1:01:57

KEN JENNER

Ann Mobilia

09/08/1996

E0206

00:57:38

Robyn Sutherlin

17/08/2015

City of Joondalup

AM: This is an interview with Ken Jenner of the Sorrento Surf Lifesaving Club for the

Wanneroo City Library oral history program recorded at his home on the 9 August 1996.

Ken joined the club in 1966 when he was 12 years old over the years he has served the club

as a member, competitor and club official. He was club captain when Sorrento won the State

Patrol Efficiency competition in 1981-82, the Sorrento Life Saving Club was established in

1958. Ken gives an overview of the history of the club and the way it has grown and

progressed through the years from its small beginning’s to its triumphs in state and national

competition Ken and his wife Gwen have provided photographs and documents copies of

which accompany this tape. Interview conducted by Ann Mobilia.

AM: Say could you give your name please?

KJ: Right its Ken Jenner and my address is 22 Frazer Way, Padbury my wife’s names Gwen

and I have a son Ian. I’ve been asked to talk about the Sorrento Surf Life Saving Club. I

don’t know where to start I suppose but probably when I was first asked to be a member

came about because I actually, actually lived in Doubleview which is quite a good distance in

those days from Sorrento but down the road from me lived Ted Shelton who was a

foundation member of the surf club but was also a very good friend of my father and when

he decided or when I decided that I wanted to join the Surf Club it was just sort of a reaction

Ted said come to Sorrento. Well you know dad said that’s where you’re going not

Scarborough or City Beach or whatever it was Sorrento so that’s when I went up there and

that was in about 1966.

AM: And how long had the club been going at that time?

KJ: Well it actually started in 1958 so that’s what 8 years earlier. When I joined I found out

how the club started and over the years I’ve been able to piece all the bits and pieces

together.

KJ: Carry on.

AM: Yeah so from the beginning of clubs first days.

KJ: Yeah, women were apparently unofficial members of surf clubs in those days, they’re

their officially members now but there was some money raised for some R&R bathers. I

haven’t got you know which way it all balanced out but effectively the money wasn’t spent on

the bathers for the girls R&R team and that created some problems in the North Beach Club,

to the point where a group of people left. Now I don’t know whether they were the people

who didn’t get the bathers or the people who raised the money or got upset that the people

didn’t spend the money on them. Anyway a group left the North Beach Club and travelled

north to the end of what was then West Coast Highway to Sorrento and formed the Sorrento

Surf Club and they were the guys, Ted Shelton and the likes so Ted was one of the guys

that started it off and that’s how I ended up there going back to the original bit. So because

of a break-away at North Beach, Sorrento started with a handful people in 1958. And that’s

when I can get onto these and I’ll sort of flick through the photo album as I’m going but we

can probably start now talking about one of the other pioneers of Wanneroo which is George

Geneff. The surf club was decidedly set at Sorrento Beach directly opposite what was then

the Sorrento Dome and George Geneff was the owner of the Dome and the Sorrento Dome

was a supposed tea rooms for the want of a better description. It was a round building, it was

there when I joined the surf club so I was very familiar with it but it’s obviously not there now,

but a round dome building and a veranda with alfresco dinning for the want of, use those

words today but I don’t think they would’ve back in 1958. And George was approached to

provide storage facilities in his stables for the club equipment and obviously George said

yeah no problems and apparently because he was so co-operative in providing the storage

space they then asked him to be president of the club and George ended up been the

original president of the surf club. So the equipment was stored in George’s stables at the

back of his shop known as the Dome and the club started its first year in 1958.

AM: Did he still have horses at the time?

KJ: I, I really don’t know if he had horses then. That was in 58 some time and West Coast

Highway finished there. I really don’t know if he had horses or had, had horses there then.

Probably a lot of people know of George, his ability to get things done and done as cheap as

possible and when the club decided to build its club rooms I think the following year George

with all his contacts and what have you arranged for all the building of the club rooms almost

directly opposite the Dome, and he was able to get a lot of the materials donated and to

save costs, instead of building and getting in the proper brickies sand and what have you the

members were instructed to go behind the sand hills and bring in barrel loads of beach sand

to mix into the cement. So we saved a few bob that way and surprisingly the club rooms

lasted quite some time through there through that time.

AM: So the beach sand wasn’t any problem?

KJ: No, none whatsoever it came in very handy. But the club was built on the beach right

opposite the Dome and I suppose the next important thing that happened after that was I

think in in 1962 was the next thing that happened. There was a rather large storm hit the

west coast and the storm eroded the beach right on the coast and in particular at Sorrento.

The club rooms were really in danger of being washed away and I think you can see here on

these photos that there was only a matter of meters between the ocean and the club rooms

and a sort of radio message and what have you was put out to anyone in the community to

help come sandbag the club rooms and …

AM: That was a good response?

