Good afternoon all!

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine. Fingers crossed it stays like this and warms up a bit come Saturday. Can't believe the Womens Head has come round so quick! There will be emails from people asking to help, so please if you have time to help out with anything please contact the following. Please can all those racing get baking Friday night for us to sell the cakes on Saturday!

Boating - Mike
Catering - Melanie and J
Launch Driving - Me

The race starts at 3pm on Saturday and we have 4 crews entered going off in the following position
35 - Vet B Crew
112 - IM2 crew
147 - Nov crew
223 - IM2 crew

If you're wondering why the novice crew is going off before the IM2 crew it is because the first 3 places were assigned due to the crews finishing spots last year, as this year we have an extra crew - the second IM2 crew- this is treated as a new entry. Lets hope next year we can go one better and have 5 crews, maybe the extra crew can be a second novice crew!!!

If anyone has a spare all in one please let me know too!

Good luck to all of those racing!!

Now is also the time we need to start thinking about the summer squads and Henley as that is going to be our next focus. Please have a think about what you want to achieve this summer. For those that are interested in Henley it takes place on June 18 - 20 (you may need to take the Friday off work depending on how the draw works out. This will be more likely for Intermediate crews.) if you are interested in Henley then there are key regattas we would like yout to be free for, for example the MET on 5 - 6 June. More information will follow sometime in march about this, but getting your thinking caps on!!

A new availability chart was sent to the Seniors - please return by this Friday. There will be no Senior outings on Sunday.

Have a good week!

1 March

Hope there aren't sore heads, injured or cold bodies after yesterdays racing! Womens and Juniors Hammersmith Head went ahead and the weather turned out to be fairly calm (well calm considering what was forcasted). Some great patches of rowing were reported (also some dodgy patches), some areas to work on coming up to the Eights head which is only 2 weeks away!!

The results are as follows
IM1 8+ (Lance, Hilary, Lesley, Rachel, Bev, Zoe, Ally, Sally, Alice) overall placing was 22 and came 2nd in category
IM2 8+ (Caroline, Sarah C, Jenny, MT, Charlotte S, Katy B, Jo M, Lucy, Katie C) overall placing 33 and came 4th in category
IM2 8+ (Dustin, Sarah D, Sara, Becky, Ciara, Poppy, Helena, Suzannah, Julia) overall placing 50 and came 9th in category
Nov 8+ (Sue G, Natalie, Leonie, Sue E, Rachel, Bizzie, Catherine, Sharon, Kate S) overall placing 52 and came 3rd in category

The draw is now out for the Eights Head - can be found at http://www.wehorr.org/draw.htm

Lets get some really strong productive training in for the Eights Head on and off the water over next 2 weeks!!

Training camp still going ahead and we hope to have things finalise by the end of this week!

Enjoy your week!!

18th February

Oops another delayed weekly news update. Ho hum.

Well been a busy old week. Once again crews out in force, great to have so many crews out on the water. Hammersmith head is Sunday 28th - not long now. We have a Novice, 2 IM2 eights and an IM1 eight.

Saturday saw the AGM happening in between novice and senior outings. Quick wrap up on finances - all is ok. We're paying the money we owe and money is still coming in through subs. We then moved onto voting in our new committee. Secretary and web mistress stayed same with Katie Coyle and Sue grobler staying on respectively. Zoe stood down as Social Secretary and MT stepped up, Annelise stood down as treasurer and Lucy Fry stood up! Just want to say thank you to Zoe and Annelise for all of the hard work while being on the committee. Rubina our president has kindly agreed to go to the CSSC Seminar in the summer. She also told us about plans for a veteran lunch in May. There may also be a few places for some of the younger members to come along. We then did a quick club round up - still plan to spend money when we can but rather than new equipment we hope to identify boats that need a bit of TLC.

All of this happened in just half an hour! Speedy!!!

Random notices
As most of you are aware hamemrsmith bridge is closed at the weekends, well to further delay us barnes bridge is closed this Sunday - please leave extra time to get across from wherever you have to come from.

Those that are racing please start thinking about whether you have race kit or need to borrow some. Novices contact Ciara, Seniors please contact me

The shed - please ensure you remember to clean down you slide/ erg after, put weights away after you have used them. Also if you have worked hard enough to have sweat dripping off you please clean up the drips!!

The Cygnet bungalow still has some dates free if people would like to rent it. Contact me and I will pass on the details if you are interested.

Boats
A plead from me regarding taking boats off racks. Please please please take care. You will have to drop the outside shoulder of the boat to roll it off the rack rather than just a lift up and whack it off! You may have also noticed Annelise and Ali B have swapped places (I'm talking about boats not people). This means Gledders is above Annelise, please please take extra care in getting gledders off - do not be afraid to ask if you need help, people please be willing to give it if asked. If Annelise ends up damaged due to people not paying attention or being careful putting the boats on and off the rack I will bill all of those with their hands on the boat at the time with the cost of repair. So yep if you hadnt of guessed the message is take care!!

Training camp
Well we have final names and just sorting out accommodation options and the costing then we will start to think about the format of rowing on the days. We may get to have Barnes bridge first training camp!

Dates
Below are a load of dates for your diary up till the summer - to help you plan your life AROUND rowing!!!

28 February Hammersmith Womens and Juniors
13 March Womens Head of River Race
27 March Mens Head of River Race (always some good sites!!! Also great for earning money on the cake stall)
28 March Vets Head
24 April Oxford Bumps
24 April Hammersmith Regatta
29 April - 3rd May Training camp
8 May Borne at Chiswick
15 May Putney Town Regatta
29 May Twickenham Regatta
5-6 June Peterborough Reg
5-6 June MET regatta
12 June Barnes and Mortlake Regatta
20 June Womens Henley
16 July NAT champs
16 May Poplar regatta

Tuesday 9th February

This will probably be the shortest BBLRC news I will ever send - dont get too used to it.

