Women’s Hudson USP Eight

October 2023

In October 2023, UBBC took delivery of a Hudson Ultimate SHARK Predator (USP) eight for the women’s squad. This is the second Hudson USP eight donated by Nonesuch in the last two years and is the highest value equipment purchase we have ever made for UBBC at just shy of £40,000. The boat features carbon fibre wing-riggers and a hull and shoes specifically sized for female rowers. 

The model of boat is identical to the USP eight purchased for UBBC’s men’s squad, meaning UBBC has almost identical models and similar ages of boat for both its senior men's and women's squads in almost every boat class. 

Since the launch of our website and online donation platform, Nonesuch has spent over £122,000 on boats and equipment for UBBC, all raised entirely by your collective donations. These purchases simply wouldn't be possible without our community's collective generosity. Thank you. 

We look forward to the opportunity to thank our community at a boat naming ceremony at an event later in the year. 

Raised:

£39,000

Donors:

All regular donors

Men’s Hudson USP Eight

May 2021

In May 2021, UBBC took delivery of a Hudson Ultimate SHARK Predator (USP) eight for their men’s squad.

The boat features the latest innovations in boat-making technology, with revolutionary hull construction and carbon fibre wing-riggers. The purchase will have an immediate impact on UBBC, allowing the Men’s 1st VIII to race in a competitive shell and remaining boats in the fleet to trickle down to other crews, allowing more rowers out on the water at any one time.

Since the launch of our online Direct Debit donation platform in 2017, over 150 alumni, friends and supporters of UBBC have generously donated every month to collectively raise over £30,000 for the purchase, making this one of the largest donations the UBBC Alumni has made to UBBC.

The boat will be named in memory of Piers Robinson, UBBC’s 1991 Henley winning captain, who sadly passed away in April this year after his recent battle with cancer. In 2016 many UBBC students, alumni, friends and supporters gathered together to help celebrate UBBC’s 25th anniversary victory at Henley Royal Regatta and had the chance to meet Piers.

Piers was an inspirational and visionary leader that helped put Bristol and South West rowing on the map with UBBC’s first ever Henley win. Piers returned to UBBC as a volunteer coach the following year and more recently wrote an inspirational recollection of his time in UBBC in our Winter 2016 magazine from which it is clear to see he embodied the values of UBBC.

Thank you to all of our regular donors for your generous support. Achievements like this simply wouldn’t be possible without you.

Raised:

£31,000

Donors:

All regular donors

Refurbishment of the Liz Hatfield Hudson Eight

Completed: January 2020

After many years of service (and some "minor" wear and tear) Liz Hatfield (Hudson Men's 8+) is back on the water having been restored to her former glory.

UBBC Alumni funds allowed a full refurbishment and repair of the boat, which has served UBBC well since it was first bought in 2006. This refurbishment was only made possible by our members’ monthly donations. Thank you to all those who donate!

Raised:

£5,000

Donors:

All regular donors

10 Concept2 Ergometers

Completed: October 2019

In October 2019 we donated the remaining funds required for UBBC to purchase ten brand new Concept2 ergometers to fill their new erg room at Coombe Dingle. The funds donated for this equipment purchase were raised entirely from our members’ regular monthly and annual donations collected via Direct Debit and standing order.

The addition of these ergs completes UBBC’s set of 32 Concept2 ergs, allowing 4 eights to train at once during UBBC’s morning erg sessions.

As always, the support given to us by the alumni is greatly appreciated. With the new ergs added to our collection our erg room is beginning to fill up, which is an exciting prospect. The fact that we can do whole squad ergs is a real benefit for our #oneclub spirit and will give a real boost to the already high standard of training. So, although we might not like to admit it when we’re halfway into a 2k test, the new ergs are a massive help to us and will provide another step in the road to becoming one of the best rowing universities in the country. Many thanks!

- Arthur Smith (4th Year Aerospace Engineering)

We want to say a massive thank you to Nonesuch for the new additions to our erg suite. This is a brilliant opportunity for all of the rowers at UBBC to improve the quality of their training. With the additional ergs, the women's squad can continue to look forward to more wins and medals in the future, all thanks to the ongoing support of UBBC Alumni. The new ergs also mean that we can all train together as one club and push each other on to achieve our goals. Once again, we are all very grateful for your generous contributions that allow UBBC to continue to progress as a high performance club.

- Ophelia Morley (3rd Year, History) and Hollie Saunders (3rd Year, Civil Engineering)

Thank you to all of our regular donors for your generous support.

Raised:

£4,300

Donors:

All regular donors

Men's and Women's Coxless Fours and Pairs

CompleteD: May 2018

January 2018 saw the launch of an ambitious fundraising campaign, with the aim of purchasing four new boats for UBBC. UBBC's coxless fours and pairs were all over ten years old and in constant need of repair and maintenance, so a campaign was launched to aim to provide a new racing standard boat of each class. 

UBBC Alumni members donated just over £33,000 in support of the campaign, which in addition to a generous donation from the Rutley family, saw the purchase of a new women's coxless four/quad, men's coxless four/quad, women's pair/double and men's pair/double. The boats are all Hudson Super Predators and convertible between sweep and sculling. UBBC have already taken delivery of three of the boats, with the fourth due to arrive over the summer break. 

