PETER Sutherland was one of Britain’s finest rowing coaches when he visited Glasgow Green in 1964 to pass on his skills and knowledge to young hopefuls as Chief Coach and Selector for British Youth Rowing. Mr Sutherland, who had been captain of boats at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge (and later at Maidenhead Rowing Club), coached, at one time, the Oxford boat-race crew, and also coached two crews, Oxford/Leander, and a coxed four, at the 1960 Rome Olympics. The year before his Glasgow visit, he and his wife Diane established the Upper Thames Rowing Club. Mr Sutherland was awarded an MBE in 2008 for services to rowing. When he died, aged 87, in 2012, tributes were paid by, amongst others, Maidenhead MP Theresa May and former Henley MP, Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson said: “The world needs people who believe that the sun is about to come out any minute, and if ever there was a man who exuded optimism, good cheer and general joie de vivre, it was Peter Sutherland.” Mr Sutherland’s son, Justin, the current Captain of Upper Thames Rowing Club, said of his father, “Peter was an inspiring man with a great sense of humour and enormous persistence. Last year I inaugurated an annual contest between Upper Thames and Leander called the Peter Sutherland memorial Race at which Theresa May kindly presented the medals.”