Week round up
All is great in BBL world. Lots of water outings and off water training.

Upcoming
AGM - Saturday 13th February. 1030am - everyone should make the effort to attend if you want to know what we have planned for the club.
Also voting in for the following positions
Secretary (currently Katie C)
Treasurer (currently Annelise)
Web master/ Communications (currently Sue Grobler)
Social Secretary (Currently Zoe G)

If you fancy any of these roles contact me or the person currently doing the job.

5k test - BOTH senior a Novice squad. Due in by Wednesday 17th February 9am.

If you haven't let me know about training camp let me know or if want more info - contact moi!

Ensure subs are up to date too!

Ta ta - keep the finishes high!

3rd February

Thought I would combine a news email with some updates.

Hopefully most of you have heard about what a successful day was had Quintin. Our novices won their event, the IM2 crew came second and the Vet crew racing as IM1 came 3rd in their category. Great start to 2010 - well done to everyone involved.

So with only 6 weeks to go till the Women's head training is in full force. With busy Monday nights down in the gym! Lets remain fully committed to get the best possible results for each crew, like I said only 6 weeks to go so no time to lighten off!!

We have 4 crews entered into Hammersmith and the women's head, 3 senior crews and one novice crew. Those that can do maths will be able to count that we only have three eights therefore we are borrowing a boat off Cygnet for our third Senior crew (very kind of them to let us borrow it)!

As you can imagine this puts a lot of pressure on our resources. Dave and Sue G are the only full time coxes and they cannot be expected to make every single outing therefore we are having to rely on others - often seniors who already have their own rowing commitments. Additionally we are unable to use the Cygnet boat every session plus I am not keen for our brand new very expensive eight to go out at night therefore we have had to do some juggling with water sessions to try and get crews on the water as often as possible. The time table is as follows:-

Tuesday PM - Senior 2 and Senior 3 crews out
Wednesday PM - Senior 3 crew and novice crew out
Thursday PM - Senior 1 and Senior 2 crew out
Saturday 7am - Senior 2 and Senior 3 crew out
Saturday 10am - Novice crew out
Saturday 2.30pm - Senior 1 crew out
Sunday 10am - Senior 1, 2 and 3 crew out
Sunday 11.30am - Novice crew out

As you can see expecting the same people to row and cox every session is unrealistic so some patience, understanding and any help you can offer on your part would be much appreciated. We are trying to keep things are fair as possible and not show a preference to one crew over another so if one week your crew misses an outing due to lack of coxes or subs then we will ensure that the following week it is not your crew that misses out.

Onto more exciting things - training camp!!!

As you are aware we took down availability for training camps. We have decided on the following dates Friday 30th April to Monday 3rd May. We would look to get in 4 days of rowing so would leave Thursday evening and come back Monday late afternoon/ evening. We are planning on going to Totnes in Devon and this is open to all - Novices and Seniors. At the moment we're hoping the cost will be £150 that will include food, accommodation, trailering but not the cost of travel there and back. Obviously a lot cheaper if people share transport in a car.

I think this camp will be beneficial to anyone who wants to improve rowing. I am not going to lie it isnt a holiday we are going to go there to row in a mixture of crews and to train as hard as possible, but the benefits will be immense which in turn will equal silverware!!!

Please can you let me know by Friday 12 February if you are wanting to come as we want to get this booked in as early as possible.

Tuesday 18th January

Morning all!

Week round up
Bit of a mixed week this week - Tuesday still cold so we had a nice core stability session in the bar. There was a lot of involuntary noises coming out and body shaking! Thursday the first and second eight got out not so much involuntary noise and body shaking. Saturday was huge amounts of fun seat racing in the cold and rain. The finally on Sunday we had sunshine - absolute shock to us all who had about 50 layers on and then proceed to sweat like we were i the tropics!

Excitingly the new blades arrived on Saturday. The courier man needed a little help in finding the place (thanks to Ali for the tip of us sharing the same postcode as two other boatclubs - Thames Tradesmen nearly got 8 new oars!).

As mentioned earlier there was seat racing on Saturday the crews for the upcoming races will be sent out shortly. I have to say it is great that our club is in a position of having a squad where deciding on crews is not easy and we have to seat race to aid the decision making. We have 3 senior crews and the final touches are being made to the novice crew.

AGM
Apparently an AGM has to be held in the first quarter of the year. A date has been set on February 13th. At this meeting we give you a round up of what is happening at the club, plans for the club, present the club accounts and also vote in the Secretary, Treasurer, Social Secretary. This will happen after outings on Saturday.

Website
Sue is working hard at keeping this updated with news and gossip so please if you have any share it with her. Also the training log is looking poorly - ie very few keeping it updated. Go to www.bblrc.co.uk to have a look.

Remember if you buy anything from Amazon do it through our website as we get a percentage of it - costs you nothing.

Fees
Remember they are still owed for some
Coxing = £60
Full = £330
CSSC = £260

That's all from me folks. Remember only 8 weeks till women's head!!!

Tuesday 12th January
Hello one and all.

News
Hope everyone is good and getting into the swing of training hard for these upcoming races!

What a cold week this has been! Boats got out on Tuesday night but Thursday had to cancel due to the cold, snow and general chaos that came with the snow. The Saturday and Sunday we were out in force. Sunday definitely being a lot warmer than sat - I didn't have to scrap car on Sunday!!

