Tideway Scullers School

History

Alec Hodges was a founder member and an organiser of Tideway Scullers School in approximately 1957, filling all offices of the club at one time or another over the years. He was the driving force behind getting the TSS boathouse built in 1984, along with Lou Barry and Cyril Bishop.

Hodges was among early coaches to have coached the school's (club's) crews to wins at Henley and he took new scullers, from the youngest to the oldest, under his wing, sorting out or lending them boats so they could enjoy the sport he loved. Even when well in his seventies he would take three or four scullers out, one after another, setting them on the road to sculling. He organised sculling courses every year, twisting the arms of lots of people to help, and these courses were the start of many successful sculling careers, including world champion Debbie Flood.

The club is believed to be the only non-academic related club named 'School' for sculling, which is the propelling of boats with starboard and port oars for each oarsman or oarswoman. Rowing has also been conducted from the site directly east of Chiswick Bridge from the outset.

The club has since 2000 outperformed Thames Tradesmen's Rowing Club a few hundred metres downstream at junior and senior level and competes in a similarly wide bracket to Thames Rowing Club in Putney and Twickenham Rowing Club, east and west respectively. The club previously held the headship for the Head of the River Race (2009), the largest UK eights event, and the senior squad holds the record for the Head of the River Fours course.

Olympic members

Five members of Tideway Scullers qualified for A-finals rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, including the three-time single scull world champion Mahé Drysdale, and the 2006 World Cup winner Alan Campbell. Drysdale won the bronze medal in the single scull event. In London 2012 Olympics, in A-final, x1 Mahé Drysdale won gold, Alan Campbell taking home bronze