The life and times of Guy Negus

Thanks to Alan Salisbury for providing some background on past Patron and Kings Cup athlete, Guy Negus. The history of Guy Negus

1936: Joined the WA Rowing Club as a novice rower, and was in the bow of an eight when he won his first race.

1937: Easter carnival in Bunbury and Collie. Won novice races when Wests won the “Rose Cup.”

1938: Nicknamed “Tiger”. Was rowing at two seat when won the junior eight.

1939: Joined the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Research and trained at Farmborough in England.

1941: Served on the HMS Quorn between Channel Island and the Orkney Islands on escort duties in Western Approaches.

1942: Commandeered a motor launch in Freetown, West Africa, on escort and convoy duties. . Took part in D-Day landings.

Later transferred to Canada to train as a Fleet Air Arm Pilot.

1944: Graduation coincided with the end of the war.

1946: Demobilised at the rank of Lieutenant.

1946: Rejoined the WA Rowing Club and was selected in the WA Kings Cup Crew, which placed third to New South Wales and Victoria.

1947: Selected again for the Kings Cup crew which was held in Western Australia on the Swan River, placed third again, (here's a picture of it). Also was in the champion eight, four and pair that year, and helped the club win the pennant.

1950: Was elected Club Captain and was a part of every crew which won a State Championship.

1951: Elected to the role of Treasurer.

1953: Organised and was part of the committee which formulated the Memorial Boat House Fund.

1954: Organised the purchase of the “Don Fraser.”

1956: Launched the Guy Negus four with the George Rogers pair. Raced at Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree in the WARC Olympic test four.

1958: WARC won the pennant – the first since 1947. Guy rowed in the championship eight, four and pair.

1959: WARC won the pennant… again.

1960: The Empire Games. Guy used his naval knowledge and with the help of club members, repainted the whole club house in one weekend.

1961: Club house rehabilitated and re-roofed.

1963: Guy introduced rowing to senior high schools.

1963-64: Organised and raised funds for the visit of 20 high school students to Henley.

1964-66: Low period in the Club’s performance.

1966: Started writing the WARC history 1868-1968

1967: Crews started winning races again.

1968: Presented the Club History of the centenary, and awarded Life Membership. Organised a coach for 80 club members who took part in every race at the Henley regatta in Melbourne.

1969: Migrated to the UK with his family – someone remarking that the club would fall without him. Guy replied that there would always be someone to keep things rolling along.

1970: Returned from the UK to attend the WARC annual dinner and visit family and friends.

1979: Was overjoyed when the clubhouse was listed as a heritage building – a move proposed by Bill Irvine.

1980: Visited Perth again to help sort out club accounts and the Memorial Boat Fund.

1986: Visited Perth and WARC.

1987: Elected Patron of WARC.

1988: (this isn’t in the original document) Updated the original 1868-1968 history to extend to 1988.

1990: Returned to Perth to christen the A Negus four and the O&M Negus. The latter was the first new boat for 20 years.

1991-1993: Continued to write to all heads of State to create interest and help from Government sources for finance and help to rebuild the clubhouse.

1993: Was overjoyed with the introduction of the DEET Scheme and financial assistance from the Commonwealth, assisted by the hard work of Richard Poole and Charles Somerset.

1994: Relinquished position of patron due to ill health.

1995-1998: Guy continued his financial support and interest in WARC, particularly as the club was reborn. Guy extended his written history of the club through to 1998, all from his home in the UK and completed prior to his passing. (The 1988-1998 part of the history is not currently held at the rowing club).

Easy Oar, Out bows you beauties, Home and dried. Rest in peace.

The incomplete works of Guy Negus:

Guy corresponded with many people on the subject of Wests. These are the letters we've been able to recover from our records so far.

