BRUCE DUNLOP, TED KENDRICK, GRAEME & CATHY THOMPSON – 1983

These four members were nominated for Life Membership at the AGM of 20th July, 1983 with a written motion dated 13th April, 1984 which read as follows: “I wish to nominate the following members of the Concord & Ryde Sailing Club to be elected Life Members of the Club - Ted Kendrick, Bruce Dunlop, Graeme Thompson and Cathy Thompson. The reason for their nomination is in recognition of the valued service that each of the nominees has given to the Club over a number of years.” Proposed By Warwick Wood and seconded by Ian Vasey. Ian Vasey spoke in favour of the motion, outlining each nominee’s contribution to the Club over many years and this motion was unanimously carried.

Bruce Dunlop

Bruce joined our Club in 1954 sailing a VJ but then had a spell away before re-joining in 1971 returning with an NS14. For 28 seasons from 1979 to 2006 Bruce was our handicapper churning out results each week to satisfy the CRSC sailors as well as inserting them into the Sunday newspapers. He designed his own computer programme way back then when home computers were in their infancy and with modifications to it he made along the way it served him and the Club well. What an effort!!! However, these were not only his efforts with our Club as he was our Secretary for 2 years from 1976 to 1978 following up as Treasurer for 2 years 1978 to 1980. Also was the Vice President in 1985-86 and served as Club Trustee for many years until 1985-86. In 1982 he was a member of the relocation committee in discussion with Concord Council seeking to relocate our Club within its boundaries. He also ran a fund- raising Crazy Whist night in the Club House for many years. Not being contented with this Bruce has represented the Club on the Ryde Sports Foundation for some years from 1993.

Age and his joints eventually caught up with him with Bruce only giving his sailing away in 2003 at the ripe old age of 78 years when he and his crew, Len Elvery, had toted up ages of some 150+ years between them – surely a Club record which may never be broken. Still able and willing Bruce then commenced with the finishing team from 2006/07 and continued until being elected in this role for the 2010/11 season but he could only attend a few Saturdays during the first half of the season.

Bruce has also contributed greatly to the welfare of our building helping with maintenance and construction of the renovations In May 2000 he was the recipient of the Ryde City Council’s Volunteer Certificate of Recognition for his personal contribution in adding to the lifestyle of Council’s local area with his Club work over many years. The Club nominated Bruce for the Australian Sports Medal and the Government approved of this with the then Prime Minister, John Howard, presenting him with this very nice medal in November 2000. Bruce is a quiet achiever whose work has greatly benefited our Club for such a long period. The Club had a special place in Bruce’s heart as he did in the members’ hearts.

During his period as finisher Bruce had to be armed with his coffee and a tart (either a Nenish or Custard would do) or piece of cake to help him face all those boats crossing the line together – which is quite okay for someone with 84 years under his belt!

Bruce last visited our Club on 11^th December 2010 before passing away on 17^th March, 2011 at the age of 86 years. Bruce also did a lot outside of our Club and this was reflected in the huge number at his funeral including more than 20 from CRSC.

Edwin (Ted) Kendrick

Ted joined CRSC in 1965 as a Heron sailor, with his sons, Ray and Colin, as crew, after building his Heron but the boys did not remain as his crew for long. Ted said that they decided that ”Herons were only for older men who wore top hats” referring to the high boom His first position with the club was as Heron Class Captain for 2 seasons from 1969 until 1971. After giving away the Herons Ted later moving into NS14sin the early 1970s also in a boat he built himself named “LAURIE” and he followed up with another NS14 called “LAURIE II” in the early 1980s.

For two seasons 1972 to 1974 Ted was President of CRSC. After this period, Ted was a member of the Race Committee for 2 years 1978 to 1980. This was followed up with 8 years as Assistant Treasurer from 1980 to 1988 also being a Trustee for many years up until 1985-86. During this period Ted was on a number of Committees trying to have our Club re-located to various sites

Ted sailed in his NS14s until 1988 when he started manning the rescue boat and starting races in the 1988/89 season and continued as PRO until the 2005/6 season but remained on board training the new PRO in these duties, he was still spending Saturday afternoons and some Sundays on the water in the rescue boat some 22 years later until around 2011.

