News & Events
Cygnet News
4th July 2017
Hi All,
I got a full run down of our victory at Richmond and I don't think I did justice to the performance of the crew is last week's newsletter. The Putney Town crew that Marj, Sam, Scott, Ian and Robin beat were just back from racing in the Henley Qualifiers in a shiny bow loader Empacher with carbon fibre wing riggers and having seen of Vesta's IM3 crew in the semi. Cygnet did not get their best start, but recovered quickly and pulled out ahead of PTRC in the first half of the race and being strong enough to hold off PTRC's push to the finish. I know how much our crew put their bodies on the line to win their first IM3 regatta and what a step up it was from their novice win two weeks ago. It is great to be beating our local rivals and to see just how much our competitiveness has improved and it all bodes well for the future of Cygnet and we can set our sights on Henley next year. It's a reward for those long outings up to Eel Pie Island, for seat racing at Dorney in darkest January, double sessions, 2K tests and is a win for the whole club, coaches, coxes, rowers, the improvement is reflected throughout the club.
We are into the second half of the regatta season with Kingston this Saturday, St Neots on the 22/23rd July, Henley T&V on the 29th July and Oxford City on the 19th August. Let's get some more pots and more rowers denovicing before the end of the season. We have two 4+ entries and Dave racing 1x at Kingston on Saturday, best of luck to all of them.
Over the next few days we want to put the crews together and entered for St Neots and H T&V, there poll showed a good response for both of these, I'll send out a separate communication about these but I'd encourage everyone who can to get out and race. Barnes Bridge Ladies are interested in mixed racing at St Neots which gives a chance for those who've not raced before to get their first taste of it. And for our new novices, Oxford City comes at the right time to get your first race. So help the captaincy and the club by keeping the momentum going and getting as many crews as we can in these races.
Looking further ahead, we will start our next learn to row course early September, if you know anyone who could be interested please help in the recruitment for this. Likely start date is the 9th September, running for 8 weeks,
So, this week,
Tuesday
Weights/core (unsupervised)Wednesday
Outings for Kingston crews (self organised)Thursday
Squad ergo 6 x 500m at 2k pace 5 min rest
Novice water outing meet at 7, OTW at 7:15, Alan coaching, Jez coxing.Please get your availability up to date so we can fix the crew...
Saturday
Kingston Regatta (draw here)
Non racers, get your availability up to date and we will see what combos we can get on the water,
Novice outing: meet at 9:00, OTW at 9:30 - With the main squad off racing, we can make this a longer outings but I need your availability in order to plan things. Only 4 entries on the spreadsheet so far!!!!Sunday
Main Squad meet at 7:05 OTW at 7:30, focus on St Neots and H T&V crews
Boat set up with Tim during break.We are having a great season, lets keep the effort going and win as many pots as we can in the coming weeks.
Have a good week everyone,
Jez
Cygnet Weekly Update
28th June 2017
All,
More good news to report from Richmond Regatta where Marj, Sam, Scott, Ian and Robin beat Putney Town by a length and a quarter to record back-to-back wins and their first at IM3. It is really satisfying to beat one of our local rivals who had beaten Vesta in the semi final showing the progress we've made as a club.
And well done to Cris who won his Nov 1x heat, so that time practising starts and high rate pieces paid off.Next up is Kingston Regatta on the 8th July, our IM3 4+ is entered, any other takers before entries close?
This week:
Wednesday:
Kingston crews outings if possibleThursday:
Squad ergo at 7pm 1250m, 1000m, 750m, 500m @ 2k pace, 5 min restNovices - I only have Jon, Jim and Ashley down as available, so unless something changes quickly, can you join the squad ergo.
Saturday:
Main squad meet at 7:05, 7:30 OTW focus on preparation for KingstonNovices: Plan is to meet at 9, OTW at 9:30, but right now only Ashley has provided his availability, so please complete it asap.
Sunday:
Main squad meet at 7:05, 7:30 OTW focus on preparation for KingstonI hope those going to Old Blades at Henley on Friday have a great day, sorry that I can't be there but I'll be thinking of you as I hike up and down the Alps.
