|
The
clubhouse on Sloane's Beach was built by the Richmond Cruising Club
(now Richmond Yacht Club) in 1913, with the second story added in 1937.
The
following brief history comes
from Lee Rail, A Centennial History of
the Richmond
Yacht Club 1903-2003, by Harold Kidd and Robin Elliott, 2003.
Compiled by
Andrew Mason, July 2008.
[The Richmond
Cruising Club] started
simply as
a group of young yachtsmen centred about the boatshed of James Donald
at 38 Rawene Ave,
on
Cox’s Bay. This area was then part of the suburb of Richmond, a name now totally
superseded by
Westmere in the west and Posonby in the east. Reliable evidence puts
the start
of this informal group at 1903. The members cruised together, and held
races in
their bay. …
At Richmond’s
1909 Annual General Meeting, W.J. Holdsworth in the chair looked back
at the
young club’s history and talked about its “phenomenal growth”. He said
that in
1906 there were only seven members, while now there were 106.
page 4
Richmond
tried for many years to build a clubhouse on Sloane’s Beach, announcing
its
intentions as early as 1908. The saga is set out in the New Zealand
Yachtsman of 19th July 1913,
Some
interesting particulars concerning the Richmond
Cruising Club’s new clubhouse at Sloane’s Beach were given by the president, Mr W.J. Holdsworth, at the annual
social and distribution of prizes on
Thursday week.
Five
years ago, said Mr. Holdsworth, the club applied to the Auckland City Council for a permit
to erect a clubhouse on Sloane’s Beach,
and after a lot of trouble the request was granted. At that time there
were
already three private sheds on the beach, and when the club made
application to
the Auckland
Harbour
Board in the usual
way for a site, the Board
refused to grant it. Matters were then
brought to a standstill, and no further progress was made until a year
or two
later. The club, however, was not to be denied, and decided to make a
fresh
application to the City Council, as some
years had elapsed since the first permit had been granted. Mr.
Holdsworth was
appointed to wait on the Council to support the application, which was
granted
on the understanding that the club paid a fee of 1/. per year as rent.
This, of
course, the club willingly decided to do, and being fortunate in
possessing no
less than five carpenters in its ranks, ordered the timber for the shed and set to work. There was now much
rejoicing on the part of the members, and it looked as if the club were
at last
going to have a clubhouse. The foundation was laid, and the frames put
into position. Some private individuals,
however,
got busy and, of course, objected to the
Richmond Club having a pavilion, resulting in the club receiving word
from the
City Council to discontinue building operations. The club then
endeavoured to
arrange with the private owners to consent to the erection of the shed,
which they refused to do, although they
themselves
owned sheds on the beach. The Commodore (Mr. T.L. Thompson) and Mr. Holdsworth then waited on the Harbour Board
and suggested that the Board should grant the club the necessary permit
if they removed the building further seaward.
This the Board agreed to, and all hands
got to work and pulled the partly erected shed down and made a fresh
start on
the new site. Their troubles, however, were not ended. They had not
long been
left unmolested when a letter came along from the Board, requesting the
club to
again cease building operations. The club next sought the assistance of
Mr.
J.H. Bradney, M.P. for Auckland
West, who discovered that the Board had no jurisdiction in the matter.
A letter
was next sent to the Marine Department, who, it was found, was the
proper
authority to deal with. No further progress was made, however, until
the Hon.
F.M.B. Fisher, Minister for Marine, visited Auckland some few months ago. A
deputation
consisting of Messrs Bradney, Thompson and Holdsworth secured an
interview with
the minister, and after placing the whole position before him, motored
out to
Sloane’s Beach and inspected the site. Mr. Fisher then expressed the
opinion
that the private sheds had no right to be there, and promised to do
what he
could for the Richmond Club, After waiting for some time, word was
received
from the Marine Department stating that it had no objection to the
clubhouse
being erected on the proposed site, and allowed the club to finish its
pavilion. Another start was then made, and there being no more
difficulties to
overcome, the members at last succeeded in completing the clubhouse,
which they
have now every reason to be proud of. There is just another. little
matter
concerning the clubhouse, concluded Mr. Holdsworth, and that is that
although
the Harbour Board refused to allow us to erect our pavilion, they
actually sent
us an account for Li is for rent, which we paid. I am glad to say,
however,
when we discovered that the Harbour Board had no jurisdiction in the
matter, we
made application for the refund of our guinea, which we duly received.
The
new
clubhouse is 25ft x i8ft, and
has skids 22ft long leading from the front of the building. It is one
story
high, and is built after the bungalow type of house. The interior of
the
building is not yet quite complete, but all the necessary work will be
carried
out before next season.
