Putney Town Rowing Club

There are a good few reasons to watch Oxford and Cambridge duke it out on the water this Sunday at Putney Town Rowing Club. Situated on the finish line of the University Boat Race course, we’ll be having a feast of activities to make the most of the day and most importantly with the cold weather forecast, you can keep warm too!

• Fully licensed bar open to the public, serving warm Winter Pimms, Mulled Wine/Cider as well as beer, cider and tea/coffee
• Hot Dogs and onions
• New to rowing? Fancy your chances as a rower? Have a try on our indoor rowing machines in a head-to-head on the big screen and see how good you are.
• Club sweepstake for closest winning time
• Enjoy the build up from 1pm and on TV from 3:25pm
• Watch the race itself at 4:30pm on a projector…
• Then down to the riverside to see the winning crew cross the line.

You’ll find Putney Town Rowing Club located near Chiswick Bridge. Our new steps will also give a great viewing point of the crews finishing, as well as the awards ceremony across the river from our boathouse as well as the traditional throwing of the cox into the water.

FAQ about the University Boat Race

Q. How old is the race?
A. It has been running since 1829 and this will be the 159th boat race. However it’s not always been held on the Thames Tideway.

Q. Is the boat race ever cancelled because of bad weather?
A. Unlike club rowing events which can be cancelled, the Boat Race always goes ahead regardless of the weather and this has led to some notable sinkings in years gone by!

Q. How long is the race and what is the course record?
A. The course is 4 miles and 374 yards (6.779 km) from Putney to Mortlake. The course record is 16:19 set by Cambridge in 1998.

Q. Does that mean the crews are rowing against the stream?
A. They are rowing upstream, but the do so on a “flood tide”, so they are actually travelling in the same direction as the water.

Q. What colours do the crews wear?
A. Oxford in dark blue. Cambridge in light blue-green.

Q. Why is one of the “blues” really green?
A. The light bluish-green worn by Cambridge is believed to be based on Eton Blue, though this is disputed. You can read more about Eton Blue on the Eton College website.

The Putney Town Annual Burns Night Pub Quiz and Supper returns for its eighth year.

The Quiz will be the usual great mix of picture, music and traditional question rounds, with prizes for each round and an overall Champion Team prize! It’s general knowledge not a Burns or Scottish quiz with questions for everyone!

Quiz kicks off promptly at 7pm and supper will be in the interval. Table service during the quiz means there is no need for you to miss questions whilst you go for a drink.

Supper will have Meat & Vegetarian options for only £5!

It’s £2.50 per person to enter. If you wish to attend can you please email your team name and members (strictly max. 6 per team) to bar@putneytownrc.co.uk. If you don’t have a team just email us anyway and we can sort you out with one!

A message for the good people of Putney Town
It may be winter, but lose that frown
For Christmas time is nearly here
A time for much merriment and drinking of beer
And in one week, President’s cheese and wine
To have your company there would be most fine
So pick up your hat and grab your coat
Though you most likely won’t need that in the boat
For festive plum pudding races will proceed
Warm Gløgg, fine wine and a good feed.
So open your diary, and and jot down the time
8th of December for cheese and wine!

The annual Putney Town Christmas Cheese, Wine ‘n’ Glug Party will be on the 8th of December which is open to all members and friends/family.

The festivities will kick-off with the Plum Pudding Races - scratch crews in 8’s and 4’s - everyone welcome, especially coxes! (Please be prepared to cox if you have experience).

This will be followed as always by the Gløgg/mulled wine for those chilly souls who have been on the river. A buffet lunch (£5) follows, as the day gets underway in the bar and there will be a guest ale available.

Timetable:

12:30 - Register in the hall for Plum Puddings
13:00 - Crews announced
13:45 - Races begin
14:30 - Gløgg/Mulled Wine
15:00 - Food

We will be running a bar rota for the duration of the event and will require volunteers to help out. We would also appreciate some help with the food and Gløgg. If anybody has a special mulled wine/Nordic Gløgg recipe they would like to share, wine will be provided.

For the food, help is mainly required for preparation and laying out the tables and a little help tidying up afterwards. If any member would like to make a salad, or bring some mince pies, your efforts will be graciously received!

Please sign up for a one hour slot behind the bar, or to help out with food/Gløgg by sending an email to bar@putneytownrc.co.uk.