KJ: Oh yeah a huge response from the public and other surf clubs along the coast all

pitched in and sand bagged the area in front of the club rooms and the club rooms were

saved. You know that was in 1962, a big effort was put in to save these original club rooms

and as I say they were really opposite the Dome. But a few years later what was Wanneroo

Shire I suppose in those days then decided they would extend West Coast Highway further

north and they decided that the surf club was in its way and had to be shifted so the effort of

saving it became almost a lost cause a few years later in some respects. So I think it was in

about 1968 we opened our new club rooms and that was because the other one was in the

way and had to be knocked down.

AM: So was there a lot of fund raising for the new club rooms?

KJ: No because it was the City of Wanneroo or Shire of Wanneroo’s decision to widen the

road and the club was in the way the Shire of Wanneroo had to pay for the new club rooms.

AM: Oh.

KJ: And actually over the years we’ve had tremendous support from the Shire of Wanneroo,

City of Wanneroo as it is now, in not only providing facilities but any other assistance we’ve

needed, they’ve generally been fairly good with it and forthcoming.

AM: In what year did you join?

KJ: 66.

AM: 66.

KJ: So I missed the storm and one of the things that I do remember as a junior member in

joining that the boat shed doors opened up towards the beach, they faced west and every

Sunday morning the job of the junior members whether you liked it or not was to shovel in

front of the club room doors, the boat shed doors dig the sand out so that people could open

the club room doors up.

AM: So the juniors…

KJ: That was the junior members. I suppose today if you asked the junior member 12 year

or 13 year-old to pick up a broom you would get all these funny looks. That’s not my job. In

those days no argument you do it.

AM: So there was more discipline do you think amongst the club facilities with the

members?

KJ: I just think society was different then.

AM: It was different then.

KJ: Expectations and all that sort of stuff. So 68 was the next club rooms and I can

remember those ones now because I’d been with the club a couple of years at that stage

and was sort of going from a junior member to what they would call a cadet member.

AM: So how do they work with age or with by experience?

KJ: Oh it’s all on age.

AM: All on age.

KJ: No all on age you gauge the categories but then in each age category you have your

different awards that you get, so effectively it’s all graded until you’re about 15 and then you

get what is called your bronze medallion which is the award training. An examination that

qualifies a person to be a lifesaver which is able to rescue somebody and resuscitate them.

Up until that age you’re sort of just learning all the different facets and gaining confidence.

AM: So how old were you when you joined Ken?

KJ: 12, 12 yeah.

AM: And was it a long journey out to Sorrento. Did you go by car or public transport?

KJ: Well yeah no mum and dad had to take me out there all the time and I suppose we

thought it was a long journey from Doubleview to Sorrento in those days and 15 minutes in

the car now is nothing but you have 20 minute drive whatever in 1966 was like a Sunday

outing almost to the end of West Coast Highway. So that’s how it all eventuated there.

AM: And, and the girls were just were they full members at that time?

KJ: No, no women weren’t full members in surf lifesaving at all up until that stage during

that stage. I think it was in the late 70’s that women got full status. I have to admit that I was

one of those that said you know surf life savings for men you know, it’s a boy’s place women

can be the Women’s Auxiliary and help in the kitchen but you know this is not for women and

I have found over the years I have had to eat my words on that. But yeah they have

contributed, contributed well there is really no reason why they can’t do it. I suppose been

able back those days I no, I’m not in favour of this. But at the end of the day yeah I’ve had to

eat my words on it. So I think in 68 these club rooms came along and we thought they were

fantastic. We weren’t a big club at all you know through those 60’s and early 70’s I think

there was probably 20 lifesavers, people actually patrolling the beach in the whole club that,

that was it and we thought we were just so fortunate to have these club rooms which were

really just a long barn and nothing more but we thought they were fantastic. Looking at them

today and what we’ve got today its how could anybody go in that, but that’s just how it was.

AM: It’s a big contrast with the equipment used to is it?

KJ: Oh yes.

AM: What kind of equipment did you have in those early days as, as compared to today?

KJ: Right well you know I suppose the most obviously is you know the surf boats. In those

days the surf boats were big heavy wooden devices needed our whole club to shift one from

one to the beach from the club rooms and back again. Now days those same boats are

fibreglass very light, 5 people can lift them and they’re not even used as rescue craft

anymore they are purely just competition and it is the IRB’s or rubber duckies as is known

now motorised boats straight out real easy stuff you know that’s what’s taken over. The

basic bit of life saving equipment back in the 60’s 70’s was the surf reel line and belt, that’s

where the swimming prowess come in, you have to swim out with this pulling this line behind

you. Well now days again the reel is now destined for competition only. Belt races, R&R and

you have rescue tubes and Malibu boards they go out and rescue people on, it’s totally

different and also when I joined I think I learnt this new thing called mouth to mouth

resuscitation in the early 70’s and still had to learn the old Sylvester Brosch.