Ted has been one of the keenest helpers for maintenance and construction work over many years he has been present at most working bees. Often, he would be found manning the barbeque whenever there was a function on that necessitated this.  He also has taken under his wing the continued maintenance of the rescue boat motors, liaised with the inspection of Fire Equipment firstly annually then later, when it became law, every 6 months; and has annually resurfaced our slate floor for some years. He could often be found down at our Club during the week attending to something which had caught his eye. Not too bad for someone who was now 86 years old!

In May 2000 he was the recipient of the Ryde City Council’s Volunteer Certificate of Recognition for his personal contribution in adding to the lifestyle of Council’s local area with his work for our Club. Also, in November, 2000 Ted was presented with a very nice award in the form of the Australian Sports Medal by the Australian Government. In May 2006 Ted was recognised by the Ryde Sports Foundation being presented with the award – “2005-06 Ryde Sports Foundation Outstanding Service in Sport”. These recognition awards show what a great Club member he is!

We all have our memories of Ted particularly when he was our PRO. After deciding on the course to be sailed Ted would walk down the walkway with his microphone in whatever the weather as he did not like cancelling races. When he got to the rigging area he would turn on his microphone and we would all hear him start with “NOW HEAR THIS” in a very loud voice before giving out the details of the course etc as well as anything else of importance to the members.

Ted had a calm and gentle manner and never seemed to get flustered and no matter what came up he would take it in his stride. A story was told by a member who was on the rescue boat one day that when the controls had locked up Ted was behind the wheel with total composure on his face. Afterwards the member said, ‘that thanks to the experience, quick thinking and capability of the driver saved what could have been a serious incident’. However, that was just Ted being Ted!!!

Our good friend Ted passed away on 15^th May, 2015 a few months short of his 93^rd birthday. Since he resigned from his PRO duties, we have missed hearing his catch cry of “NOW HEAR THIS”.

Graeme Thompson

Graeme began with our Club in 1959 when he was a crew on a 12’ skiff. He soon bought a VJ or two, he kept his VJs in the old Club House on the south side of the river and each Saturday during the season Graeme would ride his pushbike down from Epping to enjoy his sailing. This was quite a journey as he would have his battens strapped to his bike and would carry his sails on his back. He said it was not too bad coming to the Club as it was mostly downhill but after the race it was an uphill trip back home.

Around 1969 he decided to upgrade and moved into a Skate. When NS14s first arrived at the Club Graeme decided that he too had to sail one of these new boats and he eventually went through four of them. He soon showed up on the Management Committee and held many positions in his early years with CRSC such as Social Secretary, Starter, Editor, Measurer, Senior Vice President, Class Delegate and Training Officer. Also over this period he was on the Race Committee. In 1970 Graeme re-drafted CRSC sailing instructions bringing them more into line with the Y.A. rules.

Also through the 1970s whilst our Training Officer he put together a comprehensive course which saw the numbers of our Manly Juniors dramatically increase. He was also our Publicity Officer for the 1976/77 season jointly with his wife. Graeme was elected our President in 1977 and held this position for 3 years until 1980, the following season he moved on to becoming our Commodore for one season and remained on the Race Committee for a further year. Graeme sailed with our Club until the end of the 1984-85 season but still kept in contact with our activities through copies of Up The River. He is also a Life Member of the NS14 Association.

Graeme passed away on 5^th December, 2014 at the age of 72 after a long battle with prostate cancer.

Cathy Thompson

became involved with our Club when Graeme joined and crewed for him on his NS14 for some 14 years. During this period, she was Canteen Manager for some 5 years and also did the catering for the Presentation Day Picnics for several years. Cathy did not hold any official positions on the Management Committee, but she was unofficially behind Graeme in all the positions he held doing an enormous amount of work behind the scenes for our Club. For the 1976/77 season she was elected as our Publicity Officer and Cathy was joint Editor of Up The River with husband, Graeme, producing it until 1980. She always backed Graeme in whatever he was involved with.