To celebrate our 90th anniversary and formally open our new ramp access to the river we will be holding an all day celebration. The day starts with an official opening of the ramp and a row past of all club boats, followed by a BBQ and party.

Saturday 21st July 2012
Ramp opening by VIPs at 12:00

Followed by: -

• Club photo on the new ramp
• Fleet review - row past of all the boats in the club house
• Boat naming
• Cake baking competition
• BBQ and afternoon games
• Party
• Free event (excludes bar and food) - All welcome

Any enquiries can be directed to Peter Rossi (parperugia@hotmail.com)

Putney Town is celebrating a significant year, being in it’s 90th year and having successfully built a new ramp.

On Saturday 21st July 2012, the club will be hosting a large event, starting at lunchtime with a formal ramp opening ceremony (with VIPs). We are hoping to follow this with a row past of the whole fleet, then a BBQ, bouncy castle etc and evening party. Past and present members are encouraged to come and celebrate on a day that will surely be memorable.

And if you’ve not been at the club or rowing on the Tideway recently, then here are some ramp photos in all the glory.

It’s that time of year again, when the snow seems like a distant memory and spring is in the air…and thoughts turn to the Summer Season, regattas and evening rowing. It is also nearly time for the highlight of our social calendar…

Tickets, priced £35, are now available for The Annual Putney Town Rowing Club Dinner and Dance which will be on Saturday 14th April 2012, from 7pm until late. Dress code is Black Tie/Evening Wear or Club Blazer.

9 piece professional session band

The dinner and dance is a celebration of the success of the club over the previous rowing year, and is a chance to enjoy a formal dinner in the clubhouse, with awards ceremony, speeches and a highly recommended 9 piece professional session band, with dancing until the early hours.

The event has been a sell out for many years and we’re pleased to announce that we are able to increase the number of attendees from 110 to 120 this year without sacrificing quality or atmosphere.

Tickets

For tickets, please check your club email or contact bar@putneytownrc.co.uk for details of how to make payment.

A menu will be available at PTRC shortly. Please have a look, and if you have any specific dietary requirements, let Lucy Brennan know on lucybrennan7@hotmail.com only after you have made your payment and got a confirmation.

See you there!

If you’ve been at the club recently you will have already seen that the contractors have moved in and work on the ramp is well underway – a momentous occasion for Putney Town!

The digger was manoeuvred into place through the compound and the once grassy bank outside the club is no more. Part of the ramp is pre-cast ramp and will be arriving soon and in a matter of weeks the ramp will be in place, firmly placing Putney Town on the Tideway map.

As well as some great racing from the women’s squad at WEHORR this weekend, Saturday also saw PTRC presented with a cheque for £25,000 which will go towards the PTRC ramp fund. The cheque was presented by local MP Zac Goldsmith on behalf of Sport England.

The ramp has been the biggest pipeline project for The Town for some time now and thanks to some incredibly hard work from a dedicated group of PTRC members (and some very generous donations), the construction of the ramp will finally begin.

Club captain Duncan Emery commented, “It’s a very exciting time to be a member of Putney Town, both men’s and women’s rowing is thriving at the club and the ramp will allow safer access to the river and add more convenience to the already great facility we offer to all of our members.

“Our learn to row courses continue to succeed in introducing more and more people from the local community to the sport we love and we hope that the ramp will help us offer greater opportunity to those wishing to take up the sport and develop within it.”

We did it! All systems are go for building the ramp as we not only reached our fund raising target, but shot right past it! Thanks to everyone who has helped to make this happen - after 10 years in the making it’s a massive triumph for the club which is celebrating its 90th anniversary year.

We’re happy to announce that the main contractor for the ramp works has been appointed who will be Barhale PLC.

Permissions are well underway, including the need to set up site compounds, get PLA licenses and divert the existing towpath access to carry out the works.

Current projections aim to get the works substantially complete by the end of March 2012.

Further details about how this will affect the boat club during construction will be posted, but we are assuming 100% availability of boats and launching throught the construction phase.

All matches shown on a MASSIVE screen in the Bar

Saturday 4th February

14:30 France - Italy
17:00 Scotland - England 

Saturday, 11h February

16:00 Italy - England
20:00 France - Ireland

Saturday, 17h March

(Head of the River – Race starts 11:00)
12:30 Italy - Scotland
14:45 Wales - France
17:00 England - Ireland 

Bar open for every game - Family and Friends welcome!