Have a good week
Jez
Len Hugget
20th June 2017
Len Huggett
29th March 1930 - 16th June 2017
Len Huggett, who has died at the age of 87, was one of the paid-up members of the 'Last of the Summer Wine' set who gathered at the Boathouse every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, pontificating on the world through an alcoholic haze. Collectively and individually, they were a near perfect replica of the TV series of the same name. While there was never any doubt who 'Foggy' was (John Bull), a number of candidates vied for the role of 'Compo', not least Len and Mike AG.
Born in 1930, Len Huggett grew up in Stoke Newington and Edmonton amid the urban bomb sites of World War Two and the austerity years that followed. Upon leaving school at sixteen, Len joined the Central Telegraph Office in 1946, part of the Post Office, before doing two years National Service in
the RAF.Following his 'demob' in 1950, Len returned to the Post Office and soon started devoting his leisure hours to Crescent Rowing Club, which was based on the River Lee in East London. Like Cygnet, Crescent was allied to the Post Office and it was here that Len would strike up life-long friendships with the likes of John Ellis and Peter Bailey, both of whom remain Friends of Cygnet.
Given the limited boating facilities on the Lee, Crescent members were often invited to Cygnet to gain experience of rowing in Vllls on the Tidal Thames and to make up crews for the Head season. Crescent also competed regularly in the Civil Service Regatta and was a force to be reckoned with in the 1920s and 30s. Over time, ambitious young Crescent members often defected to Cygnet and Len duly followed suit in the late 1950s. The first photograph we have of a young Len Huggett afloat was taken in 1959 and shows him seated at two in a Cygnet Vlll at Kingston Regatta.
The 1960s were not an auspicious time for Cygnet and regatta victories were relatively few and far between. Nonetheless, the era was not without its high spots. Thus, in 1961 Len stroked a Junior Eight to victory at the Metropolitan Regatta and subsequent years often found him stroking Junior-Senior Vllls at local regattas, some successful, some not. Among the regattas he often used to wax lyrical about were the Welsh Harp and the Serpentine. Like so many of us, Len did his time as club captain, in 1966. His rowing 'swan song' came in 1973 when, rowing in a coxed lV with Roy Ellison, Peter Jeffs, Peter Roche and Robert Henry (cox), he won at Vesta International Veterans' Regatta, beating Barclays Bank and Frankfurt.
Although not a confirmed bachelor as such, despite having several long-term relationships Len never took the plunge and tied the knot. His friends would probably argue that 'no woman would have him' and, in truth, he was a contrarian to his core, impossible to pin down to any commitment large or small. Yet, through it all he remained a dedicated member of Cygnet, immensely kind to his friends and wholly unpredictable, often turning up out-of-the-blue at regattas far from home - St Neots was one of his favourites. And, no matter where you were, Len always knew of a hostelry just around the corner or in a far-flung country lane.
A North London boy through and through, Len lived at home in Edmonton with his parents until their demise in the late-1980s. Then, in 1993, on a whim (and allegedly after a late night with Mike Arnold-Gilliat), he ventured down to Henley-on-Thames to visit the Club's late president, Peter Sly. Sly took Len to see his late mother-in-law's house in Greys Road, Henley, which had recently gone on the market. Much to Sly's surprise, Len agreed to buy the house on the spot: it was probably the biggest decision he had ever made in his life.
Len would spend the remaining twenty four years of his life in this house; few people ever saw the interior and he rarely drew back the curtains. Nevertheless, living in Henley actually suited Len quite well. Friends often visited and there was no shortage of agreeable hostelries nearby. He, in turn, was a frequent visitor at 'Old Blades', the Sly residence, and would never tire of relating the story of how in 1977 he alerted Peter Sly to an auction of two old workmen's cottages on the Henley reach that would ultimately be reborn as 'Old Blades'.
Like so many of his generation, Len Huggett remained fiercely independent, living alone until the very end, despite having suffered several strokes. In reality, of course, the Cygnet safety net was always close at hand, with Pat, Pru and Oscar Sly increasingly alert to Len's wellbeing in later years.
For many of us, our abiding memory of Len Huggett in his twilight years will have been of him 'holding court' on the patio at 'Old Blades' on Henley Regatta Friday - he would never commit to going, but he always turned up, contrarian to the last, and invariably pronounced it to be 'a lovely old day'.
Paul Rawkins,
20th June 2017
Please feel free to share your memories of Len using the Comments box, below.
(Len is at 2 in this VIII from Kingston Regatta 1959)
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