Last night saw a lot of seniors (plus 2 novices) doing their 5k test. So good work there. Remember times to be in by 9am Wednesday morning or we use your previous time.

There will be outings tonight and on Thursday for some. If you are not down for an outing on Thursday please use that opportunity to complete an erg or to go to circuits. Yep that's right circuits are back and they are on a Thursday at the school.

This weekend we will NOT be going to Dorney it is just too cold. We hope to get all the seat racing done on Saturday - it could mean an early start for some! We should hopefully be announcing all racing combinations next week.

Feedback
This is a new section to my news. The coaches are passing onto us lots of information and feedback so I am going to try and summarise it. This is to help us think more about our rowing and help us move forward week by week. Rowing as its a mental sport as well as a physical! (Yep fully aware i sound a bit of a pratt but its true!).

So.... Things that have come about this week are the following
- Length - as the rating comes up we shorten. So need ti make sure we keep the compression in the legs and sit back on it. Make the finishes strong by holding them high.
- Core Muscles - truthfully as a squad it could be a lot, lot stronger. We want to keep ourselves tall and strong through the stroke especially making sure we dont collapse at the finish. Take about 10 minutes a day working on those abs by doing planks, dorsal raises and sit ups.
- Toughening up - mentally and physically push yourself, when you start to tire thats when your strong mentality needs to come in to keep you rowing well. This is on the water and off the water.
- Off water training - remember we are training for races not erg tests. The erg tests are a measure of how successful your training is .

Safety
On Saturday saw a few members of the club really suffer with the cold (not just white fingers!!) the main reason behind this was because they got wet during the outing. Please do not suffer in silence, if you are feeling cold pipe up and tell the coach or cox. If you get wet during an outing immediately after outing get inside as quick as possible, get the wet clothes off, try clothes on and have a hot drink. Jumping in the shower if not always the best course if you are truly cold. Its important to warm up the core first. By conducting a warm up before hand will help. This warm up should leave you with red cheeks - not a 5 minute arms only go on the erg!

Don't want to scare monger just want people to be aware. More information about hypothermia can be found at http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Hypothermia/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Upcoming
Tuesday - Outing
Wednesday - 30 min erg plus weights.
Thursday - Outing or erg or circuits
Friday - Off
Saturday - Senior Seat racing. Novice Outings
Sunday - Outings

Dates for diary
Saturday 23 January - Weybridge Winter Head. IM3 eight
Saturday 30 January - Quintin Head
Sunday 28 February - Hammersmith Head
Saturday 13 March - Womens Head

Keep training - 9 weeks till Womens Head!

Tuesday 6th January

Good Afternoon one and all and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Hope you all enjoyed the festivities and are no raring to go.

News
Eights head is only 10 weeks away! So time is of the essence in regards to training and getting out on the water. The captains and coaches for both the Senior and Novices squads are looking at crews. The Seniors will be seat racing (hopefully at Dorney Lake) on the weekend 16-17 January, the novices will hopefully also be doing some training out there too. We're looking at being there from 8am till about 1pm. However we are still waiting to hear from Dorney if the lake is open so will keep you posted. To help us please make sure you race availability is up to date.

Once the crews have been confirmed we will be looking to introduce wednesday night outings for some crews. We will be asking for availability soon.

Any questions about it please do not hesitate to ask.

5k test
Seniors these are due by Wednesday 13 January. Any erg score after this date will not be used. Please book you time with me for Monday 11 January.

Coxes
We're now hitting on a slight issue of coxes for upcoming races and training. Please let me know if you have any friends who wish to cox or know of any links to people who can already cox and are not that fussed about rowing!!

Money
I am please to announce that we are in the process of buying 8 new smoothie vortex blades. However the only reason we can afford this is knowing that subs will be coming in - so thats where you come in!

Please pay your subs promptly. As I have mentioned previously the subs have gone up this year so they are below
Coxing = £60
Full = £330
CSSC = £260

Sadly we cannot do monthly direct debits but we can do it so money is paid in three equal payments (except coxing membership - its one payment only).

So full membership paid over Jan, Feb and March would be £110 each month and CSSC membership over Jan, Feb and March would be £90, £90 and £80 respectively.

Weather
Of course you have all noticed how cold it has got recently.Its this kind of weather when injuries happen either by slipping over or not warming up properly. So during the week day outings we will be looking to hands on at 7.15 (so thats 15 minutes after time said). However please can everyone make sure they are warmed up and ready to hands on by 7.10pm. Nothing worse than warming up then cooling down as we're waiting for people.

At the weekend the time the time we say on outing plan means time to be at boathouse so we will look to do a warm up either ergs or run then boat together.

The idea of this is not to give some people an extra lie in and it'll only work if everyone does it. Through getting on the water warm means we can get staright into work and dont have to spend half the outing trying to thaw out. These warm ups should be a good 20 minutes. With some light stretching before hand.

I will clarify this when outing plan goes out too.

Have a good week and stay warm!

Jenny

Tuesday 22nd December

Hope you have all got your Christmas shopping done and are looking forward to Christmas brings! I also hope everyone is keeping warm in this rather chilly weather!! I have to say walking on snow/ slush/ ice is actually a good work out for my legs. I have developed this rather nifty elephant shuffle walk. I cant take the massive steps otherwise I slip so I have to do a short step which ends of being more like a shuffle then to ensure I am going to hit the ground properly and not slip I slam my foot down like an elephant. However this elephant shuffle walk doesn’t keep you too warm so I have started lifting leg high and swinging arms like a mad woman so it has now developed into a mad elephant shuffle march! Keeps me warm though!!

Anyway onto more rowing like things…..

