STAR BOATING CLUB

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 103, 29 October 1923, Page 6

STAR BOATING CLUB

WAR MEMORIAL UNVEILED

"A MEMORY MORE LASTING THAN BRASS."

In memory of the thirty-one members! of the Star Boating Club who lost their j lives in the Great War, a memorial was unveiled in the clubhouse by the president, .Sir Francis Bell, on Saturday afternoon in the presence of a large gathering of past and present members of the club and their friends. The memorial consists of a brass tablet, upon which the names of thirty-one are inscribed, surmounted by a single star, the club's emblem, with the club motto beneoth : "Semper , Refulgeus>" At the base of the tablet are worked in relief the pattern of two service rifles, and a pair of sculling oars. By the side of the tablet stands a handsome silver cup, presented by the older members of the club, and this cup, which is part of the memorial, is competed for annually in a whaleboat race. As a, large number of the members who saw active service had been prominent in whaleboat excursions, it was thought that it would be preserving their' memory in a particular manner by instituting a Whaleboat Memorial Race. The cup will never be won outright, but" will always remain alongside the tablet, the property of the club, as part o£ the memorial. The names of the members of the winning crew each, year will be inscribed on the cup. . In a simple and impi-essive ceremony Sir Francis Bell, in unveiling the memorial, said it was not unfitting that the tribute to the memory of their comrades who fell in the Great War should . be> unveiled on an afternoon when the club intended proceeding with the contests in the manly sport in which their comrades had delighted during their lives. It was still inspiring to recall those four years of war, more so the gallant deeds, more even the fearlessness and? courage shown by the lads in the sordid squalor of the trenches, which had shown that the spirit of patriotism was inherent and inborn in th"c race. They would, with him, remember that afc the outbreak of war, without teaching, without study of history, sometimes against the adverse pressure of their parents, sometimes aute-dating their birth in their eagerness for enlistment, they responded to the call to arms. In neari'y. every household in the country there,, was sorrow which still endured in tlie loss of dear ones who had passed away before their time; but that sorrow had been dimmed by the knowledge that the splendid traditions of their country and their race had been carried down to the present day. One hundred and fifty-one members 'of the club had served their country in the war, and many had come home. But thirty-one, whose names were recorded on the tablet,-would never come back. The tablet recorded their comrades' determination that their memory should last, should be preserved, and so it should. The walls might not long endure, and some other place might have to be found for the continuance of the record. But so long as the comrades m the club lived, so long would there be a memory more lasting than brass. I unveil this memorial," said Sir Francis, " which the club has placed here to the memory of our honoured dead." Those present then stood, and, with bowed heads, jfeid a silent tribute to the memory of the men whose names were inscribed on the tablet. The thirty-one names are: F A Allen, R. L. Armit, L. Bridge H D* Bridge, W. A. Burn, J. R. Cowled, c" i %\\-?- Dou&htv' J- C. A. Dudw y'£" n'-£ lfc ' P- r Ppeyber S' G- H. Fell, H. P. Gibbons, L. V. Hulbert, W Homes, A. G. Hume, W. F. Hose E F. Kain, V. R, M'Donald, R. A 1W ton, D. L. Robertson, J. V. Raddiffe , S' 5° binson > W. R. Richardson, J. £•. H. Turner, A. L. Thomson, A. H. Vial, H. E .Winder, C. L. Wardrop, D. Wlutcombe, and K. R. Watson

MEMORIAL RACE.

_Six crews entered for the Memorial Kace, and in the first round Anyon defeated Johns by half a lencth a. n rf Herd defeated Diehl by two l en Sg\ h ' 6 Md ■ In the second round M'Gowan beat Carroll by three lengths. The semi-final between Herd and Anyon resulted in a win for Herd by half a length, and in the final M Gowan won from Herd after a hard race, by one and a half lengths The winning crew was:—Captain A Alack steersman), W. P M'G mv , n (stroke) D. Newton (4), *fst (3), ood cock (2), Curtis (bow). The steersmen in the races were all returned soldier members of the club as follows :-Anyon's crew, Major 'r Eyatt; Johns s crew, Captain Cowles; Diehls crew, Lieutenant Lawson ; Herd's S eM'St inwtaes;, Carroll>s cre-. D.MGrath; M'Gowan's crew. Captain A Mack. r"^"