26 May 2025

By Adrian Stokes

Teresa Stokes writes:

On 6th May 2014 a new eight was launched at Winchester College named The Spirit of ’49 & ’54 to celebrate and commemorate the College VIII winning the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley in those years. My father, L.A.F. Stokes, had rowed in the College VIII in the inaugural Princess Elizabeth Cup in the summer of 1946 (lost to Eton by two thirds of a length in their heat). By 1954 he had joined the staff at his old school, and coached the College VIII to their ‘54 victory. For the ceremonial launch of the new boat, the crews and coaches of 1949 and 1954 were invited as honoured guests. My father wrote the following piece about the proceedings for the College Magazine, The Trusty Servant. He modestly wrote the piece anonymously, noting only that the author was a ‘fly on the wall.’

A ’fly on the wall’, no mean oarsman himself, witnessed the following proceedings on Tuesday, 6th May 2014.

We were received like royalty by the team from Win Coll Soc [the society for alumni] all-smiling and most helpful. With the invitation we had been sent a splendid 24-page booklet with the guest list, the reports from The Wykehamist, old photos and other archival material. That allowed a little pre-event mugging-up: the careers of the guests of honour ranged from medicine to the military, business and banking to brewing, politics to journalism, farming to the Church.

It was a reunion to celebrate the Winchester VIII’s victories in 1949 and 1954 in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley. The day started with a champagne reception and a few words of welcome by our host for the day, David Fellowes, Win Coll Soc’s Director. The guests of honour were, of course the members of the two crews, of whom nine were present, and their coaches, of whom three were present. David welcomed us all individually, and said a few respectful words about those seven no longer with us and the two unable to come.

The Senior Man of the three coaches, and still with a marvellous twinkle in his eye, was Colin Badcock (a student from 1941-46), who had coached both crews. Adrian Stokes (also 1941-46) was one of several old blues present, but the only one who had been President of OUBC. Michael Lapage, who had coached the ’49 crew, was the only Olympic medallist in the party, from the GB VIII of 1948 (silver medal).

We proceeded to the dining room for lunch, where John Giles, stroke of the ’54 crew, set the rhythm of the day, reciting a long and amusing Grace, as he explained: ‘in homage to E Naylor’s Benedicite in G, as sung in canon in Chapel in the 1950s under Mr Havergal’:

O all ye works of the lord, bless ye the Lord,
praise him and magnify him for ever.
O all ye rowing boats propelled upon the waters, bless ye the Lord;

O all ye eights, fours, pairs and sculling boats, bless ye the Lord,
O all ye oarsmen and oarswomen, bless ye the Lord,
Praise him and magnify him for ever.

O all ye boathouses and landing-stages bless ye the Lord,
O all ye rudders and riggers;
Oars, buttons, swivels, stretchers and sliding seats,
Bless ye the Lord,
O all ye FIXED PINS, bless ye the Lord,
Praise him and magnify him for ever.

O all ye coaches and coxes, bless ye the Lord,
O all ye boatmen, especially any named Jack, bless ye the Lord.
O all ye officers of Boat Clubs,
and organisers of commemorative lunches and reunions,
Bless ye the lord.
Praise him and magnify him for ever.

O all ye fellow oarsmen, friends and supporters, present today,
united in College loyalty and shared successes,
Bless ye the Lord,
O all ye fellow oarsmen sadly absent today,
but remembered and deeply missed,
Bless ye the Lord,
Praise him and magnify him for ever. Amen.

We had an excellent lunch. There was room only for 23 in the Warden’s Lodgings, so a few younger members of the party were cast into Outer Darkness (The Wykeham Arms); I was assured that they had a jolly lunch too.

After lunch we proceeded to Boat Club where we were received by members of three of the current School rowing squads and their coaches. The respect and admiration between the two groups was mutual – the tallest in the party, with a fine physique for rowing, was the current President of Boat Club, Jonathan Johansen, and the enthusiasm and devotion and will to win in the current squad was striking. The Boat House appeared superficially unchanged, but all those colourful, sleek and shining shells amazed the old guard; no heavy tub fours or beamy second-hand clinker skiffs to be seen. It’s all quad sculls and whiffs for the Under 15s these days. And the dreaded rowing machines for torture – very professional. The squad was in especially good spirits having just had a successful weekend at Wallingford Regatta on the Dorney Rowing Lake.

The guests of honour paraded through an arch of oars. Speeches were made by Daniel Pounds, the don in charge of Rowing, and by Joseph Johansen, the President of Boat Club, who emphasised the special spirit of oneness in rowing with quotes from the archives. These were responded to by the Presidents of the two crews. Peter Beyfogle, who had flown from Canda especially for the event, recalled how he came down to Boat Club as a new student expecting to go canoeing, but was immediately buttonholed as being useful in the engine-room of a junior four; he spoke movingly of how much the Boat Club experience had meant to him. John Sutcliffe told us about the eight they used in 1949 that had been presented to the school by the Countess of Midleton, named Francis and Michael after her two sons who had been killed in 1944.

That led fittingly to the naming ceremony of the new School eight, gleaming on its trestles on the hard, and proudly bearing the name Spriit of ’49 & ’54. Champagne was duly poured over the bows by Presidents Breyfogle (’49) and Sutcliffe (’54) – without any unseemly shaking and squirting, thus leaving some for a quiet tipple afterwards.

The First VIII then took the boat out for its inaugural outing. Before dispersing, the guests proceeded to Tun Bridge for a row-past by the First and Second VIIIs and the Junior VIII. Our sincere best wishes to them and their coaches for a successful season, and equally sincere thanks to all who made it a memorable and moving event.

The winning crews are here listed from Bow to Cox. Asterisks refer to those who are deceased:

1949. RW Lister, AD Gavin, *KGN Alcock, ACF Thomson, *ATF McNeill, *D Pasteur, DA Cross, JHV Sutcliffe (President), *D Macquaker.

1954. *RW Snow, MJ Hall, JJdesC Virden, PN Breyfogle (President), *HN Armstrong, *PA Drake, JPO Gibb, JR Giles, HA Stephenson.