MORE than 120 Ross Rowing Club members recently gathered to celebrate 150 years of rowing, writes LUCY PREECE.

The evening began with a drinks reception in the gardens of The Old Court Hotel before moving inside.

The table décor looked amazing with Claire Darnell producing the incredible centrepiece, while a 150th anniversary booklet announced all the year’s club wins as well as the order for the evening.

A Grand Draw kindly organised by Greg Powell with thanks to Torsten Pope for sourcing prizes raised a bumper £1,500 for club funds.

A game of ‘Heads and Tails’ also saw chaos prevail and much laughter, with Harriet Baynham-Williams winning the final toss of the coin and the £100 prize.

Guests were then treated to a delicious three-course meal before a wonderful display of photographs and videos, followed by speeches from Jeremy Picton-Turberville and Jonathan Preece, with Bryn Hughes proposing the 150th anniversary toast to the Past and Future of the Club.

Then it was time to hit the dance floor which erupted into joyful chaos with a few questionable spins, memorably capped by Oops Upside Your Head and members performing the rowing motion in perfect timing!

Much hard work took place to make the event happen, and thanks go to those involved.

Here’s to the next 150 years!

With the river a place of work up to the late 1800s, leisure rowing took hold in the late 1700s with the start of the Wye tour, centred on the historic Hope & Anchor pub.

Early regattas became a fixture of Ross’s summer calendar in the 1840s, with the Hereford Journal reporting in June 1842 on spirited racing that drew large crowds to the Prospect and the river banks.

Events included traditional rowing, coracle and tub races, with spectators standing shoulder to shoulder at the Royal Hotel to get a clear view, and the winning boat awarded £3, equivalent to around £450 today.

Brass bands, teetotal tents, and fireworks also featured. And by the 1860s and early 1870s, the number of regattas and official clubs — Hereford, Worcester, Evesham — grew and a more structured version of the sport emerged.

The Hope and Anchor’s riverside location and slipway made it a natural hub, and landlord, Henry Dowell, who was also a boatbuilder, offered equipment and support, with the pub effectively serving as the club’s headquarters.

It wasn’t just a place for a post-row pint – it was where the boats were built, stored, launched and discussed.

And from that in 1875, Ross RC emerged, the transition to a structured club seeming to happen gradually, driven by necessity – events needing planning, equipment storing, members coordinating.

Early membership was narrow – doctors, teachers, landowners, those with the means to row as a pursuit rather than a profession.

This was reinforced in 1882, when the Amateur Rowing Association was established – its definition of “amateur” explicitly excluding anyone who made a living from manual work.

Ross affiliated soon after, with regattas becoming regular, uniforms introduced and members sporting club caps and ties.

It was around this time that the August Bank Holiday Regatta became a fixture, with thousands flocking to the riverside.

Posters from 1884 list races for sculling boats, coracles, pairs, canoes and even a “tub tournament”.

The first boathouse was later built in 1908 costing £400 and by 1909 the club had grown to 120 members