John Hartland with his daughter, Kate
When an elderly man standing on the riverbank was watching my quad, not long after I’d started rowing, I didn’t think much of it. All I noticed was that he was watching us intently. It was only later that I learned it was a figure who has made a massive impact on Monmouth rowing – John Hartland. I knew his name, of course – there’s a boat named after him – but it was a while after that that I discovered quite how much he’d given to rowing in our town.
As well as running the rowing at Monmouth School and founding the club at Haberdashers Monmouth School for Girls, John played a big part in Monmouth Rowing Club as chairman and regatta secretary, and was a central figure in the building of the clubhouse in the late 1960s and its extension back in the 1990s. He was also chairman of Welsh Rowing and led the Wales team to the Commonwealth Games in 1986. As rowing careers go it’s a pretty impressive one.
As a coach he seems to have made a huge impact on his students. Everywhere you go, people ask after him. Even at the start of a race last year, with seconds to go before the race began, a member of our opposite number called across and asked how he was.
Now, sadly, John (or possibly Mr Hartland to you), who turned 80 recently, has Alzheimers. Having spent a harrowing six months in a psychiatric hospital last year, he is now settled in a nursing home and is much more contented, but the engaged, knowledgeable, hard-working rower he once was has been stolen by the illness.
John’s daughter, Kate Callaghan, who is head of rowing at the Habs school in Monmouth, is running Swansea Half Marathon later this month to raise money for the Alzheimers Society. If you knew John Hartland, or have been affected by Alzheimers, it occurred to me that you might like to support her. She can be sponsored at https://www.justgiving.com/teams/Runningforourheroes
Alzheimers can happen to anyone. Please give generously.
