Newcastle Royal Grammar School Boat Club

The Newcastle R.G.S. was not a rowing school. There, strong athletic boys were not channelled into the sport of rowing; whatever pressure was applied within the school directed them towards rugby football. However, the major problem in attracting active members to the school boat club was the multitude of alternative sports available within the school, which long ago established strong reputations in swimming, water polo, cricket, athletics, gymnastics, tennis and boxing. True, boxing is no longer approved, but it has been replaced by judo, fencing, basketball, volleyball, hockey, table tennis and orienteering, each club being engaged in competition at a respectably high level, and so diverting potential oarsmen. Add to this the facts that the school had its share of non—physical 'vegetables' and that the school orchestras are active during Saturday morning rowing training, then you will appreciate the difficulties of maintaining an effective boat club.

It was against this background that physics teacher Mr. Roger Tarry, since his arrival to the school in 1977, transformed the RG5 club into an outfit which was at least taken seriously in rowing circles. In fact R.G.S. rowing goes back much further than 1977; the club was founded in May 1936, with the encouragement and co-operation of Tyne ARC who provided the use of boats and boathouse. Nevertheless, the then Headmaster, Dr. E.R. Thomas, insisted that: "Members of R.G.S.B.C. must in no way combine with, or go in a boat with, members of Tyne ARC"

The records describe how young recruits to rowing were lectured by languages teacher ‘Dickie’ Akhurst on the ‘finer points of rowing‘; all were required to serve substantial apprenticeships on fixed seats before graduating to slides. Membership was initially restricted to sixth-formers until someone realised that coxswains were needed. and so a quota of three younger boys, none weighing more than 7 stone O lbs, was allowed.

Three fours entered the Tyne Challenge Cup at Tyne Regatta in 1937, but were defeated in the heats. At York the following week, two crews competed with no greater success. The log records: "York city RC beat_RGS 'B‘ boat by six lengths, the school boat unfortunately having its progress impeded by a pleasure steamer coming up—river, and forcing it aground so that further rowing had to be discontinued". In the early days, the regatta log was a chronicle of such excuses; R.G.S. crews appeared always to draw the outside of every bend! Soon the ploy of entering several crews in one event almost succeeded; at Talkin Tarn Regatta in 1937 the 'B‘ crew reached the final by defeating other R.G.S. crews in earlier rounds. In 1938, at the Tarn, the ‘B' crew, featuring one Jim Nisbet rowing at two, beat a Tynemouth crew, but subsequently yielded to Berwick.

During the 2nd World War, the School was evacuated to Penrith, and rowing was abandoned. It‘s resurrection did not occur until 1949, when 'Dickie' Akhurst, still pre-occupied with his beloved fixed seats, called a meeting of the club which the following year acquired it's first boat: a reconditioned, second-hand tub pair. To meet the cost (E40), it was decided to raise members annual subscriptions to an astronomical five shillings!

In 1950, a crew was entered in the first Tyne Head race, and although was the slowest clinker boat (17 min 33 sec), the schoolboys took comfort in beating the Tyne ARC ‘B’ crew, who were rowing a fine boat. In the 1951 ‘Head’, the school managed fifth place in the clinker class field of fifteen. By this time, Mr. Joe Liddell had arrived at the school to teach mathematics, and was to be the mainstay of the boat club until his retirement, owing to ill-health, in 1977. Much liked and respected by the boys, Joe spent endless hours ‘behind the scenes‘ repairing, maintaining and even cannibalising the boats which, especially in the early days, were usually geriatric specimens when they were acquired.

The club had it's first win at Tyne Regatta in 1953, beating eight competitors in the maiden event. With only one change in personnel, the same crew in the following year took the Junior (old meaning) prize at South Shields Regatta. The R.G.S. won the Maiden event (Ladies Plate) at Tyne Regatta in 1956 and 1958. This mediocre success rate in open competitive events continued during the sixties and seventies. The first new boats owned by the club were a pair of clinker fours, bought from Sims of Putney in 1955. They were named 'Jeff' (after an old boy who had rowed in the Oxford crew) and 'Dickie‘. In 1962, after many years spent as guests of Tyne ARC, the club moved to its own boathouse at Blaydon.

When in 1977 Roger Tarry succeeded Joe Liddell as Schoolmaster in charge of rowing, a gentle man was replaced by a hard man. From the outset the newcomer made it clear that the old competition standards were no longer acceptable. Hitherto, 'colours', an honour cherished by schoolboys as a recognition of the achievement of excellence in a sport, had been virtually guaranteed to any R.G.S. oarsman who had won any open event; indeed on several occasions the award had been made merely for winning a difficult heat at a regatta. The new taskmaster gradually raised the stakes; Senior B status and winning a Senior B event were needed in order to be considered for 'colours'. None of the then club membership of about 30 boys had yet qualified; what was once a hand-out had now gained it's rightful meaning. Indeed, amongst R.G.S. sports, colours are perhaps hardest to achieve in rowing. Over the 1970s decade, the schoolboy oarsmen learned that water training was not enough; every hour in a boat had to be matched by at least another in the gym or running around the Town Moor. The hard line worked; in 1980, the club recorded-some fifteen successes and comparable results were in each subsequent season. Crews were no longer content to compete only parochially; they made visits to Scotland, the Tideway, the National Championships, the Boston Marathon and suchlike events.

Always sparing with praise for his crews, Roger Tarry seldom permitted himself jubilation over wins; "The timekeeper must have made a mistake" was his customary congratulation. Churlish? No. He knew the R.G.S. was not a rowing school, and a good schoolmaster does not encourage his pupils to indulge in self—delusions.

Roger Tarry moved to take up a new appointment at Worcester Royal Grammar School and sadly the Newcastle R.G.S. became defunct. The clubhouse and steps still exist but no longer used for rowing. The Club rowed in white singlets with black and red hoops with white blades with black and red bars.