Regattas on the lake

By Geoff Cunliffe

The idea of having boat rallies and Regattas on Fairhaven Lake is not new.

We have found an advertisement, albeit a rather tatty one, for the eighth regatta and that is dated 1907, making the first one 1900.

It lists activities of the sort that would not be out of place in a general fun Regatta today – swimming and rowing races, a water Derby on a wooden horse, a mop tilting tournament and a laughable water sketch (their description), all culminating in a grand firework display by Brocks of Crystal Palace.

It would also appear that the Band of the Lancashire Royal Garrison Volunteers attended, by kind permission of Colonel Foster.

Admission was six old pence or one shilling, five new pence, for a reserved seat in the stand.

The early regattas were organised by the Fairhaven Sailing Club up to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. A 1939 programme has an advertisement for the Clifton Arms in Lytham, which offered a week’s inclusive accommodation for four guineas, and the nearby Fairhaven Hotel offered lunch at 3/6d, tea at 1/6d and Dinner for 5/-. It is thought that those charges had not increased for the eleven years since 1928!

Annual Regattas re-commenced after World War II and the Lancashire Hydroplane Racing Club from Carr Mill near St.Helens contributed to the evening’s entertainment with hydroplanes tearing round the lake in a melee which few understood but which many enjoyed! At this time, water skiing was introduced and, with the passing of the

years, more ambitious tricks were learnt and a more sophisticated ski shows were planned.

The shows also produced their eccentrics – there was Bill Red-Jones with his “driverless” boat (which, in reality, was controlled by skier Bill himself with then state-of-the-art electronics). There was an Autogyro – a sort of unpowered helicopter which was pulled by a speed boat. That made its rotor turn giving the contraption lift. Then there were the boats which were borrowed for the shows to enable more skiers to perform at once: these included the Dowty Turbocraft which Jack Nuttall lent and which was driven over the ski ramp on one. Then there was the Higgins, a huge, lumbering, wooden-built speedboat belonging to Colin Hargreave, which was brought down primarily to tow five skiers at once for a pyramid. It had a cockpit like an American car (it was itself an American craft) and although not particularly fast, it would do the same speed with many skiers behind it.

Annual regattas continued until the mid 1960s, and a last, special one was held in 1972 as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations for the joining of the towns of St.Annes and Lytham to form the Borough of Lytham St.Annes.