Chichester Yacht Club Magazine April 2017 | Page 17

by John Ascoli
Many major occasions, whether they be of
national, local, or family importance, are
worth celebrating or at least recording.
Readers of the magazine will be well aware
that this club was closed in the early 1940s
when the building, the original Salterns lock-
keeper’s cottage, somewhat enlarged by the
Our club followed this tradition last year
addition of a cheaply thrown-together
when we celebrated the 80 th anniversary of
extension topped by an ugly white carbuncle
the opening of the pre-war 1936 club
on its flat roof, was requisitioned by the
founded by Denis Vernon to provide a facility Admiralty.
where his berth holders on the canal could
gather to relax and enjoy themselves
This, together with the canal, and various
socially.
buildings, houses and the recently opened
Birdham Pool formed part of HMS Sea
There was little to no emphasis on actual
Serpent.
boating but rather on music, dancing and
drinking by people who were compatible and Returned at the end of hostilities in 1945, the
shared a love of the water.
club did not reopen and gradually the
building deteriorated until it was used as
There was a stage at one end of the
offices by yacht brokers and others in the
clubroom and musicians and small bands
early Sixties.
from London were encouraged to visit. Denis
himself was a wizard on the piano or organ.
The original white clubhouse with the new west extension
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