• 1988 Negus accepts patron position
• 1989 Negus to B Salisbury
• 1990_01_19 B Salisbury to Negus
• 1990_02_03 Negus to B Salisbury
• 1990_02_13 G Negus to A Negus
• 1990_03_28 B Salisbury to Negus
• 1990_04_03 B Salisbury to Negus
• 1990_04_21 Negus to B Salisbury
• 1990_07_07 Negus to B Salisbury
• 1991 Negus to Eadie
• 1991_01_19 Negus to B Salisbury
• 1992 Negus to Byron
• 1993_06_29 Negus to B Salisbury typed
• 1993_11_23 Negus to Poole typed
• 1994_05_05 Poole to Negus
• 1995 Ninham to Anderson re earthquake
• 1995_11_20 Negus to Poole
• 1996_03_01 Poole to Negus
• 1996_06_27 Negus to Poole 1997
• Guy Negus history preamble
• 1997_10_24 Negus to Poole
• 1998_03_01 Negus to Poole
• 1998_03_17 Poole to Negus
• 1998_03_24 Negus to Poole
• 1998_03_25 Negus to Poole
• 1998_05_08 Poole to Negus

Saga of the Slips: Part Three

The Swan River Trust has just got back to us with the following: It is unlikely that we will be able to rebuild the slips as a permit under Part Five of the SRT regulations. This means we'll need to make a development application using this form.

This means the decision will ultimately go to the Minister for Environment following consideration from the Swan River Trust and consultation with other agencies.

Lord Mayor's Cup 2014: All the action

Well, the 2014 Lord Mayor's Cup is over.

To the athletes, thank you. Thank you for bringing great humour, enthusiasm and sporting spirit to our 25th event.

If you would like to continue rowing, we have another Learn-to-row course about to fire up, or if you are feeling a bit more confident with your skills, you can join our development squad. For more information, email captain@warowingclub.org.  (For those who have expressed an interest already, keep an eye on your inbox!). Without you, WARC would metaphorically sink - clearly we're quite good at literally sinking, judging by the photographs.

Check out the fantastic video put together by our audio-visual guru Dean Neal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elnyTu1Iw5E

Results:

Men's 4+ Lord Mayor's Cup:

Won by: EQ A-Team From: Leighton Broad

• Jack Robson
• Steven Fenwich
• Peter Pabla
• Michael Caddick

Women's 4+, Alan Salisbury Cup

Won by: Oarvengers, From: Kinetic IT

• Claire Robinson
• Paula Murray
• Katie Keyes
• Melissa McCulloch

Mixed 4+

Won by: Eat, Sleep, Row, Repeat From: Fugro Advanced Geomechanics

• Lloyd Miller
• Ray Maujean
• Leonora Begaj
• Sharon Kendal

Men's two-minute erg sprint Won by: Lloyd Miller, 661m Runner up: Rob Taylor, 644m

Women's two-minute erg sprint Won by: Julie Jenkinson, 534m Runner up: Karen Koedyk, 523m

Captain Nemo awards:

Sunk: Nuclear IT Navy From: Nuclear IT

Sunk: Ajilon Avengers From: Ajilon

This event helps secure the future of our 145-year-old institution.

To the volunteers: I know for the organising team in particular, your lives were effectively put on hold as we put 25 corporate crews through their paces over a five week period, battling boat breakages, some challenging weather conditions and everything in between.

The proof of your ability shone on the day as we had what was, in my humble opinion, one of our greatest Lord Mayor's Cup events ever.

People are the greatest resource the WA Rowing Club has. The feedback and ideas from volunteers and LMC athletes alike is what will drive our event forward. So for everyone involved, please expect to receive a survey in the next week that will give you the opportunity to provide your feedback for the Lord Mayor's Cup.

In the meantime, we're already plotting purchase of new Lord Mayor's Cup-appropriate boats and merchandise for hte 26th event.

Congratulations to the winners, finalists, and all participants for coming on the day.

We could write a breakdown and commentary of events, however the old adage that a picture speaks a thousand words is difficult to argue with. With that in mind, check out the amazing photographs from Michael Smith! Click this image to go through to the photo gallery - you are welcome to download any images you like!