News round up
It was the 5k test week for both Novices and Seniors. The next one is due to be done at club Monday 11 January. If a time is not submitted by Wednesday 13 January we will be using a past time. Then we are looking to seat race weekend 16-17 January. So please keep this date free in your diary (for the moment Novices and Seniors).

Once again we have had eights galore out. The three Senior eights have been out over the week plus some Novice eights. Then the highlight was on Sunday when we had three eights entered into the Plum Pudding race help by Quintin. Quick row up to pink house, quick stop for some adjustment (one adjustment was made behind a barge for one lady who had too much caffeine), then off we went. Now we were meant to go in a specific order but when we saw the Cygnet eight going off in about third place when really they should have been about twelve it was apparent it was a free for all. Well done to the third eight for holding off so many crews, the second eight came fourth (have to congratulate Dave on his crafty coxing) and the first eight came fifth (although given another 1000m might have taken fourth)!!

So there is an outing tonight then no official outings until Tuesday 5th Jan. Although there is a turn up and row on Sat and Sun 4-5 Jan at 10am. Make sure you are always wrapped up warm for an outing! Plus if you can spare it buy a bottle of salt and donate it to the club!

Please keep the training up over the Christmas break lets get these 5k times down by 10-20 seconds!!

Have a great Christmas and I will see you all in the New Year!! For those that have not seen it yet – the Christmas message from the Captaincy is below

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/oVvC3JX5qsyILmA5

Jenny

Tuesday 15th December - Part 2: Night rowing

Just to give you the heads up for the timetable of rowing next year. Don't worry about availability for the moment this is something we will sort in new year.

Tuesday - Jo coaching the Senior 2 and Senior 3 eight
Wednesday - Lesley coaching the Novice and Senior 3 eights
Thursday - Merv coaching the Senior 1 and Senior 2 eights.
Saturday - all eights out in morning
Sunday - all eights out in morning

Hope that all makes sense.

Also for those of you that didn't get it - the Christmas message from the Captaincy is on the link below.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/oVvC3JX5qsyILmA5

Jenny

15th December - Part 1

News roundup
This week saw 3 senior 8’s out plus 2 novice 8’s in various combinations and of course it was the Christmas ball on Saturday! Oh what a night – truly fabulous. Many thanks to the social committee for arranging such an amazing night. I certainly enjoyed myself (although if you were standing in close proximity to me as my dancing was unleashed you may not have enjoyed that site so much). The last people standing were seen leaving the club at 4am, plus a giant Bee! Sunday there was even a Senior 8 out, plus a few sore heads. I think when a piece was announced from Putney to Chiswick I wanted to curl into a little ball and die!! I swear I am still hurting.

So its 5k week this week. Everyone novices and seniors a like should be handing times in by Friday. There is another one due in a month’s time. It’s not a case of choosing to do one and not the other it’s a case of doing both as they are so so so much fun to do!!!

Learn to row
The girls that joined the learn to row course in September have now completed it and been moved into novice squad – well done to those that have just completed it. Plus a big thank you to those that helped to run it!

CSSC conference
The CSSC conference is on 21-22 June 2010, if there are any members that would like to attend this I believe forms are coming out in February (you have to be a Civil Servant). Can you let me know if you are as it will be good to know we have a representative there.

Rowing over Christmas period.
There will be rowing this weekend and Tuesday 22nd.
The next formal session will be Tuesday 5th January but there will be turn up and row on Saturday and Sunday 2-3 January at 10am.

Subs
Subs are due in January. There will be a small increase in subs this year. This increase is for a number of reasons firstly so we can afford enough coaches to cover the growing novice and senior squad. Secondly we would like to buy some new equipment which everyone will benefit from for example blades, cox boxes plus be able to afford to fix old equipment.

That’s all for now. Have a good week and don’t forget about getting the 5k time in!!

Jenny

Tuesday 8th December
Afternoon!

A quick round up of what has been happening. This week passed we continued with the mixed 8 theme, we're now going to start trying out possible combinations for 8's head. Hopefully everyone has found the mixed 8's useful. We may add the odd session of this in now and again.

On Sunday it was the amazing Quiz - sadly my team came last. Im thinking as my brain is on a higher plane of existence I dont need to know fruitless pieces of information as it is too busy processing the important things of life ie world peace and climate change! A huge thanks to Tammy and Ruth for the questions and Sue G who did an amazing job with the food.

Really important to keep the training up as the competition is fierce for the boats - about 30 seniors for 3 eights and 20 novices for one eight!! To help aid our decision in boat selection two 5k tests are due. The first one to be completed by Friday 18th December and the second one to be completed by Friday 15th January. Ideally these should be done at the club and witnessed by other people.

Christmas Ball!
This Saturday is the BBLRC Christmas Ball, if you havent got a ticket yet firstly where have you been??? Secondly please contact Sue or Zoe to buy one. There will be all sorts of fun, most excitingly a speech from me - what more could you ask for in an evening (apart from a lot of tequila so you dont actually hear the speech!).

As the Christmas ball will be on Saturday there will be no rowing on Sunday - can't imagine anyone who'd want to get up then!!

Calender
If you're looking for a calender for next year dont buy one yet!!! Nearly all photos have been taken and it should be ready for the 1st of Jan so watch this space!

First Aid
On Saturday 19 December the club is going to run an informal first aid course. You wont get a qualification at the end of it but you will get a bit of knowledge that could be lifesaving! It shouldn't last more than an hour and will start at midday. Please let me know if you are interested. It will cover the basics ie what to do with Stroke victims, heart attacks, major cuts, burns etc etc.

