Saturday Rag Regatta

Transcript

Saturday Rag Regatta

Carnivals in Windsor are not complete unless a regatta is included, and on Saturday evening a very large crowd watched the river sports held immediately above Windsor Bridge. Owing to the difficulty of transport, entries were bound to be purely local and the events curtailed, but the fun was there, and spectators and competitors alike thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

The enclosure was on the Eton College rafts and among the onlookers were the Mayor and Mayoress.

The greasy pole is always a big attraction, and the onlookers found great pleasure in seeing so competitor after another slither to disaster. They applauded D. Brooke, the winner, who showed marked skill combined with dash.

There was a rare treat for the crowd in the pillow fighting; a woman was among the competitors and what was more to the point was a worthy exponent of a difficult art. When she belaboured a man with enthusiasm and finally removed him from the pole into the river, the cheers could be heard on Castle Hill. In the final, Mrs. Crocker was beaten, but she had made regatta history.

No regatta is complete without spills, and in the canoe and dongola events several crews finished in the river, including one containing Mr. Dyson, the organiser of the sports. Pleasure boats straying onto the course added to the difficulties of competitors, but Messrs Simpson, Haysler and Player, who won the canoe races, showed great ability not only at propelling their craft, but at dodging other users of the water. There were large entries for the Dongola race, and Miss Dyson’s crew proved eventual winners.

At the conclusion of the sports, the Mayoress presented the prizes.

The regatta was promoted by the Eton Excelsior RC with Mr. Cyril Dyson, their hardworking Hon. Secretary, as organiser-in-chief. To him and Messrs. A Bellringer. V. Hobbs, V. A. C. Wood, W. Blane, H. Brooks, L. F. Blane. J. Webb and J. Betteridge, who were responsible for the arrangements, a special word of thanks is due.

The Eton College rafts were kindly loaned by the College authorities and Mr. A. Claret, the boathouse manager, and his staff rendered valuable assistance.

The results were:

Greasy Pole: 1, D. Brooke; 2, H. D. Hunt

Pillow Fighting: ????

Canoe Race: 1, A. Simpson, G. Haysler, D. Player.

Dongola Race: 1, Miss A. Dyson, P. Togni, A. Simpson, R. Edwards, G. Haysler

The Regatta Dance

To round off a good evening, a regatta dance was held at the White Hart Hotel. The function was very well attended, and the Blue Rhythm Orchestra gave a capital performance. Mr A. H. Sands organised the dance which …

A Question

Sir, Perhaps one of your readers could answer a question I have put to a number of the Windsor residents recently: Why is it that with a population of approximately 20,000 only 26 were “brave” enough to enter for the bicycle gymkhana and 3 for the river sports?

Both events were well-advertised with posters and in the press, and in each case there were hundreds of spectators. I shall await any replies with interest.

Yours faithfully, C.D. Dyson, hon. secretary, EERC, 9 York Road, Windsor.

PS. I should like to take this opportunity to thank all those who helped to run the events, also “the few who entertained so many”.

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