Saturday 24 May 2014

Springhill: Two Centuries of River Lea Rowing

There's a wonderful new book by Dick Anderson that's recently been published that tells the story of the boats, boatmen, rowers and rowing clubs on the River Lea from 1800 to 1980.The men and women who lived, worked, trained and raced on the river challenged establishment views on amateur sport and made rowing accessible to all.

At the moment, the book is only available through Lea Rowing club or direct from Lapesse Publishing as Richard is donating all money raised to the club for redevelopment of their boathouse.

Wednesday 7 May 2014

Clapton Orient (1920-1929) – Millfields Stadium

Pathé news coverage of Clapton Orient playing at their Millfields Road stadium. Interesting to see it shows one of the legendary features of Stadium - a large banking which ran along the south side of the ground – known to Orient supporters as the ‘Spion Kop’ (named after a hill in South Africa where the Battle of Spion Kop had been fought in the Boer War). This formed an informal viewing area that additional spectators were accommodated on the Kop when the ground was officially full. It was also the site of a gun emplacement in World War I. More details at: Leyton Orient Supporters Club  and Lea Bridge Heritage.