By Miss Harris (Head Rowing Coach)

On Saturday 24th March, the Friends of BGS Boat Club (FBGSBC) hosted their highly anticipated Rowing Ball. This event is always well attended and enjoyed by rowers and adults alike. The opportunity for the rowers to dress up and socialise with their teammates is a delight.

We were fortunate to have Bedford High School alumna, Bedford High School, Siobhan Cassidy (1990), attend as our guest speaker. Siobhan chairs the board of the company that is responsible for delivering The Boat Race and previously sat on the National Schools Committee. She has spent her life driving women’s rowing forward and championing the sport, whether that was through running a slightly underhand tuck shop at Bedford High School to fund more equipment, establishing volunteer boards to support women’s rowing at CUBC, or more recently leading the team that got the women’s Boat Race on the Tideway in 2015, on the same weekend as the men’s, televised alongside them, with equal funding and infrastructure. She inspired the audience with her reflections and made the students feel very proud to be at the forefront of female rowing.

Director of Rowing, Mrs Reeves, spoke about how proud the whole coaching team are of every cox and rower for their attitude and ability to adapt through this particular difficult head season, where the weather has stopped races. We really appreciate their enthusiasm and smiles during early morning sessions, and the effort they put into rowing alongside everything else. It's lovely working with them all, and they've definitely kept us smiling through the long winter.

Due to the time of year, no awards were handed out as we will wait until the end of the regatta season but there is so much to celebrate. Rowing at BGS goes far beyond performance on the water, it is about being part of a fantastic community that supports and encourages us all to enjoy our sport. Its success is thanks to the full network; whether a rower, a cox, the 6am taxi for the early morning session, or the baker of the delicious brownies and cookies we enjoy at events. Thank you for everything you do to make this community such an amazing one to be part of.

Our Captain of Boats, Alex Gentry (Upper Sixth), and our Vice-Captain of Boats, Olivia Smith (Upper Sixth), along with other members of the senior rowing team, did a fantastic job of selling raffle tickets, promoting the fundraising auction and co-ordinating players for a game of heads and tails.

On behalf of everyone involved in the BGS rowing community, we would like to say a huge thank you to the Friends of BGS Rowing for organising a fantastic evening that not only allowed us to celebrate the Boat Club, but also raised around £2000 towards new equipment for the rowing programme.