to Row
The club is looking to run a learn to row course during the summer/early autumn, but require volunteers to help run this! It is a great way to get to meet the new members, and encourage the next crop of Cygnets. Of course you will be supported by the wider Cygnet captaincy and coaching, but please let me know if you want to help out with running this process/want to know more information of what's involved.

Club admin
I have been informed there are some outstanding subs and races fees - please can you settle up with our treasurer (or via our website), before naming and shaming begins...

Thank you if you have managed to get to the bottom of this email, hugely appreciated!
As ever, please don't hesitate to speak/message me on any thoughts at all

Jordan

Permanent link | Comments (0)
Cygnet Captaincy Update – February 2026
Author: Neil Pickford |
20th February 2026
Afternoon All
It's been a while since I've sent any emails around, so – thought it was about time – lots of dates so calendars at the ready please!
First of all its been great seeing the shed so full over the last few weeks – we have a great structured plan in place at the moment, so absolutely encourage everyone to continue to commit to the shed sessions, and I'm confident we will see the rewards in the summer when we spend more time on the water.

Key dates for the diary
As promised, this is a provisional regatta plan for the summer - please hold in your diaries to avoid any unfortunate clashes!
- HORR 28^th March
- Hammersmith Regatta 25^th April
- Chiswick Regatta 2^nd May
- Borne at Chiswick Regatta 9^th May
- Peterborough Regatta 30^th May
- Walton and Weybridge Regatta 6^th June
- Barnes and Mortlake Regatta 13^th June
- Marlow Regatta 20^th June
- Kingston Regatta 11^th July
- St Neots Regatta 26^th July
- Henley T&V 1^st August
7th March
A group of 4 civil servants ("Team Ordinary") will be joining us for some rowing training, as part of their preparation of rowing the Atlantic! More details to follow, but please make every effort to make yourself available to row with them.

Weekend of the 28^th March
As per tradition our German friends, from Benrath, will be racing in Vets HORR and so please come down and show your support/grab a beer afterwards.

Reminder
With the upcoming tideway head races, please help with volunteering for the boating - this generates vital funds for the joint clubs and so all volunteering is hugely appreciated! See link to sign up - Tideway Head Races - Boating & Catering Volunteers 2025/26 - Google Sheets
Thames Rowing Tour
A message from our President has asked if anyone is interested in the Thames Rowing Tour 13–15th July. This involves rowing from Windsor to Weybridge in boats similar to the Rheine Marathon. Currently there is a contingent of five Benrath members and various Cygnets. Please can you let Nick know if you are interested in this!.

That's all from me. As ever drop me a message/email if you have any thoughts or ideas that you'd like to share.

Thanks
Jordan

Permanent link | Comments (0)
Colin Dominy
Author: Neil Pickford |
23rd January 2026
Colin Dominy, 1936 – 2026

Earlier this month, Lynne Dominy wrote to the club to inform us that her uncle, Colin Dominy, had passed away on 3^rd January. He was just weeks short of his 90^th birthday.

Colin joined Cygnet in 1954 at the tender age of 17 having just come to London to take up employment as a civil servant with the Air Ministry. On his application form, which we still have, in answer to the question ‘Previous Rowing Club’ he proudly wrote NONE. Yet he took to the Thames like a fish to water and would become one of the most experienced and sought after coxswains on the Tideway.

Colin counted the likes of Mike Arnold-Gillat, Barney Frith, Derek Bush, John Ellis, Len Hoskins, Len Huggett and Peter Roche among his contemporaries. They were the club stalwarts of their day who would pass the Cygnet ethos on to new members. One way or another, they would all leave their mark on the club and Colin was no exception. Indeed, flicking through the index of C H Genever Watling’s write up of the club history from 1950-76, no member receives more mentions than Colin Dominy.

Two members – Norman Cowling and Lawrence McVeigh – were kind enough to share their extensive memories of Colin with me. Both recall an individual who may have been short of stature but was utterly dedicated in everything he did whether it be coxing, rowing or cross-country running. Norman opined that he was literally a light weight, but in every other way a heavy weight with a determination to win. Lawrence concurred: he was an excellent cox and could be fairly aggressive in a race, particularly if he felt he could get one over on an opposing crew.

