The 164-year-old Calcutta Rowing Club (CRC) will be celebrating the centenary year of its relationship with the 166-year-old London Rowing Club (established in 1856) in November 2023.
Talks are on between the two clubs about a visit by a team from LRC to CRC where they will stay and row in the Dhakuria lake.
Chandan Roy Choudhury, honorary secretary of CRC recently visited LRC at Putney in south-east London to discuss the centenary celebrations.
“A crew team from LRC will visit us in November next year. There will be a celebratory race among other things,” said Roy Choudhury.
London Rowing Club or LRC is the second oldest non-academic active rowing club on the Thames in London. It was founded by the members of the long-disbanded Argonauts Club wishing to compete at the Henley Royal Regatta.
Christopher Dodd wrote a full history of the club to mark its 150 years titled Water Boiling Aft - London Rowing Club, the First 150 Years, 1856-2006.
“...Keen rowing men saw their sport in terminal decline, and a handful had the foresight to suggest a club that would recruit many members at a low annual fee, without hidden extras. Their aim was to beat the university crews which dominated Henley Regatta at that time, and their base would be in rural Putney, where the skies were clear, the water was relatively clean, and the traffic was light. And a fast, reliable and frequent train service from Waterloo to the top of the High Street enabled city types to attend practice, summer and winter alike,” wrote Dodd.
On the other hand, in Kolkata, the once capital of the Empire, the Calcutta Rowing Club was formed in 1858, a year after the Sepoy Mutiny.
L.H. Macklin, who compiled A Summary of the Records of The Calcutta Rowing Club 1858-1932, writes: : “... as the anxieties of the Mutiny were dying down, ... their (the founders) enthusiasm kept it going in the face of many difficulties and discouragements.”
Macklin writes: “The names of the original members are not recorded, but they were chiefly rowing men from Home, who, finding their lot cast in a city with no mean river, and yet thinking it is a river hardly worthy of the name if not puddled by the oars and furrowed by the keel of racing craft, banded themselves together to find the ways and means of introducing rowing into India, and in so doing founded what is now one of the oldest athletic clubs in the East.”
The first boat of the club was a “six oar” purchased locally in 1859 from a “Gavin of Sulkea” for Rs 300.
The first boathouse was a mud-walled thatch-roofed structure on the river bank near Chandpal Ghat which included a dressing room and space for four oars.
The cyclone of 1864 swept away everything. However, the members were undaunted as they called a general body meeting where committee members were elected, the colours of the club blue and white were selected, an entrance fee was fixed at Rs 50 and an annual subscription at Rs 40.
The final place for CRC was Dhakuria. The new boat house was built by Martin &Co with funds from the building loan.
A pavilion for the accommodation of ladies and non-rowing members was erected on the lawn, the grounds were laid out, the paths were laid and the banks reinforced and in April 1928, the club was ready.
Soon enough the club was holding events like the Merchants Cup, the Annual Regatta, Hoare Cup, the Double Sculls event and many others followed. In 1931 the Amateur Rowing Association of the East (ARAE) was formed of which CRC was a member.
Today, the 165-year old club holds an assortment of events.
The present honorary secretary of LRC Andrew Boyle has already texted to Roy Choudhury about the visit. “I would be pleased to develop with you the idea of a visit to CRC to celebrate the anniversary of the relationship between our clubs. We discussed the timing of our visit, late in November and before the Christmas period in 2023.”
Talks are on to bring young members who row in the competitive squad of LRC. “The visit will be an opportunity for younger members of CRC to row in crews with LRC athletes,” wrote Boyle.
