Rob Roy Boat Club

07/03/2023

It's a very special year for our club in The Boat Race. Congratulations and good luck to former Rob Roy juniors Sarah Marshall and Brett Taylor who have been selected to race the Tideway this year on 26 March 2023. Go Robs!

04/02/2023

The Rob Roy Boat Club junior squad’s coaching team reflect on winning a national award.

13/05/2022

Great to see Charles Cousins wearing Rob Roy colours in the medals at the Welsh Rowing Beach Sprints: #2 in CM1xhttps://www.welshrowing.com/images/Results_CM1x_Beach_Sprints_7-5-22.pdf and #1 with Helen Glover in Mix2xhttps://www.welshrowing.com/images/Result_Mix2x_Beach_Sprints_7-5-22.pdf

06/01/2022

If anyone competed at major rowing events from 2012 until COVID struck and you want to get photographs of yourself, family members or friends racing, please visit Ian Weir's Rowing Photography site https://rowingphotography.photoshelter.com/archive and use the 20% discount code he has provided: FINAL20

As some of you may know, over the past few years I’d started to do more and more video work and less and less photography. Pre-pandemic I had a fantastic 2020 lined up with a steady stream of video work with Ludum, was due to be the official photographer for the Head of the River Race as well as w...

24/12/2021

The last post in this series remembering Dick Rumbelow, with items given to Rob Roy by his wife Jean, is his obituary. With two photos: one of his marriage flanked by his Rob Roy crew with an arch of blades and one of a tie he left from the 14th Army (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Army_(United_Kingdom).

ERIC HERBERT JOHN RUMBELOW known to his family and friends as Dick, he was given this name by an uncle because of his love of doughnuts hence Dicky Doughnut. Dick was born on the 31 March 1919 to his parents Herbert and Polly, and they lived at 52 Beche Road, with his sister Muriel and the twins Lionel and the late Dennis. He attended the Brunswick school, and on leaving school at the age of 14 years he worked for his father in the family coal business, until the start of war, when Dick was called up to serve in the army. He was at Dunkirk, where he and his comrades had to swim from the beach to a boat for a safe return back to England. He was then transferred to the Royal Electrical, Mechanical Engineers and served the rest of his time in Burma.

After the war Dick met and married Jean. They were married in Abbey Church, Newmarket Road, on Saturday 14 July, 1951 at 2.30pm. As Dick was a member of the Rob Roy Boat Club they formed a Guard of Honour holding the oars above their heads as they left the church. In 1946 Dick had the honour of being stroke in the first boat for the Robs and they won Head of the River. Later he carried on as a coach for the Rob Roy's, riding along the river bank on his bicycle.

Dick also liked bowling and he and Jean bowled for the Coleridge Bowls Club, they were also very keen on ballroom dancing, and they won several medals.

From the age of 12 years Dick was very interested in breeding and showing Pigeons his favourites being Pygmy Pouters, Tipplers and Rollers, he had some of the best birds in England, and was also a Judge at the Norfolk and Suffolk Shows.

After the death of their father, Dick and Lionel kept the family coal business going and the firm became Rumbelow Brothers, they continued in this very hard occupation until retirement.

Dick was a very kind, easy going gentle man, and would help anyone, and he will be sadly missed by Jean, his family and friends, in fact anyone who had contact with him.

24/12/2021

The penultimate post celebrating Dick Rumbelow's contributions to Rob Roy Boat Club.

The next generation: Rob Roy Juniors are out on the water with Dick Rumbelow and his brother single Lionel Rumbelow most weekends in Cambridge.

Rob Roy Boat Club Senior Four 1950
Bow: J. Langford 12.3; 2: L.W. Rumbelow 11.0 (middle back row - Lionel was Captain of RRBC in 1953 & 1954); 3: E.T. Mansfield 12.10
Stroke: E. Bailey 10.7 (probably on left-hand end of middle row)
Cox: D.J. Heald (front); President: Dr E.V. Bevan (2nd from right in middle row); Club Captain: E.H.J. Rumbelow 11.0 (On right-hand end of middle row)
Coach: H.M. Warriner (sic - 2nd from left on middle row)
Winners of C.R.A. Challenge Fours. Semi-final beat 99 RC, Final beat CTRC
Photo: Stearn & Sons, Cambridge

This is the one photo we have of Dick and Lionel together, in the year that Dick was Captain.

Also showing Dick's blazer and scarf, made by East Brothers in Cambridge in January 1946.

24/12/2021

When competing and not necessarily winning was celebrated in the same way as winning (and when masters could race as "juniors")

This post is the framed presentation of the Rob Roy Boat Club First Boat in 1948, when Dick Rumbelow was 29, and a Novice Fours pot from St Ives Regatta (The St Ives Rowing Club) in 1949.

From the frame:
Rob Roy Boat Club First Boat 1948
Annual Bumping Races
Finished Second on River
Finalists Oxford City Royal Regatta*
Bow: R.E. Jordan 11.4
2: E.W. Bailey 10.0 (probably left-hand end of back row)
3: E.H.J. Rumbelow 11.0 (right-hand end of back row)
4: N.H. Cornwall 12.0
5: P.A. Welton 12.3
6: N. Stanton 13.6
7: R.L. Wilson 11.12
Stroke: J.D.F. Hiscock 12.12
Cox: P.R. Todd 8.2 (front)
President: Dr E.V. Bevan (3rd from left in middle row)
Coaches: Mr M.H. Warriner (CUBC Cambridge University Boat Club - probably 3rd from right in middle row - Michael Henry Warriner was in the 1928 GB coxless four with Edward Bevan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Warriner) and Mr R.T. Wilson (RRBC - probably 2nd from left in middle row)
Photo: Stearn & Sons, Cambridge

*The 1948 Oxford Royal Regatta is recorded in the British Rowing Almanack 1949 on p.147. Held on August 2: Jun 8-o [R T Alden Cup] Falcon RC beat Rob Roy by ¾ length in 5m 18s.

