I am sad to report the death of my friend Graham Summer. He was 90 years old.
Graham learned to row at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1950 to read law. He stroked their eight at Henley in 1953, and won three oars whilst racing on the Cam. He joined London in the autumn of 1953 and took out Life membership the following year. He rowed for LRC in the Thames Cup in 1954, and stroked the first VIII in the Grand in 1958 (see photo) when he also rowed in the Wyfolds.
The LRC 1958 Grand VIII. Graham Summer is at stroke. Bow: P H C (Peter) Fraser, aged 17; 2: C D (Colin) Kester; 3 P A Littleton, Captain 1965; 4: D (Dennis) Ashton, Captain 1958 and 1959, after whom the Ashton Room is named; 5: O E (Tubby) Bryant; 6: J M (Johnny) Russell, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics 1964; 7: P E (Peter) Gilbert; cox: J B W McDonnell. The crew raced against Trud Club, Leningrad, who went on to win the final.
He was a very competitive stroke and was described as a good man in a tight finish. He was also an astute tactician. If the umpire warned the opposing crew for steering, Graham was known to put in a spurt to make the result beyond doubt.
Graham joined his father’s solicitors’ practice in Dover Street, E R Summer & Co. He later joined Ready Mix Concrete as their Company Secretary.
We first became friends when our offices were close to each other in Mayfair. In the evenings, I used to cycle to LRC and Graham drove there in an ancient Ford Prefect. It says something about the traffic congestion even in those days because we used to race each other to the Club and quite often it was a close finish.
In the 1980s Graham took up punting and for many years, until Covid, he used to grace Henley Regatta on his punt with his Cats blazer and his prominent LRC cap. He was nothing if not competitive and set up the record for the first marathon punt from Lechlade to Teddington. By the time he reached us at Maidenhead we had to pull him, somewhat wobbly, off the stern of his punt. We took him home, filled him with pasta and put him to bed. After two hours’ rest he continued his odyssey to Teddington Lock.
Graham was also a member of the Thames Traditional Boat Society and skiffed in a regular weekly crew right up to a few weeks before his death. He was incredibly generous and social, and had a quicksilver sense of humour.
O E (Tubby) Bryant
