Programmes, commentary and the regatta church service

Words Mark Blandford-Baker, Chairman’s Assistant at Henley Royal Regatta

As anyone who has been to the world’s most famous regatta knows, Henley Royal Regatta has many aspects of uniqueness. One of these is the way this enormous operation runs seamlessly, perhaps invisibly, for competitors and spectators alike.

The regatta employs a professional team of full-time and seasonal staff who work under the broad direction of the Stewards’ Committee of Management; they are also joined by volunteers in the run up to the regatta and throughout the week of racing.

For each of the five days there is a freshly-printed programme containing the timetable of racing and the details of all crews competing, along with the results of the previous day’s racing, the draw chart, and a host of other information. Being Henley, the programme has to be to ‘regatta standard’. In other words, it must be perfect.

Every one of the few thousand athletes’ details have to be checked; there has to be a complete set of initials, and names must be spelt correctly. Names of foreign clubs and competitors require extra care and attention to ensure accents and shortened forms are correct. Club colours are checked. Only once crews have weighed in, and seat orders and steersmen confirmed, are crew details ready for insertion into the daily programme.