News & Events
Ken O'Brien
17th August 2023
Kenneth O’Brien
1947 – 2023
It is with great sadness that we record the death of Ken O’Brien on Thursday, 3 August, at the age of 76, after a lengthy hospital confinement.
A loquacious individual, which earned him the nickname Kenny O’Burble, Ken was a member of Cygnet for a relatively short space of time (1981–84), yet no one could deny that he left his mark.
Ken initially joined the club as a social member and swiftly set about running the 300 Club (with Phil Beckett, an unlikely combination) and organising social fixtures from afternoon teas to stag nights at the White Hart. A people person at heart, he had a knack of lubricating the wheels of social intercourse, often keeping us late into the night at the club bar or the Sun Inn, one of our favourite haunts at the time.
Always up for a party, Dave Jillings recalls “Kenny throwing petrol on the bonfire at a CRC/CSLRC Guy Fawkes night with predictable consequences. When he arrived at A&E they said he was the first casualty of many they were expecting that evening”. Singed eyebrows notwithstanding, it was “his irrepressible optimism and bounciness that made him so likeable, and I hope that is the main thing he will be remembered for”.
In 1982 Ken surprised everybody by announcing that he had decided to join the ranks of the active rowing squad. Not the most obvious physical build for the sport, he nevertheless defied the naysayers, thundering around the Chiswick gym on Tuesdays, weightlifting on Wednesdays and jogging round the five-mile run on Thursdays. Few could doubt his sheer determination; stones of weight were shed, and he made his debut competitive appearance in the 1983 Head of the River Race, rowing at bow.
However, his greatest achievement afloat was winning Novice Vllls at Hammersmith Regatta a few weeks later. Coxed by Colin Dominy, the crew was a sight to behold ranging between tall and short, large and small, young and old. Nonetheless, once in motion it proved to be an unstoppable force, cruising to an easy win in its maiden regatta. Further regatta appearances followed, culminating in the Rhine Marathon, all 42kms of it, a true feat of endurance as fellow crew member Charles Pepino recalls, “but we lived to tell the tale and sink one or two Altbiers afterwards”.
Professionally, Ken was an insurance broker, which played to his people skills. However, he was never at one with the paperwork and saw his true calling in life as proprietor of a local wine bar, plying the upwardly mobile of Barnes with vodka cocktails in the then defunct Waterman’s Arms, opposite the boat club. Market research followed with flurries of questionnaires handed out at Barnes Station. Sadly, his bankers were less convinced and it remained a pipe dream but, such was his indomitable spirit, he clung to the scheme for years afterwards. One wonders what he would have had to say about the Waterman’s latest incarnation as a cocktail bar and fancy restaurant.
Ken had given up active rowing by the mid-1980s, but he remained a fixture on the social scene and never more so than at semi-annual gatherings with our companion club Benrath in Germany. The accompanying photograph was taken following the 1983 Rhine Marathon with Ken characteristically centre stage. Benrath found Ken something of an enigma leading one of them to ask “What is the function of Kenny in your club”. The answer must surely be “all of the above”; he was fun to be around and just carried on regardless.
Ken’s funeral will be held at 2.20pm on 11 September at Kingston Crematorium, Bonner Hill Road, Kingston KT1 3EZ. All welcome.
Paul Rawkins, August 2023
Captain’s Valedictory Log: Thank you Cygnet
12th August 2023
Dear Cygnets, this is your (former) Captain speaking!
I hope you will forgive one last Captain’s log as I sign off as your Captain.
This week we met (virtually) for our summer Ordinary General Meeting and with a great deal of pride having led Cygnet as your captain for the last two season, was pleased to pass the baton on to the incoming captaincy team who will take the club forward into the next Heads Season and beyond.
As I reflected on Monday evening, it has been a great privilege to row with you and serve you as Captain for the last two years, having taken the mantle on from Cristobal, and I hope have guided Cygnet forward and upwards through Heads, Regattas and much else beside on the river and off! Whilst it has been a long recovery from the seasons impacted by covid, coupled with the many challenges of being a small(er) upper Tideway club, I am proud of all that we have achieved out in the fairway and for our development as a club around the boathouse and beyond in the wider rowing community.
Most importantly I take enormous pride in our continued strength and achievements as a family of Cygnets, with such a proud history and treasured connections across our generations of rowers and many traditions it has been a privilege to be part of and now in standing down to pass on.
I’m incredibly pleased with the progress we have made as a squad and all of the hard work, training and racing efforts that our rowers have put in continuing to compete and hold our own on the Thames and further afield whilst creating the environment for us all to thrive and enjoy the sport - and social bonds - of rowing with Cygnet.
We’ve taken some great strides forward these past two seasons and from this I’m sure our best is certainly to come. My huge thanks and gratitude to Beth for all her support and expert coaching that has been so integral to so much of our development as individual rowers and as a squad. We wish Beth every success with Putney Town Masters Women.
I’d like to extend my thanks to both my captaincy teams, Martin and Pete for all their work in my first season and to Henrik and Matt Gutteridge for their immense efforts and support to me and the club this year - especially for the outreach and development support both our current rowers, our bonds with the civil service and the future of Cygnet Rowing.
I’m also immensely grateful to our longstanding Chairman and now President, Nick and Charlie having taken the Chairmanship this season, for their guidance, much wisdom and support as I’ve sought to lead Cygnet in its most recent chapter.
