Cygnet Rowing Club

The Bungalow - "Cygnets"

Located on Hamhaught Island, close by and accessible from Shepperton Lock the `Cygnets' bungalow has been a popular and worthwhile venue for many years. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners originally owned the island, which was bought from them, on mortgage, for £1,100 by George John Dunton, Boat Builder. For many years the Duntons owned the boat yard at the end of Ferry Lane where it joins the riverside and is now `Nauticalia'. By the early 1900s up-river trips were well established in the Club's annual fixture list. It seemed only natural therefore, that members should establish a camp on the island. In 1909 a plot was rented, camping equipment procured and a punt acquired, all for the sum of £23. Annual rental of the site cost the Club £2.10s.0d until 1915 when it was increased to £5.0s.0d.

In 1911, the year of the Club's twenty-first anniversary, it was decided to have a grand reunion of Club members at the `Camp'. A launch trip was duly arranged from Richmond to the Camp where the party landed for a picnic tea, followed by sports on the island and a large group photograph. A report of the time mentions how, on the return journey, `the ladies vied, one with the other, (by contributing songs, etc.) in helping to make this one of the most pleasant trips we have had'. This programme was repeated on more or less similar lines in the following years, and by 1914 the Camp was an integral part of Club life.

Undaunted by the First World War, the Camp enjoyed its most popular year ever in 1919 and in March 1920 a meeting of Club members unanimously agreed to purchase the site for £114.0s.0d. This sum was met from the `General and Holiday Fund'. After various improvements to the site had been carried out, the rental charge to Club members was fixed at 3/- for a weekend and 2/- a day from Monday to Friday. Seasonal membership was also available at 6/-, which entitled the member to reduced terms for weekends and weekdays. These charges were to remain virtually unchanged for many years.

The Camp's popularity increased by leaps and bounds throughout the 1920's, attracting a band of stalwarts who came to be known as the `Camp Boys'. In the early days before a walkway was built over the weir the island was reached by a boat kept on the Weybridge shore hailed with the rousing cry of `LUGGER, LUGGER!'. The time honoured reply from the member on the island, intending to row the boat back to the mainland, was `ALL ABOARD!'.

The forerunner of the Cygnet bungalow as we know it today was constructed in 1930 from the remains of two First World War huts. Corrugated metal sheeting, which had first to be dismantled from somewhere higher up on Hamhaugh Island was floated down to the Cygnet site where it was reassembled. This structure was to serve as the Club bungalow for more than thirty years, ably maintained and improved by the likes of A.Bilson, E.Dibble, J.Noble, H.Stocker and V.Whitby to name but a few. In later years Norman (Paddy) Padwick and Charles Genever-Watling (Genny) succeeded these. A Bungalow Management Committee is now responsible for the day to day maintenance of the premises.

Visitors will see hung in the sitting room pictures, painted by John Noble, of the Camp in its first two stages, a camping site with tents and the original building. John was an enthusiastic amateur painter and his representations are accurate.

This delightful and serene riverside amenity is available to club members for training and recreation, from May through to the end of September. For further information email the Bungalow Secretary, Ronnie Lambe at ronald [dot] lambe [at] btinternet [dot] com.