That's it from me

Jenny

30th November
How are you all? Hope you have all had a good week and weekend. Heard my first Christmas song on Sunday – thought I had done pretty well to get this close to Christmas.
Not much to report. Just make sure we keep the training up, especially off the water. The training plan went out on Friday, please contact me if you did not receive this. I will get a copy up in the changing rooms as soon as possible. There is indeed a 5k erg test coming up in a couple of weeks!
Christmas Do
Have you got your ticket yet? If not contact Zoe or Sue (copied in). It will be loads of fun, if nothing more watching certain individuals committing crime on the dance floor! Yep, myself included!
A request from Zoe….
….A raffle will be taking place. A bag or box is going to be set up at the club for people to donate edible or drinkable goodies to put towards a giant hamper than can be raffled off at the Christmas do.
Tickets will be £2 each (or 3 for £5).So, could I ask that you please each bring along something that you've popped in your shopping basket next time you are out and about. Let's try to make it a bit gourmet-ish...(eg...Green and Black's chocolate...not a Mars bar ;-)
A request from Bev…
…. I am linked with a charity which raises money for orphans in Tanzania. ‘Orphans in the Wild’ was founded by my Mum & some of her old school friends who all used to live in Tanzania. This year they have produced a Christmas card, kindly illustrated by Latymer Upper School’s art teacher Dermot Flynn. It’s a picture of 2 giraffe with Christmassy fairy lights wrapped around their necks! If anyone is interested in purchasing some of these cards (all proceeds go to the charity) please let me know. They are selling at £6 for 10 cards.

Bev is copied in contact her if you’re interested. A poster is attached.

And lastly a safety notice from me RE a naked Cyclist stalking female joggers....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8386167.stm
Please do not be afraid to ask a Cygnet to walk you over the bridge if you do not want to walk alone!

Jenny

Tuesday 24 November

Hope you have all had a good week, not got too drenched or blown away with this wild weather that has appeared. When I last wrote I was waiting for the results for the Vets head, while the results are in and what fine results they were! Well done to everyone who raced and won!

Winner of W Vet A/B 4x 20.45.50 Jo, Rachael, Bea, Bev
Winner of W Vet C 4x 21.03.86 Ali E from BBL with some others!
Winner of Vet C/D 4+ 21.54.99 Hilary, Lesley, Zoe, Kathryn

More good news was had from those racing at Kingston on Saturday this week. The Novice Fours all reported good rows. The results were

IM2 4+ 18.46.4 Dave, Ricky, Gavin, Suzannah, Jo
W Nov 4+ 20.10.8 Jo, Natalie, Leonie, Sue E, Bizzie
WIM3 2x 21.04 Sarah D, Sue G
W Nov 2x 22.29.8 Ciara, Poppy
W Nov 4+ 23.07.9 Sue G, Athene, Ellie, Sharon, Catherine
W Nov 4+ 23.24.8 Dave, Alex, Rachel, Anne, Fay

Sunday saw some mixed eights going out – this will be the way forward until Christmas for some of the sessions.

Training
I have 2k times in from most of the Senior and Novice squad. If you want it to be counted you have until Sunday to submit one. This will form part of the basis for crew selection for the Eights head.

A training plan will be sent out shortly. Please make every effort to come down on Monday for weights and ergs would be great to get the Seniors and Novices training together.

Circuit training – it is great to see so many of the novices going to circuits, keep up the good work! Please remember though to put yourself down for food cooking, just needs to be something simple. Also please note that the last circuit session for the year will be on Wednesday 16th Dec, in the SHED, not at the school. It will only be a 30 mins heavy duty one, afterwards people will all head for Strada, across the river, for a well deserved meal and also to dip ourselves a little more into the end of year party mood. So anyone willing to attend would need to let themselves known to Laurent (copied in) as soon as possible so a book a table.

As we are entering Christmas season festivities step up a bit, but please, please try and keep your fitness up and keep doing the land training!

Fundraising
As you are aware we are keen to buy some new blades, even more keen to do this so we can have them for Eights head. There is a piggy bank in the Ladies changing room, if you are willing to donate some money or you just want to get rid of any loose change please pop it in the piggy! It all adds up!

Also a sponsorship document has been produced so if you can think of any people that may be interested in sponsoring us please let me know.

This week
Tuesday – mixed 8 outings (or 2k if not done it)
Wednesday - Circuits OR 2 x 30 minutes of exercise (or 2k if not done it)
Thursday – 5k erg and weights (or 2k if not done it)
Friday – off
Saturday – Early morning outings – no outings will start past 9.30am due to Scullers Head. If this is a problem let me know ASAP
Sunday – Outings

A service Pour Vous (yeah that’s right I speak French too!)
Have you got an event coming up where you need catering if so please go to www.charliefood.co.uk

For now au revoir!

Jenny

Sunday 15 November

Wow what a weekend!!

Firstly it was the Fours Head on Saturday. On Friday a lot of emails were flying about ("surely they wont run it", "oh my god its the worse weather London has had for years" etc). On Saturday this turned into texts ("we going to drown"), which then turned into people hanging around the boathouse popping up stairs to watch the squalls. Then it got to 1230 and we still hadn't heard anything so en mass we all reluctantly got changed, layered up in anything we could lay hands on, had out last minute toilets stops then trudged outside to boat. We then got the news we had all been waiting for "the race is cancelled", the cheer that went up was deafening. Everyone ran back downstairs and into the bar where they promptly started the drinking. I'll leave you to use your imagination on what then happened......