Colin first rose to prominence in the second half of the 1950s when Cygnet was enjoying something of a resurgence following a lean patch during the early post war years. Thus, in 1956, a ‘junior’/’junior-senior’ Vlll won a string of victories with Colin at the helm. Further victories would follow, many captured in the club’s photo archives with Colin invariably sat centre stage. By the end of the fifties, Cygnet could look back on its most successful period since the thirties: the club had undoubtedly won more events in the junior and junior senior Vllls class than ever before and Colin had had a hand in most of them, variously coxing and coaching.

The 1960s were nowhere near as successful as the previous decade. With competitive Cygnet crews few and far between, in 1965 Colin accepted an invitation to cox Nautilus, the forerunner of the National Squad, coached by George Plumtree, rowing out of Twickenham RC. Lawrence recollects: Colin’s first contribution was coxing a brand-new Stampfli lV+ doing a piece in the cut inside Eel Pie Island when a boat appeared unexpectedly and took the bows off completely. He was embarrassed but they didn’t throw him out. Nautilus had its moments, winning The Golden Oar in Antwerp among other international events, but it never fully lived up to expectations and by the late 1960s Colin was back in the Cygnet fold, becoming club captain in 1968-69.

Rowing was never the be-all and end-all for Colin; he was also a very fast runner. In an era when running was a central feature of winter training, he regularly led the pack on Tuesday and Thursday evening laps round the bridges or through Richmond Park. An indispensable team participant in the Oarsmen’s Cross Country organized by Black Heath Harriers, he usually led the Cygnet contingent home, not least in 1969 when Cygnet won the event outright.

No obituary of Colin would be complete without mention of his wife Isobel pictured here at a Cygnet dinner dance in the 1960s. Lawrence claims a small part in this union: I invited Isobel and some other young women I knew through work down to a Cygnet party and the Civil Service Boathouse worked its usual magic. ‘Issy’ took up rowing at St George’s, who also rowed out of the CSBH at this time, and they were married in 1967. As Norman notes, together they were a formidable rowing couple in the boathouse.

By the time I joined Cygnet in the early 1970s, being piloted by Colin was a rite of passage for any self-respecting crew and they all trusted him implicitly. Yet, like every cox, Colin yearned to row. And so it was, in 1974-75, that Colin joined myself, my brother Andy and Steve Reeves in a novice lV that would win the non-status John Cork Cup before securing the ‘real thing’ at Barnes & Mortlake regatta. Norman recalls: I remember the pleasure everyone took when he won novice fours. The trophy was huge and we refilled it many times.

Being a lightweight could have its drawbacks. Thus, on one occasion, while rowing bow in an Vlll he caught a humongous crab which lifted him out of his seat and catapulted him the length of the Vlll. As he sailed over our heads, the rest of us reflected that there must be easier ways to conduct seat trials. Yet, true to form, Colin took it all in his stride and simply added the episode to his rich tapestry of a life afloat.

Colin would remain in evidence at Cygnet until the 1980s when the Civil Service Boathouse Executive asked St George’s to look for new premises. They settled on Twickenham RC and Colin and ‘Issy’ duly relocated with them before upping sticks again to Caversham where he joined Reading RC for a time. In later years, he took up golf, playing regularly with local friends.

Colin and ‘Issy’ were both early supporters of Henley Women’s Regatta and contributed financially to its success. He also attended the Cygnet Veteran’s Lunch at Leander, happily conversing with ‘old hands’ over a beer or two, but never staying to dine. After ‘Issy’ died he moved into sheltered accommodation in Reading for a time, while continuing to play golf. His twilight years were spent in Tisbury in Wiltshire, his birthplace, where he moved to be nearer to his family.

Coxswains come and go, but few display the longevity, commitment and sheer skill that Colin Dominy did. He was one of a kind and Cygnet was lucky to have him. His funeral will be held on Thursday 29^th January at 2pm at Salisbury Crematorium, Barrington Road, Salisbury SP1 3JB.

Paul Rawkins, 23rd January 2026 (with thanks to Lawrence McVeigh and Norman Cowling)

Permanent link | Comments (0)