Latest News

Rowing at Lambrook is in its early days, but indoor Rowing currently takes place during PE lessons, Games lessons and Co-Curricular activities; there is even time to squeeze in a quick training session during lunchtime! Lambrook has recently set up a designated Rowing area in the Sports Hall, where pupils are able to make the most of some brand new ergos. 

It has been straight into competitive fixtures; Lambrook has now had two ‘Rowing Meets’, both home and away. Both events were hard-fought competitions, where senior Lambrook Boys and Girls raced individually and took part in relays. The pupils put in a lot of hard work on both occasions and had a brilliant time, greatly impressing with their determination, technique and team work as they undertook a totally new challenge.

Our School Archivist writes about an Old Lambrookian Champion and record-breaking oarsman: 

In 1935, Gallaher Ltd issued their second series of coloured cards featuring sporting ‘Champions,’ with No.40 in the set showing a picture of an Old Lambrookian: T. Frame-Thomson. The reverse of the card provided a description of Tom’s claim to fame as a record-breaking oarsman. It explained how, as a Freshman (or first-year undergraduate) in 1933, he was stroke of the Cambridge crew which out-rowed Oxford in the Varsity Boat Race for the tenth successive year.

Born in 1913, Thomas Frame-Thomson had joined Form IC at Lambrook in the Summer Term of 1923 and, at the end of the following year, his co-authored entry for the Story Competition was judged to be best in Form II. In 1925, Tom successfully passed the swimming test, joined the Chapel Choir, was selected for the 3^rd XI Cricket team and submitted another competition for the Story Competition – being placed third in Form III. TF-T’s final year at Lambrook saw him entering the Swimming and Fives Competitions, playing 3^rd XI Football, being promoted to the 2^nd XI Cricket team and rediscovering his winning talent in the Story Competition with a tale entitled ‘An Adventure in Mexico.’

Having transferred to Eton College in 1927, Tom rowed in the winning Junior Novice House Four in 1928. Two years later he stroked his Novice House Four, won the Novice Sculling and stroked a Novice Eight to victory. Progressing to Eton’s 2^nd Eight in 1931, TF-T stroked the winning Light Blue Trial Eight at Cambridge during the Easter half of 1932 and finally stroked the Eton Eight at Henley in the summer of that same year before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge. As stroke of the victorious Boat Race crew in 1933, Tom helped Cambridge to complete the longest sequence of wins in 106 years – an outstanding feat that earned him that worthy place in Gallaher’s set of ‘Champion’ cards.

The portrait shows him wearing a Cambridge light blue and white blazer along with a Leander tie. The Archivist of this prestigious Henley-upon-Thames rowing club revealed that, well before the race, he had been elected to its membership owing to his appearance in the Cambridge Trial Eights. In later years, after graduating from university with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, TF-T found employment with a firm of chartered accountants before spending his War years as an R.A.F. test pilot at Biggin Hill – rising to the rank of Squadron Leader.

Tom’s post-war career saw him travelling to the United States, where he worked in San Francisco and New York for Shell Oil, the company then agreeing to provide sponsorship funds towards the development of Craig Breedlove’s revolutionary ‘Spirit of America’ racing vehicles. TF-T’s engineering expertise helped to rescue the project after its initial failure in 1962 and the vehicle’s performance was transformed by the resulting modifications, leading to a resounding success in the following year. On 5 September 1963, ‘Spirit of America’ broke the world land speed record, averaging a velocity in excess of 400 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. For the second time in his life, Tom had played a crucial role in extending the boundaries of sporting endeavour.

This triumph was celebrated and immortalised by the Beach Boys’ hit song ‘Spirit of America,’ which was released on their fourth album ‘Little Deuce Coupe’ just over a month later and subsequently became the title track of their second compilation album in 1975. In that same year of 1975, the ‘Lambrook Chronicle’ reported that TF-T was ‘growing avocados in California,’ where his wife Enid owned a farm in Santa Barbara County. The Leander Archivist confirmed that he retained his membership for the rest of his life.

Although Thomas Frame-Thomson died in 1991, Lambrook’s connection with elite rowing certainly did not end during that year. By some remarkable coincidence, 1991 also saw the birth of Stewart Innes – another Old Lambrookian and Leander Club rower with a fine palmarès to his name. His list of accomplishments includes: medallist in the World Junior, European Senior and World Senior Championships, as well as Olympic finalist at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. Stewart has since retired from regular competition but new pupils are now open to follow in his wake.