Then Sunday it was the Vets Head. The difference in the weather was immense! Both BBLRC crews reported great rows. At the time of writing this the results weren't published - but its looking good! (Well done Hilary, Lesley. Zoe, Kathryn in their 4+ plus Jo, Rachael, Bea, Bev in their 4x and Ali in her composite 4x).

Before the Vets head it the Novices racing at Kingston went out. A bit of a mishap in landing and 4 people went in, the cox had a lucky escape with a wet bum. This is most definitely the year we have had the most capsizes!

So after all of that training in Fours we're now looking forward to the eights head. Water training will now be Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. Plus land training sessions. The training plan will be out soon.

I am still missing a large number of availability sheets, please can you get them sent in by Wednesday 18 November. I know its hard to know what going on in 3 months time but please complete it as well as you can especially up till Christmas and the races up to the Eights head. If I don't hear will assume you don't want to race, sounds harsh I know but we need to to plan crews. It's attached.

This week coming up its 2k test for the Seniors - woo. Ideally to be held at the club on Monday night. If not please get times into me by Sunday 23 November. Whats more important is that Seniors come down on Monday for a weights technique session with Richard.

Also please can Seniors notify me by Monday midday if they want to row this Tuesday please.

Well I think that is it. Please, please submit availability, do your 2k (if you're a senior), eat well and sleep more.

See you all soon.

Jenny

Monday 10 November

Well this is going to be quite a long one so I hope you are all sitting comfortably!

News Update
Another week of hard training and side by side rowing with a lot of grunting and sweating from both the Novice and the Senior squad! Lovely!! A well done also needs to go out to Jo, Rachael, Zoe and Bev for racing at Henley sculls on Saturday. Then they were out training on Sunday – now that’s dedication!!!

Fours Head is finally here. Whoop whoop! Race starts at 1.30pm and we have 4 crews entered. We row from Barnes Bridge all the way to Putney and if our coach gets his way we’ll all be rating way about 32!! The crews have been training really hard over the last couple of weeks so please come down and give us all a cheer! Good luck to Jo, Rachael, Zoe, Bev, Dave. Katie C, Katy B, Sarah C, Kathryn, Charlotte S, Jo, Jess, Sara, Alex, Becky, Ciara, Sarah D, Sue G, Stephanie, Marion, Julia, Helena

Then the following day we have the Vets head. Same course as the Fours Head but for the more “mature” ladies in the club. This starts at 2.15pm. We have 2 Barnes Bridge crews entered plus some BBL ladies in other boats. Again please come down and show your support to all the crews entered. Good luck to Hilary, Zoe, Lesley, Kathryn, Ali, Bev, Bea, Jo and Rachael.

With all this racing we also need help. So have bullet pointed below – please, please offer your time if you can.
- Launch Drive Fours Head – Dave will teach you to drive it if needs be. Please contact Dave
- Launch Driver Vets Head - Please contact me
- Marshalling off water – getting people onto water – please contact Mike
- Catering – please contact Sue G – Seriously low on catering helpers. Please, please help. We all know the club needs as much funds as possible to help us buy new equipment.

Training and Availability
New availability sheet will be out this week. It will be from now till Eights Head, scary stuff! Please fill it out the best you can focussing on the races available. From now until after Christmas will drop down to one evening session a week on a Tuesday which will be mixed eights (novices and seniors), plus Saturday and Sunday mornings with a range of mixed sessions and similar ability crews. Would really like to encourage a group training session on Monday in the shed. I have some amazing tunes on my ipod which will help us along! After Christmas we will pick up the Thursday session again.

Training plan will be out soon. Am keen to stress that we have always been a flexible club that accommodates people that have a life away from rowing. I want to keep up the hard training and dedication we have to rowing but also recognise that people do have a life away from the boathouse and this is not something I want to change. If you can do everything on the plan absolutely fantastic, if you want to do more even better. As obviously the harder you train the better you will be. However if you cannot please do not worry - we will still get you out rowing!!!!

2k tests - eeeeek.
Yep that’s right 2k tests. They are free rating, so plonk your bum on the seat, grab the handle, grit your teeth and pull as hard as you can for 2k! For seniors please complete at club week 16 – 22 November and send in by Sunday 22 November. For novices please can you complete it in the week Monday 23 November to Sunday 29 November. So who is going to join me this Monday night???

Fundraising
We had some of the photos taken this weekend for the calendar, for those that have not had their photos done please come down Saturday morning for your shot (drink for courage plus photo). Please contact Becky to let her know if you are coming down.

Well I think that is all for know. Remember the ball is coming soon 12 December, tickets will go on sale soon!

Jenny

Monday 26 October

A short, sweet newsletter with only one moan BBLRC news this week!!

Roundup
This week everyone was back in Fours training for the Fours Head and Kingston Head. On Thursday not only did our new 8 get a second outing we tried out a new coach called Richard Ayling. Some high rating peices helped to blast a few cobwebs. Watch this space on how this develops.

The Novice Kingston Crews were announced
SMG - Natalie, Leonie, Sue E, Bizzie
A. Southey - Alex, Fay, Rachel, Anne
Four Play - Athene, Ellie, Catherine,

Great to see we have so many crews racing over next couple of weeks. Lets push really hard with the training on and off the water and see how well we can do!!

Meeting for all Novice and Senior Squad members

On Wednesday 4 November. Absolutely vital both novice and senior squad members attend. Will be in the bar at 7.15pm. Aware it clashes with circuits but it is vital you attend this meeting.

Fundraising.
An idea for fundraising was a BBLRC calender - with a twist ie we're naked! Obviously not full on, but things subtly placed for us to maintain our dignity. Please let me know if you are up for this. Original date of November 1st is no more we will let you know on the date once things finalised.

