| Cygnet Rowing Club |
| Illustrated History |
The Bungalow
By the early 1900s the popularity of up-river trips was well-established in the Club's annual fixture list. It seemed only natural, therefore, that Cygnet should establish a camp at Hamhaugh Island, Shepperton 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 £2.10/- up until 1915, when it was increased to £5.
The grand reunion
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, which appears below. 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 held'. 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. 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 1920s, attracting a band of stalwarts who came to be known as the `Camp Boys'. In the early days before a walk way was built over the weir the island was reached by a boat kept on the Weybridge shore. All camp members quickly learnt how to hail the boat from the Weybridge shore 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 Nissen 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.
Rebuilding
By the early 1960s the existing building was past renovation, although it had lately become more hospitable with the arrival on the island of electricity and mains water! In 1963 Derek Bush therefore proposed a plan to rebuild the bungalow completely. Not for the last time, a bungalow sub-committee was formed and, after some deliberation, recommended the purchase of a red-cedar sectionalised building to be made to specification by a Chertsey firm. The cost of this, together with the additional timber for flooring, was in the order of £650. Most of this sum was raised in interest-free loans from a small number of Club members.
Work began on demolishing the old bungalow on a cold winter's day in February 1964, with Derek Bush acting as foreman. The accompanying photographs give the reader some idea of how the work progressed. As each part of the old bungalow was dismantled, a new section was delivered for construction. These new sections were delivered to the Weybridge side, so that the Club had to hire an ex-naval pinnace and dory to ferry the individual sections to the island. Apparently, the whole operation was not unlike an episode out of the `African Queen', since the master of the pinnace was a bearded gentleman who treated its mechanical moving parts with the same irreverence as Bogart. Nevertheless, the reconstruction proceeded apace and by the end of August all was complete. The Grand Opening pictured below took place during the August Bank Holiday and was performed by `Jack' Sheppard, the Club President, who is seen here sitting on the steps.
The improved facilities greatly enhanced the bungalow's popularity during the 1960s and 70s and it thrived under the long stewardship of Nina and Norman (`Paddy') Padwick. Thus, many members of this era will have pleasant memories of quiet Sunday afternoons spent on the lawn and messing around in boats on the river, or the nearby Wey Navigation canal. Others will have more poignant memories of training outings from Chiswick to Shepperton or the riotous parties that took place in the late-1970s courtesy of the Rawkins brothers. Every generation has a tale to tell about the bungalow.
Although it is true to say that the bungalow has been less well patronised in the 1980s, the Club recognises that it is a unique asset and one that deserves to be preserved for future generations. The 1960s structure has served the Club well and is presently being refurbished to a higher standard, including running water and proper bathroom facilities. Once again, self-help has been the order of the day and few have done more than Ron Lambe, Alan Rudlin and Vic Reeves. Hopefully, therefore, the 1990s will mark a new phase in the Camp's popularity.