Ye Olde Clubbe Historye
Momentous Milestones
The Club was founded on 25th March, 1959. During the previous year the River Authority had dug out the present course of the river, diverting it from the loop which used to run past the old Swimming Baths, which is now the Sea Cadets' compound.
Three men saw the potential of the new river for sailing, so they approached Westinghouse Recreation Club, who agreed to finance the venture.
The first Commodore was Vic Carter, the Vice-Commodore was Mr Thorpe and the Rear Commodore was Bill Wade.
The first Secretary was Dick Whittington, honestly a descendant of the famous one!
Ron Witts - former Commodore (photo taken 28.08.05)
Geoff Ritchens - former Treasurer (photo taken in 2003)
The Club was connected to mains electricity in 2000. Prior to that they had a petrol driven generator which was kept in what is now called 'The Engine Shed'.
The Club was seriously flooded in the winter of 2000, after which the Club house was renovated to its present standard by Rodney Gingell.
I remember when.....
Story 1:
'twas in the 1960s. One member, Stan Cheshire, (curiously similar to one of our current members, as you will see), was always collecting new boats and trying them out, and he was particularly good at sailing Moths (see what I mean!!). His problem was that he used to capsize frequently. One day he did a spectacular series of six capsizes in a row as his boat kept coming back over on top of him. In those days they didn't have fancy wetsuits, and he was wearing fisherman's dungarees held up by a pair of braces.
When he eventually made it back to the jetty, he stood up as he got out of his boat and his trousers stood out just like a clown's, with water gushing out.
(Story submitted by Shirley Ritchens)
Story 2:
These photos were very kindly submitted by Andy Shaw. They were taken in 1984. The first one shows Peter Scott sailing his Moth, Sail No. 611, and the last one shows Geoff Ritchens sailing his Enterprise, Sail No. 888, crewed by his son, Mark. The third photo, taken from the Club house, looks downstream and shows the fence which is now totally overgrown with brambles.
(Corrections to text sent in by Mary Masters - thanks!)
Story 3:
'twas a Sunday h'cap in 1988, weather good, good turn out, lots (OK maybe 4) of Enterprises on the water. I was following behind the Ent. of John Harris, when right in front of the club house, in full view of all and sundry watching, John 's small son was crewing for dad when a gust or forces unseen (broken something?) caused John to fall out of the boat backwards. The look on small son's face when he turned round to find no dad, and alone in a boat on a fast run!!! John had held on to the main sheet, whether by luck or panic, then managed to launch himself back into the boat and carried on as if nothing had happened, with the audience on shore open-mouthed!
(Story submitted by Mary Masters)
Photos from the 1960s
From left to right:
Picture 1 = Fireball helmed by Adrian Symonds of Bristol Avon Sailing Club
Picture 2 = OK
Picture 3 = as Picture 1
Picture 5 = Geoff Ritchens + Ron Witts in Geoff's Enterprise
Picture 6 = as Picture 5
Picture 7 = Stan Cheshire & youngest daughter in a Mirror
These photos were kindly contributed by Dave Badminton. We have some information, as above, but if you can put names to other faces or dinghies that would be brilliant.
If you can add any detail to the above, or have another item of information about the Club during the period 1959 to 1999, or if you have an annotated photo that we could share, please don't hesitate to offer it via the Contact page
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