The Boat Race was the brainchild of two sporting undergraduates - Charles Merivale, of St. John’s College, Cambridge and Charles Wordsworth of Christ Church, Oxford, nephew of poet William Wordsworth. Friends from Harrow School, they came up with the idea of a battle of the blades during a vacation meeting and both took part in the inaugural event at Henley in 1829.

Both Wordsworth and Merivale went on to achieve high office in the Church of England. Wordsworth became Bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane and Merrivale was Dean of Ely Cathedral for 24 years.

Recently a group of Boat Race enthusiasts and members of the Merivale and Wordsworth families have got together to form The Boat Race Founders Society. Its first meeting was at Ely Cathedral on 8 March 2007 - the bicentenary of Charles Merivale’s birth.

"Wordsworth and Merivale were clearly quite remarkable men and a number of us felt their part in founding The Boat Race should be commemorated," said Society Chairman, Jack Waterfall.

He has been in touch with 10 Wordsworths and 56 Merivales, who have enthusiastically supported the Society’s aim "to celebrate the founders of the Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race at every opportunity."

The first meeting followed the unveiling of a commemorative plaque in Ely’s Jubilee Gardens - on the riverside opposite Cambridge University Boat Club’s boathouse - and preceded a special Evensong service. The Bishop of Ely and the former Bishop of St. Andrews attended and sponsored a race between replicas of the two original Boat Race gigs on the Great Ouse.

For further details, contact Jack Waterfall at 1 Castelhythe, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4BU or email jack.waterfall@foodskills.org