A brief history of the Trent Rowing Club, adapted
from an article written by the late David Neale in 1994
and updated on an annual basis.

© Trent Rowing Club 1984 - 2009

Trent Rowing Club is one the oldest sporting clubs in Burton upon Trent. We can trace the Club’s amateur history back to 1863, when all Rowing Clubs in the country were brought under the auspices of the Amateur Rowing Association (ARA). But the Club also had a professional history in the years before with one recorded win at Derby Regatta in 1859 when it won a prize of 20 Gold Sovereigns for a four oared success.

Throughout its history Trent has been an egalitarian organisation which drew its support from all sectors of Burton society, as it still does today. Unfortunately in 1889 the ARA introduced the infamous “mechanics rule” which debarred all manual workers from its events in an attempt to clean out the remaining habits of professionalism within the sport.

Trent refused to eject its manual workers, a consequence of which saw the Club banned from all ARA events. Led by Percy Evershed of the local maltster family and industrialist Charles P Spooner (later of Burton fairground ride constructors Orton and Spooner and owner of the Swan Hotel and all land abutting the River Trent in Stapenhill Road), the Club was instrumental in creating the National Amateur Rowing Association which enabled clubs with similar principles to continue rowing.

The Burton Rowing Club and Burton Leander Rowing Club had rules which excluded manual workers and were not affected by the “mechanics rule”. However, the Burton Regatta was a joint venture and had to compromise by allowing special events in its programme to accommodate the Trent oarsmen. The “mechanics rule” lasted fifty years and was finally abolished at the outbreak of the Second World War.

While Burton Rowing Club was being obliterated by the ravages of the First World War, men returning from the trenches turned to Trent in great numbers in the twenties. They enjoyed considerable success under the guidance of such men as Walter John Mason who was Secretary from 1901 to 1938 and is a relative of the present Treasurer Mike Mason and his son Brian, a current member of the Club’s management committee.

Throughout the Second World War the Club’s property was used as an Auxiliary Police Station and its upkeep made by Councillor Harry Jones who was to become Town Mayor immediately after the War. He was a powerful figure who single-handedly held off the take-over of the Club by Burton Leander in 1946 and encouraged his son Jack, who had been a successful oarsman before the war, to generate a new youthful membership.

This he did by inviting Junior members to join from the local Working Mens Club and amongst that number were the names of men who shaped the Club’s history over the following fifty years. Bill Brake, undoubtedly the Club’s greatest ever Club man who died in 1992 at the age of 61, was a successful oarsman and sculler and passionate organiser for the youth of this town.

In 1946, Tom Fisher had at one time been the Club’s only member until he was joined by others including Terry Gadsby, Keith Torr, Carl Woodings, Goff Sharpe and of course Ted Field who went on to enjoy success with the Royal Air Force at Henley and gain a bronze medal in the European Championships in 1953.

Ted stayed on the Thames to make Wallingford Rowing Club a powerful rowing force and eventually emigrated to Australia in 1964 where they probably haven’t yet got over the shock of his fanaticism.

The winning of the prestigious Evesham Tower trophy in 1956 was the highlight of this input, following which for many years the Club enjoyed meagre success on the water. But a considerable club spirit meant that the ancient club was merely sleeping, not dying.

Two young scullers, Peter Spiby and Terry Roe, emerged from the Club’s breadbasket, Burton’s Stapenhill estates, in the late seventies. In 1980 they became the first Trent members to pull on England vests in the Home International in Strathclyde coached by Bob McDonald and John Oram.

By 1981 the Club had tasted ambition and Bill Brake wanted more. At this point, David Neale was invited into the Club to coach having left Burton Leander in 1979.

A development plan was put in place, which needed considerable effort by many people. None more so than Richard Gipson who became Secretary in January 1982 and still holds that position today.

Bill Brake raised funds as treasurer for a complete renewal of the racing fleet including three eights which forced the Club to extend its boathouse. This was done mainly by the members, with the architectural work by Barry Edwards.

When an intake of 14-year-old youngsters joined in February 1982 Tom Fisher provided transport – his company’s breakdown vehicle, which left the youngsters rather grubby on arrival at some important Regattas. They affectionately called the van “The Armpit”.

