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Editorial Team

A big welcome to three new members of the Weekly News Editorial Team – two pictured below.

Annabel Pope (on the left) is a Deputy Editor, effective immediately !!! She’s sat with me here now. We are both Annie fans, and delighted to carry on her good work for her.

Jessie Punn (on the right) will become our RRC Social Media Correspondent after her A-levels.

Imogen Bell (not pictured) will become the second Deputy Editor, with special responsibility for visual imagery as she is a brilliant young conservation photographer.

Me, Sally Pettipher (centre) will carry on as Editor-in-Chief. Anyone who has had me coxing them knows how willing I am to coach people (occasionally quite vociferously )

EGRET 📸 Imogen Bell. Here with his (her?) neck tucked in.

KINGFISHER 📸 Imogen Bell

The kingfisher can often be spotted around the banks of the club. Imogen says she’s seen a family of three.

Wildlife Cameraman

Imogen was very exited to hear that within the club we already have an award-winning wildlife cameraman, Andrew Anderson!

He is much too modest to mention any of this, so it took the Editor to winkle information and some stories from him, including that…

Andrew has worked on shows such as Predators (for the BBC) and other famous David Attenborough series. Beautiful Serengeti can currently be watched on PBS America or YouTube and includes Andrew’s work in every episode, but almost exclusively in the footage of hippos and crocodiles.

The photo above is a screen grab of Andrew’s work from the episode below

Protection | Beautiful Serengeti | PBS America

An Emmy Award Winner

Oh and…

In 2003, Andrew won an Emmy for outstanding individual achievement in craft, for his incredible work on ‘Owls: Silent Hunters’

He said he was sat at the Awards Ceremony not really paying attention and suddenly he heard his name. “It was so unexpected” he said, “that I had not even prepared anything to say.”

Once back in his hotel bedroom in New York at 2am, he called his wife and said, “I have a lady sitting beside on my bed, dressing in gold and holding a globe in the air.”

I am trying to persuade him to come and give a talk at the club, and share with us some of his photos and videos – and his Emmy!!

His story about putting a camera in a nest of crocodile eggs, with Mum very nearby, is one to raise the hairs on your neck 🫣 Suffice it to say, it didn’t survive, but thankfully Andrew did, or who would we have commanding the bow or two seat in our mixed eight on Sunday mornings?

Improving our biodiversity

On the camping field, members of the club have been working hard to plant hedging and trees to help to improve the environment and biodiversity.

In total, 420 ‘hedgelets’ and 20 poplar ‘truncheons’ were planted.

The hedgelets were donated by the Woodland Trust as part of the late Queen’s Green Canopy Initiative.

The hedgerow is a mix of a variety of native species that have been selected to provide year-round colour and help to create a diverse habitat for birds, insects and small animals.

The native Black Poplar trees were donated by Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.

The Black Poplar tree, in recent years, has become one of Britain’s rarest trees. These trees will help the club to improve the biodiversity and preserve an endangered species.

These boys dont know their own strength, shortly after this photo their spade broke!

A whole club effort: men, women, juniors and parents

Is Bryn offering devotion to the Chairman?

I am a little worried about the look Debbie is giving Bryn’s backside with those whips in her hand The rest of them clearly think its quite funny 🤷🏼‍♀️

You see seniors, that’s the squat flexibility you need to maximise your stroke length.

Thank you to all of the volunteers!

(Jack, Deb, Bryn, Chris, Debbie, Torsten, Tim, Sue, Nicky, Rachel, Charlie, Annabel and Anne)

Another 420 hedgelets are on their way, so anyone with FOMO (me, the Ed) you can still take part in creating this wildlife habitat and living legacy.

Thank you especially to Buffy for creating this important initiative and for the photos and report

One in Six

One in six people live with a disability, including many disabilities that are invisible to others.

One of the fabulous things about Ross Rowing Club is that we welcome EVERYONE, and even if you can’t or don’t want to row, you can still:

  • be a social member (come to social events, sing Karioke – DAN !! )

  • be a gym member (use the rowing machines, weights of join circuit sessions)

  • be a cox (steer a rowing boat)

  • join in in many other ways:

    • photography

    • fixing boats

    • towing trailers

    • serving drinks

    • driving powerboats (slowly!!!!)

    • putting up marquees

    • baking cakes, or

    • ringing the bell when someone wins a race!!

If you are one of the six living with a disability, you are welcome.

If you struggle with other challenges such as bereavement, loneliness, or are living with an illness or injury, you are also welcome.

SEE BELOW – Social event for All Abilities – Tuesday 28th Feb, 6pm. Come with a friend, there are already a number of new people coming so you will not be alone!!

Please share the details of our Mixed Ability Italian Evening with people or organisations that you know who may have people who would enjoy being part of our club, but are a bit shy or worried about coming into an unfamiliar environment. Poster below.

All welcome. For more info please email me here

Easter Camp

REMINDER Junior Easter camp will be 11th-14th April.

Help needed – coaching, driving safety boats, getting boats on and off.

Anyone who has ever helped with Junior Camps knows how much fun this is, a really satisfying experience for everyone involved.

Email here if you can offer a day or two or five!

Rowing Events

Gloucester Spring Head – Sunday 12th March

Evesham Regatta – 29th April

Shrewsbury Regatta – Sunday 7th May

Worcester Spring Regatta – 20th May

See Spond for details.

Socials – Hold the Date!!!

Friday 17th February – CURRYOKE returns. So much fun last time (thank you Dangerous Dan) that by popular vote, Curryoke is back 🥳

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Thursday 28th February – Italian “Taster” evening. See poster and details above.

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March 17th – RACE NIGHT

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AWARDS EVENING – Date TBC – Awards evening is coming back and will take place in a few months time with various awards up for grabs. SPORTSWOMAN & SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR – You do not necessarily need to be the person who wins loads of races or has been rowing for years. The award is given to people who have shown commitment and improvement in their rowing skills.

NOTICES

BOAT CARE & MAINTENANCE – Please make sure boats and oars are properly washed, left in good condition and any defects or damage appropriately reported. We should be very proud of our fleet; it is precious and must be looked after properly.

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BOAT BOOKING – Please remember to book boats out and request permission for those that are protected.

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BOATHOUSE – We are not out of the woods with the bad weather yet, therefore please keep the boathouse tidy and the floor free from stuff, it looks tidy too!!

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CLUB KIT – Anyone wishing to order kit can order from Stitch Rowing, or alternatively wait for a kit window to open and save on p&p costs.

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CHARITY SHOP – New year tidying? Keep stuff as we’re trying to sort a charity shop premises at present, so keep it boxed and bagged in the spare room for just a few more weeks…

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For the live Webcam showing current river levels – hit the button below.

Webcam

And finally…

This is a fantastic book. It is definitely NOT a chemistry lesson but it does feature rowers !! Well worth checking out.

EMAIL THE EDITOR

Ross Rowing Club welcomes new rowers, young and old, beginners, experienced or returners.
We welcome campers and visitors, and have occasional opportunities to hire our clubhouse and grounds.
Key contacts:

EDITOR

LEARN TO ROW, CAMPING VENUE HIRE ENQUIRIES FIND US
Rope Walk, Ross On Wye, Herefordshire HR9 7BU