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From Wraysbury and Back Again!
...or where did the WAM Dragons come from?
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The Wraysbury Skiff and Punting Club (WSPC) was formed in 1931. The site of the current clubhouse
is no more than a paddles length from the field in Runnymede in which King John signed the Magna Carta* a little over 700 years ago.
The WSPC primarily races skiffs and punts at regattas on the Thames over the course of the year. Dragon boating was introduced
fairly recently in the clubs history and the "Wraysbury Dragons" raced in what is now the premier league.
The Wraysbury team disbanded in 1995 and a member of the team introduced Dragon Boating to Moss Pharmacy as a team-building event.
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The Moss Firebirds and Moss Dragons were born!
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The Firebirds and Dragons took part in the charity event circuit between 1995 and 2002. Competing in the Red Cross events on Goldsworth Park Lake in Woking and at the Cancer Research event at Henley Moss had fantastic success. In four years of events at Goldsworth Park, Moss won three times and were runners up once. At Henley the Firebirds and Dragons won on six times, taking 1st and 2nd on three occasions.
Dragons Alive - the charity event organisers arranged National Charity Finals at Nottingham in 1999 and Eton in 2000 and 2002. Moss paddled away with the honour of National Charity Champions on each occasion. The event in 1999 sticks in the minds of most paddlers not so much for the winning but the forked lightning hitting the water and thunderstorm right overhead whilst paddling to the start!
It is worth noting that at the Eton finals in 2001 'The Mossettes' made their one and only competitive appearance taking 3rd in the ladies competition. Many people do not remember the team so much as they remember the shocking pink t-shirts.
In 2002, looking for a fresh challenge, Moss entered the UK & Ireland Corporate Games in Norwich. Not knowing what to expect it was a bit of a shock to take the gold medal in both long and short open events and win the divisional title. This gave us a free entry to the World Corporate Games in Seville in November 2002, which naturally we couldn't refuse! The racing in Seville was definitely a new experience (as was getting a suntan in November) and we were delighted to walk away with two silver medals and another divisional award.
At this point Moss decided to withdraw its dragon boat funding (been there, done that) leaving the crew with no real direction or ambition for the following year. Then at one training session the Coach sprang his idea for 2003 on us… "Lets form a league team and go racing against the big boys"… to say the crew were a bit dumbstruck is an understatement.
We take our name from our roots at the Wraysbury Club and acknowledge our history with Moss Pharmacy to become the Wraysbury And Moss Dragons.
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The WAM Dragons were born!
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Our first outing as a standard league crew came at Albert Dock in London on 31 May 2003 where we finished 3rd out of all the Standard League crews. A pretty decent start!
The other events WAM entered in 2003 were Cardiff, Surrey Docks, Peterborough and the finals in Nottingham. We finished the season ranked 8th in the Standard League. Having enjoyed the racing, the competitive spirit and friendly rivalry between the teams we decided to come back for more in 2004…
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* The Magna Carta
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The Magna Carta is an important historical document that took some power away from the king and gave some rights and freedoms to the people. Magna Carta means "Great Charter" in Latin.
On June 15, 1215, the barons of Medieval England confronted King John at Runnymede, and forced the king to put his seal on the Magna Carta. King John had been an unpopular king who abused his power, oppressed his subjects, and angered the barons by increasing taxes and demanding many soldiers for his military campaigns abroad. The Pope excommunicated King John from the Catholic Church in 1209, further increasing his unpopularity.
The barons wrote the Magna Carta, which contained 63 clauses promising all freemen access to courts and a fair trial, eliminating unfair fines and punishments, giving power to the Catholic Church in England, and addressing many lesser issues.
Although King John violated many of the clauses in the Magna Carta, later kings of England were eventually forced to comply with its terms.
The Magna Carta was one of the forerunners of modern British law, the US Constitution and its Amendments (the Bill of Rights), and the guiding documents of many other countries that have further expanded the rights and liberties of the people and limited the power of the government.
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