By 1984 those youngsters were racing for England in the Anglo-French match as sixteen year olds, eight members out of total membership of twenty-nine. En-route they had brought tears to the eyes of Bill Brake at Twickenham as they beat Eton College to bury the memory of the “mechanics rule”.

The Club has continued to seek excellence on the water combined with discipline on the bank, where academic achievement or success in Industrial occupations are of equal importance. The raison-d’être of the Club is, as it always has been, to be egalitarian. One young man added Olympic representation to his England vest – Shaun Greaves (now Shaun Carlton-Greaves), one of the 1982 intake, represented Great Britain as an Electrician in the 1991 Skill Olympics at the NEC in Birmingham - the “mechanics” would have been proud. Shaun is now the Club’s Social Secretary, and has become one of the Club’s modern day stalwarts.

The Club’s first Gold Medal came in 1989 at the National Championships in Strathclyde with a girls quad scull crew coached by Becky Neale.

Becky had raced for England in the Anglo-French match in 1986 but took to coaching at the age of 16 when injury ended her racing career in 1988. She brought a total of thirteen National championships and National School medals to the Club during a period of her Captaincy, which ended in 1994.

Throughout the eighties the success of Danny Johnson and Gareth Davis, coached by Digger Johnson, brought in two National Championship Golds and the same at the National Schools in addition to representation at the World Junior Championships, the Coupe des Jeunes and the Anglo French match. They also reached the final of the Fawley Cup at Henley in Trent colours in 1992 before joining Burton Leander in September of that year. Digger returned to the Club in 2005, and is currently the Club’s chief coaching officer.

Since its introduction in 1989 the Club has had over 30 young members collect East Staffordshire Sports Scholarships, sponsored by the Burton Mail, in recognition of the standard of racing they have achieved.

David Neale, who retired from the Captaincy in 1992 to became the Club’s Coaching Advisory Officer, tragically died from a heart attack on 16^th February 1995. This immense loss left a great void in the Club’s coaching and organisational capabilities, as well as depriving the town of Burton upon Trent as a whole of one of its greatest and most enthusiastic sports administrators. It is arguable that David, with his powerful, almost fanatical, enthusiasm, made a greater contribution to the history of the Trent Rowing Club during his relatively short membership than any member before or since.

Over the next decade the Club maintained a steady membership with varying degrees of competition success. The Club continued to be seen at the National Schools Regatta and the National Championships for some years but found success at these levels more and more elusive. The Club’s competitive forays onto the regatta circuit became fewer and further between, to the extent that some of our sister club’s from further afield would have been forgiven for thinking that the Club had disappeared.

The years following David Neale’s death were undoubtedly one of the darkest periods of the Club’s history, and looking back it is an accolade of the Club’s management at the time that the Club survived. The Club’s long serving officers, Chairman John Oram, Treasurer Mike Mason and Secretary Richard Gipson, along with the then Captain Brian Mason and a very able management committee, strove through these years of mixed fortunes to keep the Club quietly but healthily ‘ticking over’. Whilst not breaking any records, Trent’s culture of good management continued, maintaining a steady social income, and cultivating the ambition waiting to be brought to fruition.

In December 2002 Brian Mason stood down from the Captaincy and the current Captain, Pete Gipson, took the reigns.

The past six years of Pete’s Captaincy have seen the Club's competitive squads grow considerably, and the Club’s regatta attendance has increased many fold, resulting in a superb list of regatta successes. The 2003 season saw Trent members competing at seven regattas, winning trophies at five. After two years with no regatta wins at all, to finish the year with eight wins on the score sheet was definitely a reflection of the new level of enthusiasm and commitment to be found within the Club, and a great accolade to Pete’s work.

This trend continued with the Club’s activity increasing through 2004 and 2005, with a further boost to the Club’s coaching team arriving with the return of Digger Johnson, arguably one of the East Midland’s top coaching talents. Digger, assisted by Bob Edge, has worked wonders with the Club’s senior squads, facilitating many of the large boat successes and providing inspiration for the whole rowing membership.

