History
1947 to 1996
It was 1947. The young men had returned from the war and everywhere people's thoughts had turned to peacetime pursuits. The only organised boating on the Wallingford stretch of the Thames until this time had been the Wallingford Skiff Regatta which had taken place every peace-time year since the late 1890s.
To many people the river was the very symbol of peace, so it was natural that the Skiff Regatta Committee should decide to investigate the possibility of starting a rowing club. They promised £100 for the purchase of boats and set up a sub-committee consisting of Tim Wilder, John Hoddinott and Barney D'Abbs. Two aged clinker fours with fixed seats and fixed pins, and a tub pair were purchased from Henley Rowing Club, and Tim's father promised the loan of Lower Wharf Boathouse for one year, rent free.
On Friday 14th November a meeting was held at a packed Town Hall where officers and committee were elected and Wallingford Rowing Club was born. One of the statements at this meeting was "if the Club wishes to flourish, these limited amenities will have to be improved", which is as meaningful now as it was then. It was noted at the time that three members had moderate skill at rowing, one had knowledge of coxing, and twenty three had no experience of rowing at all.
Despite this the Club entered its first competition, Reading Amateur Regatta, in June 1948 and won the Maiden Fours, the
winning crew having only started rowing three months previously. 
There was a ballot for the only eight to be sold after the 1948 Olympic Games, and most of the clubs in the country wanted
it. As with everything else after the war, boats were in short supply. As the name of the successful club was pulled out,
Gully Nickalls, Chairman of the A.R.A., is reported to have said, "Wallingford Rowing Club. Good God - who's that?". An appeal
fund was started in Wallingford, and the Town was responsible for raising the £230 pounds. This boat, named 'Portcullis'
was to race at Henley in 1957 and 1960.
In 1953 WRC joined forces with the R.A.F. Rowing Club and negotiated the purchase of Castle Priory Malthouse which is
our present boathouse. Funds were not available for a professional conversion, and the Club members carried out the necessary
work.
The first home grown Wallingford member to become an oarsman of national repute was Johnny Johnson, who stroked the Club to victory in a four that won both its Maidens and Juniors in 1949. He also stroked the Wallingford eight in 1950, and the R.A.F. to victory in both the Wyfold and the Thames Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 1953. Here is an extract from a note written by Colin Porter who was the Captain of the R.A.F. Rowing Club at the time:
"I shall always re-visit Wallingford and in particular the Rowing Club with pleasure; inevitably I suppose since I spent two and a half years stationed at R.A.F. Benson, and was Captain of the R.A.F. Rowing Club, which shared the boathouse with Wallingford R.C. in 1953 and 1954. These were years when the R.A.F. crews were pre-eminent in Britain, winning events at Henley and competing internationally, and the two clubs grew up and developed side by side in a spirit of friendship and co-operation. It could hardly have been otherwise when our stroke who, like most of us, was doing his national service, lived in the town and learned his rowing at Wallingford R.C."
In 1954 Johnny Johnson left the R.A.F. and returned to WRC, bringing with him Ted Field from his successful R.A.F. crews. Together they formed the pair which became the Club's first crew to compete at Henley Royal Regatta, a tradition that is still striven for today.
By 1960 the Club was well established in the rowing world and five club members were selected to go to the 1960 Olympic Games. In 1963 Ted Field and Bob Elliott with Colin Cusack coxing formed Wallingford's first representative crew abroad competing in the coxed pair at Ostend and Ghent. The following year Wallingford were the only British club to win abroad when Ted Field and Lionel Street won the Senior International Pairs Trophy at Vichy in France.
The Club continued its success during the '60s and by 1970 the Club had Bruce Grainger and Brian Armstrong as coaches in association with Wallingford Grammar School. This triggered one of the most successful periods in the Club's history, both for junior and senior rowing. A Wallingford crew was selected to go to the Junior World Championships that year in a coxless pair, and in 1972, this time with a cox, they returned with a bronze medal. This same year a crew comprising of Colin Cusack, Andy Cusack, Carl Purchase and Sean Morris won the Wyfolds at Henley, the first Wallingford crew to do so. Colin Cusack also won a gold medal at the World Lightweight Championships in 1977. In 1997, 25 years after their Wyfold triumph, Sean Morris and Colin Cusack qualified for Henley in a coxless pair.
In 1972 the first of a new junior squad started to appear of which John Wiggins deserves a special mention. In 1973 and 1974 his crew achieved a bronze medals in coxed fours at the World Junior Championships. They also won the Britannia Cup at Henley in 1974. The following year in a coxless pair he and his partner won a silver medal at the World Junior Championships. He went on to row in the successful Oxford University crews of 1976, '77 and '79, the final year as President of O.U.B.C. Of course John did not win these races by himself but it highlights the success of the Club, which for a while was pre-eminent in Junior rowing. At the 1976 Olympic Games Richard Lester won a silver medal and in 1978 came another Henley win for a Wallingford crew in the Wyfold.
In the eighties the club was again a hotbed of success with Bruce Grainger and Brian Armstrong coaching throughout. During this period the Club won 11 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze medals at the National Championships, a silver and a bronze medal at World Championships, and two gold and six silver medals at other international regattas. Many of these successes were for women's and junior events.
As well as success on the water there was much building work done to the Club with a new roof, changing rooms and the sculling shed being installed. The membership of the Club increased from under 100 to over 200.
At the beginning of the '90s Wallingford took the opportunity to buy the R.A.F.'s 50% share of the boathouse. After the buy out the Club was in a state of transition. Bruce Grainger had left, and Wallingford School, as it had become, removed rowing as a school sport and stopped its links with the Club. The steady income of high quality juniors ceased. The Club was still well run but needed an injection of enthusiasm.
This arrived with Pete Sudbury. Pete came from a local club and bought with him a number of oarswomen and that, added to the home grown talent, helped the women's squad to become very successful. They achieved a silver medal at the National Championships and went on to an exceptional number of regatta wins. He achieved this not only through his own coaching dedication, but also with the idea of setting up a debenture scheme.
This
raised £20,000
towards equipment, and meant that not only could newer boats be purchased, but also more importantly the men's squad, which
had not achieved in the same way as the women's squad, were able to get Wallingford's first professional coach in 1994.
Richard Tinkler breathed the same amount of enthusiasm to the men's squad as Pete had to the women's. In his first season
at the Club, 25 members qualified for Henley, which included the winning Britannia Cup crew of Harry Macmillan, Andy Bizzell,
Tom Polkey, Mike Edge, and cox Tara Fitzgerald. The crew followed this up by competing at Lucerne International Regatta
coming 5th and narrowly losing to the selected British coxed four. The following year, as well as many regatta wins, 29
club members represented Wallingford at Henley, with one crew reaching the final of the Thames Cup losing narrowly to Neptune,
the Irish Champions.