The Club
Patron, the Hon Ceo Fowlds,
opened it
on 8th of November 1913, with between 150 and 200 guests present. Mr.
Bradney,
who was presented with a “handsome gift” for his efforts with the
Minister of
Marine, said,
I
consider it my duty to do all in my powers on behalf of such a healthy
recreation as yachting and will, at any future time, be only too
pleased to do
what I can to assist the club and the sport generally.
The New
Zealand Yachtsman
reported,
As
a fitting
conclusion to a most successful afternoon numerous guests were taken
for a spin
in the following yachts; Emerald, Countess,
Mowai, Varuna, Wairangi and others. Mr. Frank Chalmers also
kindly
placed his fine launch Gwen C.
at the disposal of the committee…
Apart from
Countess, an 18 footer owned
by
Clark, Saunders and Porteous, the rest of the boats mentioned were all
mulleties, Emerald and Varuna 26
footers owned by Bater and Cross and N. Craig respectively, the other
two 22
footers, Mowai owned by T.P. Boswell and Wairangi by
G. Keen. This little fleet summarized
the type of yachts with
which Richmond
saw its destiny.
pages
14-15
At the 1927 AGM, Cook
reported that the Minister
of Marine
had renewed their lease of the Sloane’s Beach site for a further 14
years at
the same rent of £1 per annum.
page 20
During June 1932 an “Art
Union” or raffle was
held, run by
Ivo Dennes. This raised the huge sum, for those Depression times, of
£222/12/-
that was immediately earmarked for extensions to the clubhouse. By 19th
July
plans had been prepared for a second storey, the matter discussed with
the
Marine Department, and quotes obtained. All timber was bought from
Leyland
O’Brien at a 10% discount and construction work was offered to
unemployed
members first, at 12/- a day. Supervised by Mr. Francis and with E.
Saunders as
foreman, work started on 26th July and
was soon completed.
Gordon “Boy” Bellve made a
superb front door key
for the
revamped clubrooms and presented a cup for racing in the l8ft V Class,
while James
Donald presented the Club with a handsome clock for the clubhouse.
page 23
By now [1935], the clubhouse was in heavy use for the weekly
and monthly meetings, sub-committee meetings, ladies meetings, card
evenings
and minor social events.
page 24
Richmond
sponsored
the entry
of Ernie Hardman’s V Class 18 footer Va’alele in the World 18
Footer
Contest in Sydney
in January 1938. Cohn Dennes’ M Class Manene, representing the
Royal New
Zealand Yacht Squadron also took a Richmond
pennant to Sydney.
A smoke concert was held at Sloane’s Beach to send the two crews off.
Richmond’s most
pressing problem during
this
time was the Ponsonby Wharf, which the Club had used for starting races
for 25 years and which was now scheduled for
demolition, possibly even
before
their Annual Regatta in February 1936.
Most of the
Waitemata clubs put on a
flagship
for their prestige annual regattas where dignitaries from visiting
clubs and
other V.I.P’s could congregate, eat, drink and watch the day’s racing.
Boy Bellve
… volunteered his 37ft Sam Ford launch Cyrena as both starting
boat and
flagship. This arrangement worked so
well that, when the Ponsonby Wharf did get demolished in the winter of
1936, Richmond’s
starts were
thereafter off Cyrena, giving a lot more flexibility in
courses.
Frankhams [of 39 Marine Pde] provided the flagship for subsequent
Richmond
Regattas, Coronation in 1937, Motiti in 1938 and Awanui in
1939
(although she was replaced at the last minute by the Georges’ Will
Watch).
Over the next couple of
years, Richmond’s
popularity with its
members, other
clubs and the AYMBA “establishment” was very high. It was seen as a
friendly,
modern and pro-active club.
page 26
The 1938 Richmond Regatta was a huge success. The New Zealand
Herald devoted half a column to listing the record 121 entries,
ranging
from six 26ft mullet boats down to seven 7ft Taurangas (later P Class)
from the
Air Force Base at Hobsonville.
… at a
Special General Meeting on
2nd August
1939, Boy Bellve proposed that the name of the club be changed to the
Richmond
Yacht Club (Incorporated), which was passed and the name was used from
September 1939 onwards.
In early 1940, a Ladies
Committee was set up in
anticipation
of the opening of the new clubhouse [at Westhaven] and to assist with
fund
raising and war work. The Committee was extremely active with card
evenings and
catering for Club nights. ... Meetings were originally in the ladies’
homes,
then in the clubhouse at Sloane’s Beach, but they had their first
meeting in
the new clubhouse on the breakwater on 2nd October
1940, six weeks before its
official Opening Ceremony on
14th
November 1940.
page 28
Last updated 17
July 2008 by Andrew Mason
|