C is for Clubs

The rapid rise in the popularity of rowing from the 1840s onwards resulted in a bewildering proliferation of clubs and crews, particularly amongst the trades - stage carpenters, tailors, compositors, curriers, boilermakers, drillers, riveters, potters, boatbuilders, calendermen (who eventually had their own regatta), and the police, all had separate clubs. This was in addition to the many clubs fielded by the printing houses - MacLehose, McCorquodales, Glasgow University Press, Blackie & Sons, Collins and Wm Hodge & Co, who held their own regatta from 1872. On the amateur side, there was the Glasgow Regatta Club, Phoenix Amateur Rowing Club, The Carrick RC, The Northern RC, The Western RC…the list goes on. Many were mayflies and only ran for a few years. However, a handful have persisted.

The oldest surviving rowing club on the Clyde, Clydesdale Amateur Rowing Club, were officially founded in 1856 as ‘Clydesdale Gentleman’s Amateur Rowing Club’. However, there are tantalising hints that the club may have existed in some form, slightly earlier, though perhaps under another name. The Glasgow Courier in 1856, reported on a Clydesdale Rowing Club match: 'the winning crew were the same who at former regattas have appeared as the Young Glasgow Club', perhaps the same personnel as the 'Young Glasgow Team', first mentioned in the press in 1853. The club is fortunate in having retained many of its original minute books and other archival documents, an invaluable mine of information for early rowing history. The first club annual report from 1856 records "in a small meeting, convened in Steele's Coffee-Room [90 Argyle St], where, with Arethusa Albert Small Esq. as chairman, your secretary moved, the creation of a humble rowing club".

The club held their inaugural annual regatta, still a major fixture on the rowing calendar, in 1857. The Glasgow Saturday Post, and Paisley and Renfrewshire Reformer, stated this was their 'seventh' annual regatta, again suggesting an earlier formation date than the accepted date of 1856. Originally based on the north bank of the river near the Suspension Bridge, they moved into the eastern half of the West Boathouse in 1905, the home they still share with Clyde ARC.

Over the years, Clydesdale ARC have produced some outstanding athletes and coaches. One of the club's earliest champions was Harold Paterson Murdoch, winner of the Senior Sculls at the Tailteann International Regatta in 1928. Renowned coaches include Alex McIlwraith, who won Scottish Coach of the Year in 1958, Peter Grieve and Jimmy Ross. Iain Somerside, past president of SARA, played a major role in developing our National Rowing Academy. Former Community Coach, Miki Lee Dale won sportscotland’s Young Person’s Coach of the Year in 2017 for his work in nurturing young talent and reaching out to children and young people in more deprived parts of the city. Three former reigning Club Presidents and veteran squad members – Gordon Simpson, Duncan Paterson and Owen McGhee – hold the accolade of having attended both the centenary regatta in 1957 and the 150th-anniversary event in 2007.

Women joined as full members in 1979 and flourished. Gillian Lindsay was both World Champion and Olympic silver medallist, as well as holding the distinction of being the most successful woman sculler of all time at the point of her retirement in 2001. Dame Katherine Grainger is currently the most decorated female Olympian from Great Britain. While not an alumna, she is a longstanding friend of the club, whose first outing was in a Clydesdale tub pair. Ali Watt holds the record for the fastest time in winning the British Women's Sculling Championship in 1999. Former club president, Karen Barton is a former World University Champion and silver medallist in the women's four. She then rowed in eights, becoming a European Champion in 2016, and took a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Former alumni Harry Leask (coached by Clydesadle ARC's Chris Phillips as a Junior), won bronze in the double scull at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships and recently won the silver medal in the men's quad sculls (M4x) at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Clyde Amateur Rowing Club were founded in April 1865, at a meeting held in their club room at the Clutha Boathouse in 'Little Govan' (Hutchesontown), their first home. The Post Office Directory entry for 1865 lists a membership of thirty, with George Geddes of the Glasgow Humane Society acting as club-master. They held their first annual regatta the same year. The Sportsman, recorded the first annual 'festival' of Clyde Amateur Rowing Club, at the Mechanics Hall in Calton, in December 1865. It was, by all accounts, a good bash - 'members, assisted by a number of friends, enlivened the company with some capital singing; afterwards, a ball took place, which was kept up with great zest until morning'. A small group of early members are thought to have abandoned boats for balls and were instrumental in founding Rangers Football Club in 1872 (see G for Glasgow Green).

In 1884, Sporting Life stated 'this club now numbers upwards of seventy rowing members, and has removed to their new boathouse [they moved from the Clutha Boathouse in 1882], in part of Messrs. Barbour and Miller's [Adelphi Street carpet manufacturers] premises, to the east of the Suspension Bridge at Glasgow'. The club relocated to the West Boathouse in 1905.

The club celebrated its twenty-first regatta in 1886. Traditionally, this event was held late in the season - usually in September - and was often subject to inclement weather. In this instance, it was postponed for a whole month, to accommodate the Dumbarton Regatta. When the time came for their own event, 'the Glasgow oarsmen sacrificed much to suit the convenience of Dumbarton oarsmen, they received sorry return, not a single rower from Dumbarton patronising their regatta'. They suffered further indignity by being beaten by old rivals, Clydesdale ARC. On a positive note, the occasion was blessed with 'delightful' weather.

One of the early leading lights of the club was the Penny brothers - Tom, Laurie, Sandy, Bill and Jimmy - who were active during the late 1920s and 30s. They were known on the circuit as the 'Fourpence Ha'ppeny Crew' - the 'ha-penny' referring to the youngest and smallest member of the crew, 10-year-old Jimmy, who acted as team cox. They took the junior Scottish title in both 1929 and 1930 and won the senior race in 1931. The Riverside Museum in Glasgow has an exhibition dedicated to the Penny Brothers, with items donated by Tom's son. It was opened by Jimmy, the 'ha'penny', then aged 91, in 2014.

When women joined in 1979, the club was given a further boost. Notable alumni include Polly Swann, an Olympic silver and bronze medalist, and World and European Champion; and Imogen Walsh, one of GB's most successful lightweight women's rowers, winning multiple medals at World and European Championships, as well as on the World Cup stage.