THE YEARS were rowed back at KES.
The Stratford school celebrated the 90th anniversary of the The King Edward VI School Boat Club with a reunion in the Guild Hall.
The club was founded in 1926 by Geoffrey Riddle with the support of then headmaster the Rev Cecil Knight and Stratford Boat Club.
The first school IV included ‘boys who found that cricket was not quite their game.’ Their success in the 1927 Stratford Regatta resulted in Sir John and Lady Brickwood presenting a cup to the school for a competition for Open Sculls – an event that continues to be held each year on the school’s Benefactors’ Day.
In 1934 the engineer Frank Ball presented a challenge trophy to be competed for by schools with boat clubs with less than 40 members. Competed for the first time that year in the Stratford Regatta, KES won it, as they did the following year. To date have won it five times.
Members of King Edward VI School Boat Club continue to row on the Avon, and many crew members have gone on to row for universities and clubs the length and breadth of the county.
Seven decades of rowers attended an afternoon tea reunion on Wednesday – which included a specially baked Stratford speciality – Pargetter cake. The Stratford baker was based for many years on the site of McDonald’s Bridge Street restaurant.
Commemorative earthenware mugs and medals bearing the KES Boat Club 90th anniversary badge were presented, and plaques recording the recent victory in the Ball Cup by both the 1st IV and the very first Girls crew were unveiled.