May your water be flat and your leg drive epic,

PBR and the WARC Management Committee

Saga of the Slips, part two

Quick update on the deck works: The Department of Transport has advised in writing that:

• As WARC is a private club that involves non-powered vessels, the deck project is not eligible for funding under the Recreational Boating Facilities Scheme.

The Department of Sport and Recreation has advised verbally that:

• As WARC is located over water and is looking to upgrade non-land based facilities, the deck project is not eligible for funding under the Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund. 

We have also written to LotteryWest to establish whether there is any scope for potential funding with them. It's very unlikely as they don't fund sporting clubs like ours, however there may be heritage scope.

If the answer is "no" from all Government agencies, we may be able to approach Heritage.

The Swan River Trust wrote back on the matter of the part five permit, saying:

It may be that a permit application can be made if the works are for repairs to or maintenance of an existing structure which –

(i)                  Are not related to a change of use of any part of the structure; and (ii)                Do not alter the structure’s function or appearance.

http://www.swanrivertrust.wa.gov.au/planning-and-licensing/application-forms/permit-application

 A part 5 development application may be required for any change, addition to any structure – or any new development.

Our Statutory planning section will be able to advise you better of the application process you will need to undertake. I will forward your query to them, and ask they contact you to advise.

I will keep you all up to date on this.

Perth to Freo - north to south

Due to significant bellyaching and whinging from the masses, I have reoriented the Perth to Freo map to have north pointing north. In my defense, for many years this was the map rowers and coxswains used for the race:

I've no idea why they had north pointing sort of north-east, but I'd guess most scullers and coxswains who have done the race would be familiar with this map.

So in an effort to be a more technically correct (the best type of correct) club, here is the same map, in colour, carefully lined up to accurately match the Google map of the river and oriented with north pointing up:

Or you can of course download the PDF and keep a copy yourself here: P2F oriented north

Now, for those wondering how I worked out the distances: No, I did not Garmin it.

I used this site: http://au.mapometer.com/

The bonus of this site is I didn't have to leave my office to work out the distance. I will point out John Morgan did offer to provide his Garmin results from the historic Last Race of the Clarkson, when the six men of Squad X completed the course, happily beating at least one novice women's crew. Ah, good times.

Perth to Freo - season warm-up

Re-did the very ancient map of the Perth to Freo boatrace today. Finally is editable should we discover new spit posts.

For new players, the trickiest bit is often the start - it's easy to head off along the river wall towards UWA but that won't help you much. It's particularly tricky because the Quarry Pt spitpost isn't visible when you're sitting in a single scull by yourself. You just have to have enough guts to row out into the middle of the river and hope you're heading the right direction.

Or take a compass and head south-south-east. Either or.

Perth to Freo map download 

Saga of the Slips: Part one

The long process to garner approvals to repair and maintain the WARC deck has begun. The primary approvals required to repair and maintain the deck will come from the Swan River Trust and the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority. These two organisations need to simultaneously approve any development in our patch of water.

Fortunately the MRA and SRT had been working together on approvals for Lot 351 very recently, so know each other quite well and the paths of communication are already open.

Primary dual approval: Swan River Trust

This is how we gathered information on the Swan River Trust:

• Garton Smith\Owen: This is the law firm that worked for the Department of Transport writing leases during the 1990s. They no longer do this. They told me to talk to Department of Transport's jetties department.
• Department of Transport - Jetties: Told me our jetty licence number is SR76, (interestingly, not written on our lease anywhere). As we are a club/NFP, our licence amendment fee may be be different and as a result I could not determine which (if any) of the forms online for modifying a jetty necessarily apply. http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/imarine/jetty-licences.asp
• Marine and Harbors said: McGees (who we’ve dealt with in the past) should be our first port of call, as they're the property manager for DOT leases.
• McGees told me this sounded like a “repair and maintain” application, which could be executed within our current riverbed lease. This means it should be able to be done via permit under “Part 5”, which we would get from the Swan River Trust. We do need to drive some new piles which may mean there needs to be a variation to the jetty licence, however the work is within our existing riverbed lease.
• To do this, I need to email the Swan River Trust. We expect they will write back requesting a copy of our plans, so this action has been delayed slightly.