Moan Corner
Fees - after chasing there are still some who have not paid. From this week no payment no water session I am afraid.

Tuesday 13th October
News round up
We're now into the final week of Pairs and Doubles before we go into training for Fours head. Two more doubles went in last week, luckily people and boats were all fine. Since the Pair and Double training started we've had three crews taken a dunking, one crew clinging to a bridge and one crew crashing into a large metal barrel plus a few close calls. However the training has paid off and we have a record number of strong entries into this years Pairs Head.

We're still looking for helpers for the day to help with boating (Mike), timing (Huma) and catering (Natalie). If you haven’t put your name down yet please contact the relevant people (copied in above). Please also come down and offer your support to all the crews entered. Race starts at 3.45pm.

Good luck to all crews racing!

Learn to Cox
As the Pairs Head is on Saturday there will be no outings. On Sunday we are doing a learn to cox day. So please let me know if you are interested and I will send through to you some information about coxing. It is also a turn up and row day. So if you fancy rowing or coxing be down at the boathouse for 9.15am! This is open to all.

To add some spice some newer messages
1. Learn to row course is in full swing and with any luck will be out on water in next week or so. Please can you email Natalie if you don’t mind helping out every now and then – this could be sitting in a boat, coxing or launch driving. If we get enough people (Novices and Seniors) helping out the same people wont need to do it again and again.
2. Racheal has lost her all in one. It was hanging up in changing rooms, think someone might have borrowed it for an outing or a race. Any news let me know.

Repetitive messages (I'm like a Duracell battery - I'll just keep on going....)
1. Serious lack of lights - where have they gone???
2. New boat name - suggestions anyone???
3. Nominations for club member of the year????

Tuesday 7th October

This is getting a day later each week - note to self must try harder!

I am pleased to announce our new 8 has had its first outing!! After about an hour of rigging some comments about how low the tide was we were off, we took it all the way to Chiswick bridge and back. Then spent about another hour putting it away! Although it was a short outing everyone agreed to felt lovely. Cant wait to see what it can do when we really let rip!!

We're still looking for a name for this 8!

Aside from that momentous occasion all the doubles have been getting their practise in for the Pairs Head. The race is Saturday 17 October at 3.30pm so please come and offer your support anyway you can. We still need help with the catering and the timing. Please let me know if you can hep as I will then pass your details onto the right person.

Also over the weekend it was the Rhine Marathon. 6 Barnes Bridge Ladies went in force to battle the Rhine with some Cygnets! Well done to Ciara, Becky, Jess, Katie C, Sue G and Sarah D for successfully taking this on and sculling for about 3 hours.

Still looking for nominations for club member of the year!!

Not much else to report than the few bits below. So for this week goodbye from me!

Monday - 50 min ergs and lower body weights/ outings
Tuesday - outings
Wednesday - Circuits. Meet at club at 6.30pm.
Thursday - 30 min ergs and upper body weights/ Outings
Friday - Relax!
Saturday - Double outings for Pairs head crews
Sunday - Outings .

Remember
- Use the link on the website to buy anything from Amazon.
- Any stories or photos about rowing pass it on to Sue Grobler for the website
- Bow people bright coloured tops plus a well lit boat.
- Keep taking the vitamins to ward off the inevitable colds that will start rearing their ugly heads!!!

Monday 28th September
Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine as it seems to be staying with us for a while - lets hope I haven’t jinxed it by saying that!
This email is indeed a day later than usual but I wanted to send it out after our first committee meetings. You'll be pleased to know we made it through the meeting with no punch ups or tears!!
The most important part of this email is that fact we have a brand spanking new 8 in the boathouse for our use! It has its maiden voyage on Thursday evening. A huge thanks to Ali, Annelise, Dave and Bea who all helped to make the decisions and the actions needed to get this lovely new boat.
Pairs Head – 17th Oct
Help required!! Please, please offer up some time if you have it. Huma is looking for people to help with the timing – great fun as you get to be amongst all of the action. Sue is looking for people to help with the catering – also great fun as you get to be surrounded by cakes all day.

The following crews are entered. Fantastic we have so many entered, good luck to all!
Pairs
MT and Jenny

Doubles
Jo and Bev, Alice and Lesley, Sarah and Kevin, Sue G and Sarah, Lucy and Poppy, Sara and Katy, Jess and Jo, Ciara and Katie

Learn to Cox – 18th Oct
Its seems the same people are out coxing or helping out so we thought it would be a great to have a day when its turn up and row and we get as many people out coxing as possible. Also gives us a chance to mix up crews with seniors and novices. Lets make a day of it, get some food down etc. So please put 18th Oct in the diaries. Its open to all seniors and novices.

Fours Head – 14th November
Just to let you know we’re still looking at crews with the availability you’ve given so let us know if you decided you fancy it and not put your name down.

Christmas Party – 12th December
For those sharp eyes out there I did put the wrong date – only two people picked up on the fact it was a Thursday! I would like to say it was a test but sadly it was just me having a moment.

So date is as above at Ye White Heart. Date in the diary. Its going to be the best one ever! We need you input so please send through ideas on things we can do in the evening. We also need to vote for the Club Member of the Year. Please send you nominations through to me along with one sentence explaining why.

So that’s all folks, Good luck to all at the Rhine Marathon! Plus remember to bow down to the new boat when you see it!!

Monday 21st September

Wasn't it great to have some sunshine after the week of rain?!! Hope everyone had a good weekend.
Busy week of sculling and rowing. There was a Barnes Bridge boat out every night this week, great to see people training hard for the Pairs head. Its also been a week of accidents, Lucy had a fight with the launch, Sue and Sarah had a close encounter with Kew Bridge, Ciara and Katie went for a swim on Thursday night then at sculling camp J and Rachel also went for a swim. Although there are a few bruises nothing serious, hopefully the capsize drilled helped those that went swimming!
I'm going to have my moan now. Then it will be out of the way.