2007 also started well for the Club, and up until the middle of the regatta season the members were well on target for breaking the Club’s regatta wins record of 31 trophies. However, the 2007 regatta programme will be remembered for different reasons as the middle of the season was decimated due to the flooding which saw the cancellation of around 10 regattas including, for the first time since the 1960s, cancellation of our own Burton Regatta. The season still provided 20 regatta wins and 4 head wins for the Club, and also gave us a good tally of large boat sweep oar wins including the Club’s first eight oared win since the late 1980s.

2008 saw the membership back on track, chasing the elusive 31 win record. Competing every other weekend, the members batted through fair weather and foul, enjoying a wide variety of events and the most successful Burton Regatta weekend for many years. The season also saw another first for the Club when a crew of 20 plus a drummer became the most successful Club at the first Ross-on-Wye Dragon Boat Championships, dressed as Smurfs and coloured blue to boot! The 2008 season ended in record style, with a total of 29 regatta wins and 5 head wins, along with a Bronze National Championships medal and, not to be forgotten, the Club’s first ever Dragon Boat Championship trophy!

The Club also now attracts different types of rowers with a large number of social rowers regularly being seen on the river at weekends through the year. The Social Squad goes by the acronym of the Trent SHARC’s. For a full translation you need to speak with a SHARC, suffice it to say here that the oarsmen tend to be vertically challenged and somewhat hirsute in certain areas…

For a number of years the Club has enjoyed relationships with several local schools, these partnerships allowing both the Club and the Schools to benefit from ‘Awards for All’ funding, as well as providing a source of junior members for the Club. Currently, our main link is with the Abbot Beyne school in Winshill, and this link formed the backbone of the Club’s ‘ARA & Sport England Clubmark’ application package which resulted in award of this prestigious, and vitally important, accreditation in September 2005.

Clubmark is a cross-sport accreditation for sports clubs with junior sections, and is a valuable confirmation that a club adheres to good practice throughout its activities with regards to junior membership. Accredited Club’s details appear on the national database of Clubmark clubs, and Clubmark accreditation is seen as vital when developing links with schools as it confirms that the Club’s Child Protection Procedures and Good Practices are in place and have been vetted by the Club’s governing body. We were therefore extremely proud to be one of the first clubs from any sport in the East Staffordshire area to have received Clubmark Accreditation.

Our link with Abbot Beyne also provides the Club with a steady intake of junior members who, thanks to our Junior coaching team headed up by John Ash and John Oram, form the basis of our ongoing squad development plans.

As well as being proud of our long history, Trent Rowing Club also looks toward the future, mindful of the need to provide our members with facilities befitting of an ambitious 21^st century sports club.

Our boathouse turned 100 years old in 2007. Whilst the timber boathouse has served the Club well it has become clear that the Club has outgrown the building which offers extremely limited scope for expansion or development.

With this in mind the Club started to make development plans as we entered the new millennium - the Club’s options have been discussed in great detail and we are now entering the early stages of the Club’s development scheme and long term plan.

The 2007 Centenary of the building of our boathouse saw the Club reach a great milestone in its history. Up until this time the Stapenhill Road premises, including the land and the boathouse, had always been rented by the Club. Originally the Club’s landlord was Charles Spooner who later sold the property and adjacent land to brewers Bass, Ratcliffe and Gretton. In 2000, as the Club’s development plans became clear, it was recognised that it would be easier to bring the plans to fruition if the Club could secure the ownership of the freehold of the property. An approach was made to the landlords and negotiations rumbled on until, on 12^th July 2007, Trent Rowing Club became the proud owner of its home for the first time in its 144 year history.

The next stage of the development scheme includes the erection of an extension to the existing building to form a ‘Boat Barn’ to house the boat fleet and other rowing equipment. It is recognised that the Club’s future plans may well include the replacement of the existing building, and it is envisaged that the boat barn could then provide a base for the Club to operate from during the redevelopment of the site.

Planning permission for the Boat Barn was granted by East Staffordshire Borough Council in December 2008, and preparations for the scheme have commenced with land clearance and the completion of ground assessment surveys. It is hoped to be in a position to commence construction of the building within the next 12 months.

Trent Rowing Club is a proud institution with a long and varied history. The current management see themselves as the ‘guardians’ of the Club who’s job it is to protect the Club and to ensure that it will be here for future generations to enjoy as we, and generations before us, have.

© Trent Rowing Club

1984 – 2009