News & Events
Colin Dominy
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 3rd January. He was just weeks short of his 90th 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 29th January at 2pm at Salisbury Crematorium, Barrington Road, Salisbury SP1 3JB.
Paul Rawkins, 23rd January 2026 (with thanks to Lawrence McVeigh and Norman Cowling)
Captain's update – November 2025
22nd November 2025
Just a small update and key points from the captaincy:
Fours Head weekend
Well done to those who raced, it was tricky conditions at times so a very solid effort for everyone involved. This forms a very solid base to shift our focus to Head of the River in March. I’m excited and cautiously optimistic we may be able to get two 8s into it – selection will be based off training, scores achieved and technical progress over the next few months.5k Test
Monday 8th December evening – we'll use this as a base and then go again in February (date tbc) to assess progress over winter, and inform our crew selections for HORR.Help with LTR Grads
Huge thanks to everyone who has helped so far, but for the upcoming sessions please can everyone help with signing up to support in the boat or in the shed. This is especially the case for recent LTR grads themselves. Our aim for our new cohort will be to race in Plum Puddings in late December, so they need all the support we can provide, see link emailed by the captain.Breakfast club
Friday morning ergs – 7am start. Noticed we are lacking fitness and an extra session on the erg, before work each week will really help with this. Someone will provide some sort of breakfast after for those who want it, on a rota basis. Please sign up on FitClub.BBL/Cygnet Xmas Party
As per Charles’ email, it is a very fun night which BBL kindly organise. The more Cygnets there the better! Please see the (emailed) link to sign up and pay.As always please reach out on any thoughts/feelings.
Thanks all,
JordanJohn Ellis
26th September 2025
John Ellis, 1933 – 2025
Not everybody craves the limelight; some like John Ellis, who died on the evening of 8th September aged 92, are destined to play a support role, and so it was that John often appeared alongside his wife Dame Diana Ellis, chair of British Rowing, at countless official events throughout her long term of office.
Although Cygnet was the main civil service rowing club post war, there were others, among them Crescent, another post office club based on the River Lee. Throughout the 1950s and 60s Crescent would often field crews for the annual civil service regatta, frequently walking away with the silver. For some Crescent members like John Ellis and Len Huggett, the draw of the Tideway was hard to resist and both would defect to Cygnet in the late 1950s.
John may not have been a noisy individual but, as Lawrence McVeigh remembers, he was a successful Cygnet stroke, noted for his long, graceful smooth technique. Thus, the early 1960s found John rowing in several club eights at a host of Tideway regattas and the Serpentine. In due course, John met Di, a fellow stroke, rowing for St George’s, who also boated from the civil service boathouse (and stroked the GB Women’s Vlll at the European Championships in 1966) and another successful matrimonial union was struck.
John, probably wisely, never quite succumbed to the Last of the Summer Wine set, which met at the boathouse on Tuesdays and Thursdays. However, John and Len Huggett remained lifelong pals, often meeting up during retirement, Len ever full of bonhomie and John always on hand to see him safely home. It was a tried and tested combination. On those rare occasions when John put his head above the parapet, so to speak, it was usually at the annual president’s lunch at Henley or the veterans lunch at Leander, both of which provided the few picture opportunities that we have of John.
Di passed away in 2017 and John spent his last few years in a care home in Sussex. He is survived by a daughter, Claire and grandchildren Dan & Joe. The funeral will be held at 12.00 on 10th October at Wealden Crematorium, Horam Road, Horam, East Sussex TN21 0FX.
Paul Rawkins, 25th September 2025