Moan 1 - Night time rowing

Ok so lights are going on the boats but they aren't necessarily bright enough. These have been checked to make sure batteries are on ok. Please double check yourselves though. The boat should be lit up 360 degrees. Let us know if there aren't spare batteries or if lights are broken. One light had been broken but not reported - that's not useful!
Ideally all rowers should be wearing white at night but most importantly the bow people. The bow people should also wear fluorescent clothing. In the Ladies changing room there are two fluorescent material vests, another 4 have been ordered. If you have your own to wear even better!!

Moan 2 - Boat loading

Sculling camp was this weekend. Boat loading was on Thursday, 3 people were left doing all the work. I understand some might not have been told, but this is the occasion for you to be proactive and ask. If there is any type of rowing happening that isn't on our stretch of water then the boats need to be towed there, therefore loaded onto the trailer. This usually happens on a Thursday. If you haven't heard anything contact the person organising it and find out.

Right done now!

Website
Do you buy things from Amazon? If so please go to our website (www.bblrc.co.uk) click on the link on the home page for Amazon. If you buy through this we will get 10%

Remember to keep checking up on the website as notices and gossip are posted regularly.

Fundraising
As you know we're buying a new 8 - fabulous!! What's isn't so fabulous is that it isn't free. So the funds in the club account could do with a boost. What would be great for the new 8 is a new set of blades, maybe a new cox box, sculling blades, spare parts, affiliation fees, etc. The list goes on with things we always need. So know is the time for us to get thinking of ways of raising money for our club. Things that are already helping

Amazon link on website
Sue Ellicott baking flapjacks for us to eat - 50p a go.
As a certain supermarket brand would say - "every little bit helps".

Training
For seniors this week it is 5k erg test (aka URGHHHH test). For witnessed ergs and others to do it alongside come down Monday night or Thursday night. Please email times through to me.

Dates for diary
17th October Pairs Head
14th November Fours Head
21st November Kingston Head
28th November Scullers head
10th December Christmas Ball

Have a good week.

Week of 14th September

Busy weekend with lots of people and boats out. Those that have put names down for Pairs Head have been training in earnest (no one has fallen in yet either). Its not just at BBL it seems every club along the Thames are putting all their pairs and doubles out, this can make steering and coaching a little difficult so morning outings will be earlier - more of this when Becky puts out the outing plan.

We're buying a new 8 - wooo wooo!!! Fingers crossed it should be with us in a couple of weeks. Therefore we need to think about naming it. Now considering the other two eights are names after people who have done a lot for the club (and continue to do so!!), so maybe we should continue this theme - all suggestions welcome!

Pairs Head
We are still on the search for boats!! Those people with links to schools it would be a great help if you could pass on contact details please. if you have put your name down to do the Pairs head please be as patient and as flexible as you can with us in terms of getting boats out.

Sculling Camp
Please note those that are going to Sculling camp boat loading is Thursday.

Training - this week....
Monday - 40min erg plus lower body weights and abs
Tuesday - Senior Outings
Wednesday - Novice Squad meeting at 7.30pm. Circuits in Shed so ergs maybe be difficult between 7 - 8pm. From next week though circuits will be at the School. Erg - 2 x 15 min 22/24
Thursday - Senior outings
Friday -off
Saturday -Sculling camp/ Outings on river
Sunday - Sculling camp/ Outings on river

Remember
- Lights
- Senior availability changes to Becky
- Novice availability changes to Ciara
- Work hard to eat more!!!

Think thats all folks!! Have a good week.

Week of 7th September

Woo hoo my first Bridge News - I'm excited!!

Pairs Head
Deadline is today (7 September) for those interested in doing a pair. Please let me know if your're interested so we can start arranging outings. Fingers crossed we should get s good Barnes Bridge turn out!

Fours head and Vets Head
These are the same weekend 14 and 15 November respectively. I'm aware I only mentioned the Fours head but it would also be great to get a good turn out for the Vets head. So please let me know by Monday 14 September if you are interested in either of these races.

Just to clarify the Vets head is run under FISA so to enter this you must be 27 or over. (When I realised I could race this I promptly went and bought some anti wrinkle cream!!)

General
Sue G has taken over the wesbite, so please make sure you email her to keep her up-to-date with stories and achievements. No need to be shy or modest - we want to hear it all!! Hopefully you have all received your invite for the training log from her, let me know if you havent and I will forward it on.

There has been a change around in the shed. Below is the note from Neil about it, if you have feedback please email him. He's copied in.

Sadly the evenings are getting darker so we will be needing lights. There are a few left over still but hopefully the stock will be replensihed soon. Please take care of these as we end up losing loads over a winter season (hopefully I wont be knocking any launch lights in!). If you do lose one, let me know so we can replace it!

Remember any changes of availability let me and Becky know. Mid week outings let us know by 11am Monday and Weekend outings let us know by 11am Thursday. Anything later you'll be hunting for your own sub!

This week
Monday Senior/ novices 30 min erg. Seniors only - lower body weights and Abs
Tuesday - Senior outings
Wednesday - Novice outings. Senior ergs 2 x 15 minutes rate 22/24 plus upper body weights
Thursday - Senior outings. Novice ergs 2 x 15 minutes rate 22/24
Friday - rest
Saturday - Outing plus 40 min run
Sunday - Outing plus home core stability exercises

Thats all from me!

Jenny