One of the Good Schools Guide’s Top 9 Schools for Rowing in the UK, set on the UK’s longest river, is The King’s School Worcester (KSW) Boat Club.
Since 1877, KSW has offered rowing as a sports option to its pupils. Back then, KSW was a boys’ school and headmaster Maurice Day oversaw the induction of the boat club, which struggled with numbers towards the end of the century. Fast-forward to 2024 and Jim Chalmers (of GB and Windsor Boys’ fame) is Head of Rowing, and the club consists of boys’ and girls’ squads from J14-18.
While the club is still based on the River Severn in central Worcester, one of the biggest developments in KSWBC’s extensive history was the completion of the Michael Baker Boathouse in 2012, funded by a donation from a former pupil and with expansive space for boat storage and maintenance, training, and with all the facilities a boat club could ever need in order to function.
All eight of the squads (J17 and 18 train and compete together) contain both competitive and recreational rowers. Those who wish to race start with local regattas (Worcester, Shrewsbury, Stratford) at J14 level and build up to local head races, National Schools’ Regatta and the Scullery from J15, Schools’ Head of the River and Henley Women’s Regatta by J16, and, by the time they are in the Senior Squads, Henley Royal Regatta Qualifiers, as well as most other national-level events.
The top boat for boys is the Championship Quad Scull, followed by the Second Quad Scull and the Championship Coxed Four, with the latter two combining to form a Schools’ First/Championship Eight for events such as SHORR and HRR. The girls also favour a Schools’ First/Championship Eight for the same events as well as HWR, but, recently, have seen success in smaller boats, too: they raced a Ch2-, Ch4- and Ch4+ at NSR 2024.
Since King’s is a day school, it would be fair to assume that training could be more limited than in other programmes. However, the dedication of the athletes is unwavering, with the senior squads training three mornings per week before school, three afternoons per week and for four-and-a-half hours on Saturday. Those vying for seats in the top boats also put in additional hours in the gym, erging elsewhere, and getting on the water as much as humanly possible, especially in the longer days in the summer. For the younger squads, training can range from two to four days per week, spread across early-mornings and afternoons. Training on the Severn means that each winter the club’s water-time is severely limited due to extreme flooding and bad weather conditions. Time in actual boats is not guaranteed from November to March, but rowers supplement this with increased land training.
Results for KSWBC have been excellent on the national stage in recent years. At Henley Royal Regatta 2022, a 4x qualified for the Fawley Challenge Cup and an 8+ for the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup; in 2021, boats qualified in both events, as well as in the then-Junior Women’s Eights (now Prince Phillip Challenge Trophy). At National Schools’ Regatta last year, 16 King’s crews raced, with two reaching the A-finals (2nd 4x- and WCh4-). Moreover, the club has seen 12 wins at Brit Champs since 1975, with the most recent being Georgie Thorpe (University of Nottingham) and Alice Baker (Stanford University/GB) in 2021 in the WJ18 2-.
The club prides itself on the large number of its rowers who remain active in the sport after they leave school. Most of the senior squads over the past few years have continued rowing at either university or local clubs, with some competing at well-known and prestigious events. Luke Beever, who left KSW in 2022, has raced in Cambridge’s Goldie boat in two reserve Boat Races. On top of this, four rowers have left King’s and gone on to compete in the Olympics: Peter Jackson (Belin, 1936), David Townsend (Montreal, 1976), Peter Beaumont (Seoul, 1988), and Zac Purchase (Beijing, 2008 and London, 2012).
The club has two main attributes, which may not be obvious to an outsider looking in. First is the mentoring programme. Whether it is for the Duke of Edinburgh volunteering section, or simply out of the goodness of their heart, each week, 20 to 40 rowers give up their time to assist with the coaching of the J14s. Aside from technical and performance development, they help to boost confidence, create a friendly environment in the club, and nurture and relate to the juniors due to the closeness in age. Second is the fact that KSWBC is fully ‘home-grown’ talent. The school does not offer scholarships for rowing, and most people who begin in Year 9 are stepping into a boat for the first time. This makes it all the more impressive that the school puts together Henley-standard boats, British champions and, occasionally, world champions.
Rowing at The King’s School, Worcester is ever-growing. Intake of J14s increases each year, and the club’s successes continue to flourish.
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