Kidderminster Shuttle, 28th February

ROWING: Bewdley made a solid start to the season as a large contingent from the club competed in Sunday's Worcester Head event.

The club had a host of eight-man and four-man boats competing in the seniors, novices, women's and veterans sections.

The event had originally been a 6000 metre long event but it was cut down to 4500m because of safety concerns after large amounts of debris were found in the River Severn.

The men's senior three eight boat, which contained a mix of older heads and novices, recorded the 10th fastest time of the day.

This then followed on the internet article:

The club's senior two eight boat, which featured club captain Craig Robinson, the women's senior three eight and the veteran over-55s four also produced solid performances.

Women's boats from Bewdley will be racing in the Eight Head event on the River Thames on Saturday, while the men compete on Saturday, March 15.

Bewdley member and student Simon Barbour helped organise University of Reading's head event on Saturday, which attracted boats from Henley club Leander, Oxford and Oxford Brookes University.

Bewdley Christmas Pudding Races 2007 

With the river behaving itself Bewdley Rowing Club drew the curtain on the 2007 season with the Christmas Pudding Scratch Races, held at their clubhouse in Bewdley on a very cold and wintry day.

The crews (all draw randomly from all squads; male and female, veteran and junior, senior and recreational) were also treated to mulled wine and mince pies.  The winning crew were Doug Jackson, Carol Jackson, Yvonne Ogilvie-Hardy, Derek Chapman, Papa Ray and Laura Ray and coxed by Lorna Pritchard.

Photo’s from the day, including the club photo, are soon to appear on the website.

Rowing and Regatta, December 07

Inaugural Burton Head Race

Following a major facelift which was unveiled in March of this year, Burton Leader was able to jointly host the first ever Burton Head, attracting 97 crews and suitably successful that it is likely to become a regular fixture on the racing calendar .

The inaugural Burton Head Race was held on Sunday 28 October, downstream on the River Trent in Burton-upon-Trent.  This event was organised by members of Burton Leander RC and Trent RC and crews from around the Midlands raced in two divisions, each over a distance of 3,500m.

In total 97 crews took part in the event .  The largest individual club entry was from the local Burton Leander RC, but crews from Stoke, Derby, Bewdley, Nottingham and Leicester provided a high level of competition.  Boat categories varied from Senior Eights to Veteran and J15 Single Sculls.

Weather conditions were wet and windy for the morning division but brightened up somewhat for the afternoon (a perfectly timed downpour at lunchtime encouraging competitors and spectators to enjoy vast quantities of hot beef and pork rolls fresh from Leander’s kitchen, which was revamped din 2006).

The fastest event of the day was the Men’s Senior 2 Coxless Fours, with crews from Burton Leander and Bewdley finishing in a dead heat with a time of 11 minutes and 3 seconds.  Bewdley also won the Men’s Senior 4 Eights to make their journey across the Midlands even more worthwhile.  There was a tie for the club with most wins – both Leicester BC and Stoke RA each going home with seven victories.  Nottingham and Burton Leander each had five wins, Derby RC, Bewdley and Trent RC two each; and Derwent RC also took home a win….

(The Bewdley Women’s Novice Eight were photographed and appear on page 24;  the Bewdley Men’s Novice Eight, rowing up a status at Senior 4, were also photographed and appear on page 37.)