AMONG TARANAKI CLUBS

Taranaki Daily News, 22 February 1935, Page 9

AMONG TARANAKI CLUBS

LIVE SURFING PROVINCE TWENTY YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT. LEVEL WITH REST OF DOMINION. Although it is only of late years that public interest in life-saving has been awakened in Taranaki,, the history of the work in the province goes back over 20 years to a short time after the formation of Lyall Bay and Castlecliff, New Zealand’s first clubs. It was in 1913 that Mr. Gil. Jago, then captain of the unique Castlecliff club,* came to New Plymouth and planted there the seed of the movement he is" still so interested in. He prevailed upon Castlecliff to lend its new reel, a prized possession, and in that summer the first demonstration of reel and resuscitation work at New Plymouth was given by a team comprising Messrs. Jago, J. Stohr, H. Stohr, W. Ainsworth, C. Brown, P. Pfankuh and W. Lints. That demonstration led to the formation of the East End club and, although records are vague, it is believed a New Plymouth and a Waitara club. The war interfered with the growth of clubs, but the Tabor Shield competition was commenced in 1915, 21 years ago.- East End won it for three years and then it went to Waitara for 1918 and 1919,. East End winning again in 1920 and 1921. Waitara dropped out soon afterwards and is still defunct in spite of one attempt to revive it.

Meanwhile Mr. R. G. Howell had come back to New Plymouth and in 1920 the Old Boys’ Swimming and Surf Club was formed with Mr. G. W. Palmer as president. Among the members were Messrs. David Sykes, A. H. Blennerhassett, lan McHardy, Reg. Howell, McLean and E. Foden. Headquarters of the club were established at Ngamotu and the club trained to such purpose that it won the Taranaki championship in 1922 and 1923. Fast, End regained the premiership in 1924, the year that Fitzroy came into

being, and in 1925 Taranaki made its debut in New, Zealand surf life-saving affairs. ... ■ The Taranaki Swimming Centre was in funds at that time and a team was selected for-the New Zealand championships at Christchurch. The idea was conceived of training the team for the life-saving contests being held at the same time. Mr. Howell trained them for a month with the aid of a handbook, the rules being different from the Taranaki regulations, and a Wanganui expert was called in for the final polish. The result was that Taranaki was second in land drill, and fourth in the final totalling-up. The next year a team went to Napier, and in 1927 the New Zealand championships were held at Ngamotu beach, Canterbury winning. From 1927 onwards various clubs have carried on the tradition.

Opunake’s entry to the life-saving world was due to the efforts of New Plymouth clubs, which organised a display at Opunake beach in 1926. Next year Old Boys allowed Opunake to stage the annual Tabor Shield contest, usually held on the home beach of the holder. In 1929 Opunake wrested the shield from Old Boys and apart from 1932, when Old Boys regained it for a brief season, Opunake has held the trophy ever since. Opunake, Old Boys, Pa tea, and East End have since 1929 upheld Taranaki’s tradition in national contests., G. Harrison won the New Zealand beltman’s championship in 1929 and L. Brown secured the honour in 1931. East End nearly gained championship honours at Castlecliff in 1932 and Old Boys has been New Zealand champion for the past two years. . It is Taranaki’s boast that no province in New Zealand can produce so many teams so adept in any kind of surf, and it is an established fact that the ■breakers that crash upon the coast encircling Mount Egmont have no like elsewhere in the country.

There are alarm bells at both Fitzroy and East End beaches. The difference is that although East End's is a proper bell the one at Fitzroy is an old farm separator bowl. In the Fitzroy club’s infancy the members had to work on a very slight bank balance. The result was that the bathing shed was built of motor-car cases and the bowl, fitted on a piece of calf chain, has acted as alarm bell. And its -warning tones are just as efficient.