Personalities and Club Amenities in the Twenties and the Thirties:
Captain H- H- Nicholson:
Captain Nicholson, who lived in Creek Cottage, was a fine seaman, much
respected and loved by the young for whom he did so much. During an early
Town Regatta he was late in starting for the Pram race: he had taken his
boat to the Town Quay, gone shopping and, his Pram now full of parcels,
wassailing back to join the race in which over 20 Prams had already started.
A gale was blowing and the fleet was soon in difficulties. At Cocked Hat a
girl in a Pram capsized. The Reverend V. K. G. Logan in his Pram was
assisting when Captain Nicholson sailed alongside. "Go on," said the
Captain. "I'll pick her up." Captain Nicholson then overhauled the fleet; he
came in first with a cargo of soggy parcels and one wet girl.
Dan Bran:
Dan Bran's name is legendary.
He was a 'natural', a boat-builder who
followed his craft by instinct. There was none, it was said, who could build
a better Lymington Scow. He retained his reputation by results, for
apparently he never worked to any drafted design, but built by eye.
Dan Bran
was the 'character' of the River. He helped everywhere, taught everyone.
A
born seaman, he suffered the seafarer's contempt for the pompous; but those
who treated him courteously formed a life-long relationship. He was often to
be seen in his latter years, whiskers sprouting in every direction, paddling
about the river in a species of coracle.
Mr. and Mrs. Francis:
In January, 1924, Mr. Francis, a former Royal Marine, was appointed Steward,
his duties including those of Gunner and Boatman. An ex-member recalls:
"Curiously enough, probably because the majority of members in those days
lived within a short distance of the Club, the most that could be obtained
in the way of food and drink was afternoon tea ('a great feature' of the
Club). Alcoholic drinks could be obtained, but only with difficulty, from
the Club Steward - a splendid man, a veteran of Zeebrugge, who took his
duties seriously, if slowly. A thirsty member would first have to locate the
Steward (it was not 'de rigueur' to ring for him): then, having placed his
order, there would be time for the member to nip across to the Mayflower for
a preliminary snifter and, on returning to the Club House, find his order
being ponderously pedalled up the stairs to the upper room. Dear old
Francis: never was there a more good-tempered man, in spite of some
irritations he suffered at the hands of the more crotchety members. One
thing, however, got his goat. One of his duties was to sweep down the
slipway and he regarded the action of the tide as a personal insult. 'Why
don't it come up and stop up?' he would mutter as he broomed the slippery
surface of the footway twice daily. The Club owes much to the attentions of
Mrs. Francis and her husband.
His renown reached the pinnacle when he spied an unidentified visitor trying
to land on the slipway from a dinghy. Being an excellent Steward, Francis
rushed to the water's edge to repel boarders:
'You can't land here, sir, if you're not a member’.
‘If I do not land here, then this Club will not become Royal', the Duke of
Gloucester replied.
Rapid back-pedalling by the Steward must have ensued, because
the Club was eventually granted the Royal Warrant.
The Hon. Mrs Cecil Brownlow (Commodore 1937 - 1945)
The only lady commodore in the country, she was a great character; she served
for twenty-three years in flag rank.