At this time the definition of “A Junior Oarsman is an oarsman (A) who has never won a race with oars at a regatta other than :—a race in which the construction of the boats was restricted or a race limited to members of one club ; (B) who has never been a competitor in any International Rowing Match or in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Save and except as permitted in Rule 18, no oarsman who has won a race at a Regatta in which the construction of boats was restricted shall compete as a junior in any such race after the end of the current year.”

23/12/2021

One more post for today with a pair of Rob Roy book-ends that were left by Dick Rumbelow. We unfortunately don't know what books may have been between them, but I include a photo with some that he may have had.

23/12/2021

This post has two more items from 1946 left by former Rob Roy Captain Dick Rumbelow: Cambridgeshire Rowing Association 1946 Head of River pot for E.H.J. Rumbelow and a framed presentation of the Rob Roy Boat Club First Boat 1946

From the frame (with some additional notes):
Head of the River 1946
Bumped Beehives. 1, Scouts. 1
President: Dr E.V. Bevan (probably top left insert in photo. Bevan was President of Rob Roy from 1946 to 1980 and he won gold in the GB coxless four at the 1928 Olympic Games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Vaughan_Bevan)
Captain: A. Potter

Bow: F.C.A. Mansfield 11.6
2: D.A.W. Hale 9.10
3: P.D. Snelson 11.9
4: S.R. Rolph 11.7
5: A.W. Ladds 15.0
6: N. Stanton 12.3
7: R.L. Wilson 11.12
Stroke: E.H.J. Rumbelow 10.6 (2nd from left in middle row)
Cox: P.R. Todd 7.8 (front)
Coaches: B.K. Barber (Clare College) and A. Potter (RRBC)
Photo: Stearn & Sons, Cambridge

The coat of arms on the left at the top is for City of Cambridge (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_the_City_of_Cambridge.svg)

23/12/2021

Number 3 in our posts remembering former Rob Roy Captain Dick Rumbelow. Three ties and a cap.

A cap and tie from the Cambridgeshire Rowing Association (CRA) 1938-1946. Not sure if this was done specifically to remember the break between races caused by WWII, the return to rowing, or what? CRA has shared some history up to 1931 on its website (https://www.crarowing.co.uk/about/about-the-cra/early-cra-history), but the work on the history from 1931 is not yet available. Rob Roy Boat Club had no committee or activities from 1940 to 1945 because of the war.

We have also included a photo of the cap label from Ryder & Amies who are the official outfitters for Cambridge University and still occupy the same shop that this cap was probably ordered from about 75 years ago.

Two unknown ties - the first a rowing tie with a red and gold stripe on a purple background with crossed blades. This tie has a label from ‘Macuseta Ltd The Club Tie Specialists “Sporties”’. The second, almost certainly not rowing related, has the initials RABDF, which could be the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF), the Royal Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, or something else, but there doesn't seem to be a similar logo on the web.

If anyone can confirm what organisations these two unknown ties represent that would be great!

22/12/2021

The next post in our series remembering Dick Rumbelow is a picture of the Rob-Nines May Boat in 1946, when Dick would have been 27 having returned from serving in the 14th Army in WWII. Information from the frame:
Bow: E. Rumbelow 10.5 (4th from left in back row)
2: A.D. Beard 11.9
3: T.F.P. Pavely 11.8
4: D.S. Norris 12.8
5: N.D. Slater 11.11
6: S. Johnson 11.0
7: E.W. Porter 10.5
Stroke: E.R. Skinner 11.7
Cox: P.R. Todd 7.8 (front)
Coaches: R.F. Burrell (99 RC), F.J. Waller (RRBC)
Photo: Stearn & Sons, Cambridge

How many others times have Rob Roy and Cambridge '99 Rowing Club competed in a composite crew?

We believe that negatives from Stearn & Sons are held in the Cambridgeshire Collection (https://www.fadingimages.uk/stearnnegs.pdf), and coach R.F. Burrell joined Nines in 1935, was their captain for 17 years and is the name behind the annual awards organised by the Cambridge & District Secondary School Sport Association.

22/12/2021

Remembering former Rob Roy captain Dick Rumbelow

Thanks to Facebook for enabling the son of a friend of Jean Rumbelow to contact Rob Roy so that we can now share some photos of items left by her late husband Dick Rumbelow. We thought the wider rowing community would appreciate these items and join us in thanking Jean for bringing them out into the open. If anybody has additional information about the items or any of the people mentioned, please feel free to share it with us. Expect to see photos of past crews, pots and more over the next few days.

We’ll start with three items from 1938, when Dick Rumbelow was 19. A painted blade for the Rob Roy Boat Club 1st Boat 1938 and cups from the Cambridgeshire Rowing Association (CRA) Eight Oared Time Race and Head of River for E.R. Rumbelow.

The blade lists the following:
Bow: F. Pavely 11.2
2. E. Rumbelow 10.6
3. F. Mansfield 11.3
4. K. Cook 11.0
5. E. Miller 11.6
6. R. Wallace 11.5
7. A.W. Ladds 12.8
Stroke: S.E. Johnson 10.8
Cox: W.A. Hawkins 8.4
Winner of CRA Time Race Bumped “99” 1 SCOUTS 1
Coaches: Prof. E. (?) H. Walker, B. Wardale Capt.