Rowing is of course at its best as a team sport so my immense appreciation extends to the Committee and the many selfless volunteers who have stepped forward time and again to lend a hand, to pitch in and help make Cygnet a great and better place to row. We couldn’t row and we couldn’t function as a family without your efforts, oftentimes unseen, to keep us moving forward in the very best of Cygnet spirit. Thank you to each of you.
I wish Martin, my successor as Captain, and Tom C and Mustafa, as his Deputy and Vice, the very best of luck and all my support for the 2023/24 season ahead - Cygnet will continue to thrive under your leadership and encourage one and all to row in behind to support their efforts and to actively involved in helping to make Cygnets next chapter an even greater success.
My heartfelt thanks to all of your cygnet friends and family for your patience, kindness and help along the way - as my predecessors will know, a Captain’s work is never done and challenges there are many but I and we as a Cygnet family have made the best of it and I’m grateful for your enthusiasm and support towards our collective endeavours.
I’m looking forward to the next season and rowing from the backbenches whilst supporting the incoming team and the club with the hard efforts and successes to come in the year ahead.
I hope many of you will be joining our end of season celebrations in September, but until then Cygnets, thank you and row well.
With warmest wishes,
Rupert Bailey
Cygnet Captain 2021/22, 2022/23
Captain's Log: August
2nd August 2023
Hello Cygnets
This is your Captain speaking with a round up on this week’s racing action and some key dates ahead for your diaries over the summer.
1. Regatta Report: Henley Town and Visitors - Sat 29 July
The squad wrapped up its summer racing campaign with an exciting day out in Henley for the Town & Visitors Regatta for our coxed four, quad and eight, who were all in action. Special thanks to our trailering team of Jo Broadhurst & Henrik Jonstromer for towing our boats safely out and back.
Against our old friends of the RAF (who pressed on for a convincing victory) and Poole Amateur RC Cygnet was in a real tussle right up to the line for second place, coming up short by just a canvas.
Meanwhile the quad came second of three (easily) against Curlew and Falcon rowing clubs in an all avian final, another strong showing by the Cygnet crew against a much stronger Curlew.
Highlight of the day goes to the racing eight with a real tussle down the course up against Linacre College Boat Club who got off to a strong start but the resurgent Cygnet viii just ran out of river in the final battle to the line of which topped off some exciting side by side action. The verdict on the line was 1 length - all agreed “it was much closer than that”.
Special mention and congratulations to Chris Jageurs racing in Vesta colours for a triumphant race in the Open Doubles to beat Oxford Academicals and Falcon RC.
8+ Noel Davison
Cox Clara Fennessy, 8 Henrik Jonstromer, 7 Dom Marshall, 6 Matthew Gutteridge, 5 Tom Clarke, 4 Rupert Bailey, 3 Octavian Puzderca, 2 Tom Broadhurst, 1 Mustafa Özyurt4x Quad: Big Malc / Collier
4 Henrik Jonstromer, 3 Octavian Puzderca, 2 Tom Broadhurst, 1 Mustafa Özyurt4+ Neil Pickford
Cox Clara Fennessy, 4 Matthew Gutteridge, 3 Dom Marshall, 2 Rupert Bailey, 1 Tom Clarke2. A Special thanks and farewell: Coach Beth
With the end of our summer racing, so our formal training comes to an end and with it our time with Coach Beth Davidson who has now been with Cygnet for four seasons, having seen us through the highs and lows on the water and off, guiding us through two seasons disrupted by Covid but in the time we’ve spent on the water brought a huge amount of development to the squad and the club. I’d like to pay enormous thanks for all that Beth has done for us, for all the efforts on and off the water and the real progress that we have made under Beth’s stewardship. Beth is not going too far up stream and will be coaching Putney Town Masters Women’s Squad for next season, where we wish Beth every success, and look forward to opportunity to celebrate at our end of Season Dinner in September.
We continue to search for our next Cygnet coach.
3. Summer Training & Outings
With the arrival of August we enter now our traditional ‘off-season’ as we take a bit of down time and the incoming captaincy team has the opportunity to prepare for the season ahead, outings will now be much more informal and organised around those who are around and available, mostly on a show and row basis.
For signed-off steers there is the opportunity for more independent outings, please take a moment to refresh your knowledge of the navigation and safety requirements of the river and ensure boats remain well looked after. Fleet.
Please continue to log boats in an out (whiteboard & Boat Log Book) and report any incidents or damage as necessary. It’s of course best practice to go afloat with others and to stay within you experience level / comfort zone. More info on navigation and our steers policy is available here.
Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more about steering boats and getting signed off.
4. Ordinary General Meeting
A reminder that this year’s OGM and Captaincy elections will be taking place on Monday 7th August at 19.00 – Club Secretary will be circulating details of the online option for joining but the nominations sheet is up in the Cygnet Changing Rooms with a number of positions on the captaincy and committee being available.
5. CSSC Matters
We recently attended a series of Civil Service Departmental sports days at the Kings House Sports Ground and in Teddington as we look to build our links with the CSSSC and the wider civil service. These were very successful in attracting Whitehall talent to complete our 250m erg challenge and to drum up recruitment to return to row and learn to row from the autumn. A huge thanks to my fellow volunteers who lent a hand with these days to raise our profile and help build the civil service pipeline of rowers.
6. Upcoming events – We have a host of events to look forward to before Heads Seasons gets fully under way, please note for your diary, with more info to follow from the new captaincy team when in post.
- Autumn Sculling Camp 1st September – 3rd September,
- Club day 9th September
- Autumn Learn to Row 10th September – 15th October
- End of Season Dinner Friday 22nd September, 19:00 (to be preceded by a short waddle)
Rowing and Racing Calendar
