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An outline history of Pagham Yacht Club
This is a reproduction of an article published in PYC’s 1994
30th anniversary handbook
The seeds of our club were sown in 1963 on Pagham Lagoon by
a small but enthusiastic group of dinghy owners, calling themselves the Little
Tern Club, and teaching themselves to sail and race in an assortment of boats.
Three of these sailors, Doug Witheyman, Doug Moorey and George Greenhow joined
forces with Ken Charlwood and John Gyngell to form Pagham Yacht Club, using
John’s bungalow, Whitehorses, as the initial committee room. Ken Charlwood
became Pagham Yacht Club’s first Commodore at that meeting in May 1964.
 As
the membership grew rapidly, a meeting place was urgently needed. Enora Latham,
the then owner of Pagham Club, came to our rescue in 1965, not only in allowing
the use of her premises for our socialising, but the use of the rear door to her
club toilets (for a fee), and this was much appreciated on race days!
Changing facilities were rather basic in those days and it
was a case of struggling into or out of sailing gear, either in your car or
behind a bush in the grounds of Pagham Club. A privileged few used a spare room
in Whitehorses.
By 1966, the size of the membership and the numbers of boats
parked on the beach in front of Whitehorses, dictated that we needed our own
premises and a boat park if the club was to continue its growth. Later that year
we negotiated the use of a piece of ground owned by Pagham Beach Holdings and,
in 1967, erected the Old Clubhouse, which cost £70 and was an unwanted scout hut
in Siddlesham. A working party dismantled it and transported it to Pagham in one
weekend. Rebuilding it took a little longer.
During the next nine years the club grew from strength to
strength, and the boat park was usually full with anglers’ boats and sailing
dinghies. National Championships, Open Meetings and Regattas were all attended
by a large number of entrants, putting PYC firmly on the sailing map. At one
memorable regatta, 70+ entrants were recorded.
Social events were always well attended, despite still
having no toilets in-house, or a bar in the clubhouse! Members supplied their
own drinks, beer being handed in on arrival and poured into a large tea urn and
one helped oneself from the tap!
All surplus cash was injected into the Building fund, which
was formed in 1974, as it was the ambition to one day have a bricks and mortar
yacht club in sight of the sea.
In May 1975, and with this dream in mind, the commodore at
that time, the late David Turton and his wife at the time, now Cynthia Bourne,
knocked on the door of ‘Sea Shells’, No. 1 West Front Road, and asked the
surprised occupants if they wished to sell, since the site was ideal for PYC.
Surprisingly, the owners agreed to sell fairly quickly, but there was not nearly
enough cash in the kitty, David had to stall the purchase until sufficient funds
were available. An intense fundraising program then ensued over the following
nine months, with money coming in from loans from members and the National
Playing Fields Association, and a grant from the Sports Council which took six
months to negotiate. Profit from well attended social events added to the kitty
which was sufficient to purchase the freehold of the bungalow by January 1976,
and internal alterations started immediately.
 By
the start of the 1976 sailing season the clubhouse was functional, and after
gradual improvements it was officially opened by Jack Holt on 28th May 1977.
A further year of fundraising, now assisted by the presence
of a bar, enabled David Brooks and Ted Ecclestone, both skilled craftsmen, to
start building the extension to the beach frontage. Assisted by a gang of
willing labourers, it was finished in record time.
The Yacht Club as you see it today is unique by way of its
position on the beach, and because it is one of few freehold yacht clubs on the
South Coast. As with all buildings, costly maintenance is always required, so we
should try to treat our clubhouse kindly - a lot of it is still held together
with blood, sweat and tears.
As a footnote to this potted history of PYC we feel that
there are many club members, some still with us, and some sadly departed, with
names too many to mention, who contributed many hours of work and dedication,
without which Pagham Yacht Club, as we know it would not exist today.
We are indebted to them all.
Compiled by
Cynthia Bourne and Tony White
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