Early fundraising efforts were spearheaded by the crew members of two of Gordon Trevett’s successful fours; the 2007 IV- (European Universities Rowing Championship, Gold) and 2010 IV+ (HRR Prince Albert Challenge Cup, runners-up). After recently completing twelve years at the helm of UBBC, the club would like to commemorate G's service by naming the new men’s four “Gordon Trevett”. 

UBBC are particularly grateful for the generosity of Graeme Coulthard (UBBC 1986-88) and Phillip Rodger (UBBC 1996-2000), who kindly donated the funds required for each of the women's and men's pairs. 

Thanks go to all of our members who regularly donate by standing order and Direct Debit, whose donations made a significant contribution towards the campaign. 

“On behalf of the club, I’d like to pass on an enormous thank you to the UBBC Alumni. The donation of these new racing boats has added significant depth to the UBBC fleet, enabling us to train and race competitively in coxless fours, quads, pairs and double. The campaign has proved genuinely transformational already, with the most obvious results at U23 GB Trials in the men’s pair, and at BUCS Regatta. Thank you to all who contributed so generously.

— Caroline Welsh, UBBC Club Captain

Thank you all for your support.

Raised:

£33,057

Campaign Leads:

Adam Mackenzie & Seb Tjornelund

Donors:

Phillip Rodger

Graeme Coulthard

Sam Browning

Adam Moss

Tamara Tsallagova

Seb Tjornelund

Pete Randolph

Edward Walton

Matt Steeds

Phil Williams

Martin Herbert

Ben Bathurst

Andrew Turner

Ben McSweeney

Matthew Ridley

Henry Sperling

Richard Randolph

Giles Gray

Charlie Lewis

Luke Stevens

Nick McNeil

Jeremy Fitch

Hugh Cooper

Adam Mackenzie

Women's Sweep Oars

CompleteD: June 2016

The beginning of 2016 saw UBBC's Women's Squad growing in strength. They produced the best results at Women's Eights Head of the River Race in 11 years and picked up silver and bronze medals in championship events at BUCS Head. 

In order to continue their success into the regatta season, UBBC identified the need for a new set of oars, specifically for women's use. The UBBC Alumni donated £2,500 (£3,125 after Gift Aid is added) towards the cost of a set of eight new innovative Wintech Reduced Diameter Shaft oars. 

The oars were subsequently used in UBBC's 2016 Women's Henley Regatta campaign, along with a rented Hudson 8 (amusingly owned by UWE, who didn't have enough women to use it themselves). The 2016 regatta saw their top eight qualify 4th in the Academic Eights event, only being knocked out by event favourites Nottingham University. 

Thank you to all of our donors for your support. 

Raised:

£3,125

Campaign Lead:

James Diaz-Sokoloff

Men's Sweep Oars

CompleteD: June 2015

Words by Michael Jeans (UBBC 1961-64):

In September 2014 I attended the opening of the new boathouse at Saltford - what a great event and long overdue - the old one was falling down when I was there 1961-64! I was talking to the indefatigable Gordon Trevett who told me that a new Empacher VIII had been gifted by John Rutley. he then said that it was a shame that there wasn’t a new set of ‘Skinny’ oars to accompany the new VIII (in recent years oar manufacturers have made a great leap forward, dramatically reducing the diameter of a blade’s loom). I spoke to several other attendees on hand at the boathouse opening and the idea was born of seeking sponsorship for a set of oars costing around £3,000. 

I liaised with Chris Hartley and decided that an ‘appeal’ should be targeted at UBBC Alumni from the 1950s & 1960s with whom the University had contact addresses/emails - some 60/70 people. The basic proposition was: ‘donate £200 and I’ll donate a further £50; with Gift Aid of another £50, that will buy an oar with your name inscribed on it’. We got enough to buy the full set of oars - though some gave less than £200. At least 15% of those to whom I wrote responded positively - a great ‘hit rate’ in terms of fundraising!

This appeal followed a similar structure to one initiated about three years ago to purchase a coaching launch - again a successful campaign with the funds being raised much quicker than anticipated. 

The 8 blades went on to be used by the club’s top Men’s and Women’s coxed fours in their respective Henley Royal and Henley Women’s Regatta campaigns. Following the misfortune of Henley Qualifiers 2015 for UBBC the state of the art new ‘skinny’ blades were taken up by Nonesuch BC seeing action in the Wyfold and Britannia Challenge Cups. 

Thank you to all involved for your generous support.

Raised:

£3,000

Campaign lead:

Michael Jeans

Donors:

Michael Jeans

Cill & Peter Page

Phillip Bragg

Roger Preston

Harold Fish

Michael Upstone

Helliodor Biskupski

Tony Rodger

Coaching Launch

CompleteD: JULY 2014

In July 2014, the UBBC Alumni donated a brand new catamaran coaching launch to UBBC. The launch was named after the then Vice Chancellor Sir Eric Thomas.

Raised:

£5,000

Campaign Lead:

Chris Hartley

2013

Refurbishment of Men's Empacher Eight

2011

Wintech Women's Eight

2005

Kiwi International Racing Boats Men's Coxed Four