Primary dual approval: Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority

• The MRA has been involved in the Lot 351 approval process and worked with our feedback. So we already have a relationship with them.
• We will need to lodge a development application (DA) with the MRA that will also need to go to the SRT.
• A DA “pack” is being sent to WARC shortly so help start this approvals process.
• They told us dealing with heritage sooner rather than later is a good idea.

Heritage

• Our heritage building number is 2090.
• They said the SRT and MRA will both refer our planning application and licence amendments to heritage for review anyway.
• HOWEVER, the process can be made smoother if we deal with heritage earlier rather than later. As there is a moderate change to the size of the deck and a likely change to the materials, this will need to go through heritage.
• Their ideal is replacing “like with like”. I explained that wasn’t really an option considering the size of modern boats and danger it poses to rowers. It will be critical that the Building Maintenance Committee keeps records of all options considered, as well as the reasons they are variously dismissed.
• Heritage sponsorship is not open to us, as we are an NGO. This might seem counter-intuitive, however heritage funding is only available for organisations that do not qualify for City of Perth/DSR/Lotterywest funding. That said, if we are ruled out of any funding for any reason, that makes heritage available to us.

Secondary approvals: City of Perth

• The COP said we fall under the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority and therefore do not have to liaise with the COP over this in terms of planning.

Aboriginal Affairs:

• It is likely our DA will go to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs for review. If the SRT grants this as a Part 5 permit based on not exceeding our riverbed lease, will not need a Section 18 from DIA. S18s were required for the Lucky Shag extension and Lot 351.  http://www.daa.wa.gov.au/en/Section-18-Applications/

These are the MRA application forms:

• DA Form 1 Application for Approval
• DA Requirments Checklist
• Development Policy 2 - Development of Heritage Places
• Planning Fee Schedule

For further information, email president@warowingclub.org

Champion Club results 2005-06 to now

  The following is a table that records where WARC landed in the annual Champion Club awards from 2005-06 to now.

The figures these awards are based on are a little on the rubbery side, but there's a couple of interesting things to see.

It looks a bit like a pattern for WARC where we hit the top, then gradually slide downwards for a while.

Our biggest pitfall is our retention figures (more on that later) and to some extent, our novice recruitment.

Graph 1 shows the overall results, with WARC and Freo singled out. I've singled out Freo as they're a similar sized and similar level club. (And the President of Freo told me they were interested.)

Graph 1: Overall results

Graph 2 is about novice recruitment. The average for 2013 was dramatically affected by UWA's recruitment of 118 novice athletes in one year. Pretty exhaustive. To put that in perspective, Freo was the highest-recruiting club over the seven year period, with a total of 250 recruited. WARC was in line with ANA with 177 - about middle of the road. Our recruitment of just four atheltes from 2011 to 2012 really damaged our scorecard. (No idea what happened there).

Graph 2: New novices

The next graph is actually where WARC shines most: athlete participation. In 2012, we hit a record 20 races per registered athlete - no other club has got near that so far and we have the highest average for any club. However, we plummeted this year (along with everyone else) to a record low of 7.4 races per athlete.

Graph 3: Participation

And finally, we get to the Achilles heel for WARC: Athlete retention. We'are actually not *that* bad, the averages tend to be a bit confounded by some of the smaller clubs that crack out 100 or 90 per cent retention (hello the first two years of Champion Lakes) however we are still below Freo - a good benchmark, I think. So this is something to work on. Peeps, we need you to stick around.

Graph 4: Athlete retention

There's not much else to say here. Some of these figures are a little rubbery as they're largely taken from ROMS or provided to RWA and I think we are well aware of the difficulty of accruing accurate records for our own club, let alone an entire state.

But I think it does show up some of our strengths and weaknesses pretty interestingly, and shows we've not always been the big fish.

Happy rowing,

PBR.