Geoff Benge was a Petone Rowing Club Champion, who at his peak presented New Zealand at the Empire Games, (now called Commonwealth Games).
Attached is a wonderful story from Geoff Benge regarding his memories of the Petone Rowing Club.
My grandfather Albert White joined the club in 1907. His daughter Ellen married my father Len Benge. Len joined the club around 1928. Keeping the family tradition of rowing, I joined in 1957-58.
Albert White had 3 sons who rowed. Lionel the eldest (Dec), Brian, killed in the war, & Ken, now a Life Member. Albert was the Club Captain on & off for a number of years. He also coached the N.Z. Champ 4 Clayton,Hope,Boswell Rigby. This crew eventually went to the Empire Games in Sydney in 1932. Silver Medal.
In my novice year of 1957 we had a succession of Southerlies, & I was the only novice who stuck around after spending most of the early part of the season running up & down the beach,instead of rowing.
About Xmas, Vic Chumko arrived at the club from Aramoho, & as he was also unplaced in a crew, we got teamed up in the Maiden Double, which we won at the Easter Regatta in atrociuos conditions. The next year Vic & I were in the Maiden 8 with Terry Doile as the stroke & Ron Blandford as bow. I think we had a few wins here. The following year I broke my leg playing Rugby so rowing was not on for the early part of the season, however I was chosen for the Wgt'n 8 Provincial crew, around 1961.
Over Queen's Birthday that year I was invited to a week's training for the N.Z Rowing squad, & after selection in the squad, had to live in Auckland. Typical week of training. On the water at 5:30am, off at 6:30 am Monday to Thursday. Saturday morning pack the boat up & drive to Mercer where we slept on the floor of the Mercer Rowing club shed, for the weekend. We eventually installed Hot showers. One of our crew, Alan Grey drove from Pukekohe every morning to row at St Mary's Bay, & then drove home again. We had Gym 2 nights a week, including Erg tests. (There was 4 of flatting together, & we would drink about 10 pints of milk between us each day.!!)
The Australian 8 & their single sculler toured late Nov/Dec 1961, & we won the 3 tests, Karapiro, Wanganui & Kerr's Reach, (Ch Ch.) Kerr's Reach is on the Avon & has two bends in the course & only wide enough for 3 crews to race. Avon, Canterbury & Union clubs row there.
After this we had 6 weeks off before re-assembling in Auckland again to train for the Empire Games in Perth. We were selected for this event, & Rowing was fortunate that the team took a full complement of boats from single (Jim Hill) to the 8. (We had a rating trial on Karapiro Easter 1962 where all the crews were handicapped for a single race. Jim Hill won by 1' from the 8. The 4 was about a canvas back, then the pair, & double. Less than a boat's length covered the finish.
Alan & Frank Scott From Star filmed this race, & it might be still around. If so it will be of historical interest if it can be located.)
In the final selection I was put into the coxless 4, a boat which was not rowed in NZ, at the time. Rod Hutchinson, & the Watkinson Brothers & I, made up the crew. We used a coxed 4 boat, with no cox, but a 10lb weight plugged into the stern post to balance the boat so as not to be nose down. The idea was, that if we qualified, we would borrow a boat from one of the eliminated crews for the final. It did not happen, but we had a go!. We had 4 rows as a crew, 2 training rows plus the heat & repechage.
The attached photo from the 1950 Jubilee celebrations shows my father Len Benge in the "light-heavyweight" crew about to get on the water.
This photo shows a group, including my grandfather Albert White.
Albert & Arthur Hickson were in
the first Sen winning
crew from Petone. Arthur was a nephew of Albert, & Albert coached & stroked the crew I was present
that day & hoped
to cox Dad's crew, but I had to go & do my paper run.
In the late 50's the Club had a good Senior team in the local indoor basketball League. Games were played in the old Palace Theatre Building. This was originally a skating rink,(late 1890-1900's) & that is how it came to have a flat floor. Cedric Cudby, Alec Eastewood's Bro-in--law was the mover for basketball at that time.The sen team contained, Tex McLeod, Ray Martin,Jo Henwood,Bill Ralph, to name a few that I can remember. We, the juniors thought that we would also have a go, & had some wild games. One night one of the opposition took off down the side line dribbling the ball, & Joe Serci tackled him with a full rugby tackle. Joe played Sen 1/2 back for Petone at that time. "I forgot where I was " he said.
The picture of the old truck taking boats to a regatta,reminds me of the times that a lot of the crews travelled on the back of the truck,wrapped in tarpaulins,all the way to Wanganui for the regattas.
In the 50's & into the 60's, the riggers were made from what looked like steel electrical conduit with forged ends to take the swivels. Each winter the riggers had to be removed from the boats, stripped of the paint,using an old wire buff & re-painted..lead based paint & all. Bill Cargill & Colin Smith built their own single scull boats in the gym one year. Can't have been too bad as they won a few races in them. The showers used to be upstairs,about where the kitchen is now, & there was a trap-door down to the boats. They were moved downstairs around 1961 when the Cabaret was first started.
The N.Z. Rowing Crew, photo was taken at Kerr's Reach, Avon River, 1961. Geoff Benge is in the 5 seat.
You will note in the 1961 N.Z. photo that the oars were what were known as the Standard Oar. (12' long) These were a hollow shaft which were an advance on the solid shaft Girder Oars that had been previously used. These oars belonged to the Auckland Rowing Club, as the Ass'n did not have the money to buy any of their own These were later replaced with Shovels also borrowed from the Auckland Club..(12' 6") In 1961, the Aussies brought over the first Hockey Sticks, but because we beat them they lost interest in the shape & reverted to shovels. The oars that they brought over were sold to the Union Wanganui Club, where Brownie, the stroke of their 8, re-shaped them into shovels. The boat that we are in is a Towns (Aus) This boat belonged to one of the Auckland Colleges, & was on loan to us. We had the choice of this boat, or a Sergeant & Burton (Aus) & the crew opted for this one. We had a new S & B delivered to Perth for the games.
When the Games were over Bob Harris & I had a good year in the Junior Doubles, but my right
shoulder packed up & I had to
go back into rowing. We had a very good 4 & 8 & were 3rd at
the Nationals 8s on Waihola around 1966, being beaten by West
End & Waikato.
The photo from 1964, shows the club muster at Charteris Bay, (Lyttleton). I think that this as the day that we cleaned up just about every race that the club entered, in all grades.
My son Mike Benge has since followed in my footsteps, representing with great success the Petone Rowing Club and New Zealand Rowing,
You can contact Geoff Benge via email at geoff@benge.co.nz
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