AM: And what’s that?

KJ: That’s the resuscitation technique before mouth to mouth became the way of doing it,

that’s one of the ones you had to pull the arms over and press on the chest and pull it back

that was still part of your basic training and then in nowadays oh I mean gees for a number

of years now we have oxy reviver, mechanical resuscitators all those sort of things that are

available to the members to use and are part of their basic training you have suction therapy

to remove the fluids from the upper airways, it’s really advanced from those in a very short

time really.

AM: And who does the training for life saving?

KJ: The training, that’s all done in house for the want of a better description just part as the

progression. You join, do your basic lifesaving awards until you get your bronze that’s at

about age 15 and then effectively you go on nowadays you have to do your advanced

resuscitation certificate which is allowing you to use these oxy revivers and what have you

and once you have your advanced resuscitation certificate and you have your bronze

medallion and 17 years of age you then have to or don’t have to but is sort of encouraged to

become an instructor and that’s where you instruct the teams.

AM: So you give back what you’ve learnt?

KJ: You give back what you’ve learnt and you effectively have to come, are examined on

being an instructor which is really, does your team pass or fail, how well have you instructed

in it as well there is obviously a testing in that you become an instructor and then after a few

more years you can then become an examiner so it’s all really in-house.

AM: Mmmm.

KJ: And it’s all voluntary as well so.

AM: It’s quite a few hours put into this training?

KJ: Oh yes. To get your basic bronze medallion is about six weeks training, twice a night

during the week and generally two sessions on the weekend of a couple of hours each

learning the rescue techniques that are required on the board that you that sort of stuff

learning how to do expired air resuscitation using the oxy reviver nowadays radios the

signals, basic first aid. There’s quite a bit involved but then again it’s not that hard and it’s

pretty common basic sense.

AM: And people go to it because they love it possibly?

KJ: Oh no it’s hard to say why some people go in it I think some of them go in it because of

the image of Guy Leach and all those sort of people and the glamour associated with it.

There’s people that go in to it because they think there’s discipline and self-discipline taught

in there and there’s still that in it and people go in it because they know the community

aspect of patrolling the beach and giving up time for the community in helping to save lives.

Others go in it because they know that you can get fit knowing in these days the facilities in

club rooms are tremendous. Our new club rooms has a full gymnasium available members

you know suppose you look at the cost of joining a health club how much it costs there

compared to putting in a few hours on a weekend and get this gymnasium which is almost

as good as a health club around them for free.

AM: And going with cost you were showing me some receipts before?

KJ: Oh yeah.

AM: The first receipt at the bottom what’s it 25 cents?

KJ: 25 cents.

AM: 25 cents.

KJ: Yeah.

AM: So you’ve seen a change?

KJ: Oh yeah, I’ve.

AM: In costs?

KJ: Yeah to join the surf club back in 66 it was 25 cents for a junior member and now days

it’s somewhere around $55 -$65 to be a member but I think that what I expected and what

my parents expected a junior member received then and what junior members demand

nowadays and parents demand that just the costs have to go sure inflation is taking into

account of it. I mean in my day we had to shovel sand out from in front of the club rooms,

sweep the club rooms and get one splash in the water was what the junior member got for

his time and money. You know it was just the fact of being around a club that that was all

you got. These days our junior membership we provide them just about every child with their

own board to use, fibreglass board $500 each. There’s supervision, qualified supervision has

to be there with them in the water they actually come down and do things on the beach and

that costs a lot of money to actually do these things providing them with the equipment to do

it with, the facilities for our junior members even from the age of 7 are starting or taught

lifesaving techniques and beach safety right from that age and it’s graded through. So

there’s manuals for them, carnivals and competition and you know there’s the big tent that

you’ve got to buy and put them all under because of sun protection in these days. I mean

back in 66 nobody ever worried about skin cancer it didn’t even exist you know people

nowadays are paying a price for that but these days we’ve got a duty of care so there’s all

that has to be taken into account, insurance premiums, registrations I think if we were lucky

we could pick up a hose and wash ourselves down at the end of the day. These days our

members get hot showers at will you know and so we pay excess water and no such thing

exists anymore we pay a water bill and an electricity bill these days and that just has to be all

paid for.

AM: And do you find the sense of community is still strong as it was in those early days

when you were struggling along?

KJ: Yeah.

AM: With the club?

KJ: Yeah I think so. It was smaller back in those days and tougher because only everyone

says it was tougher in the old days but.

AM: Well it usually was.

KJ: Yeah, yeah that’s right we like to think that. But we didn’t probably realise how hard it

was because we enjoyed what we were doing and everybody just got in and did it. Today its

people get a bit tougher and say want to pull the pin a bit on it and say it’s not for me and

that happens. But we still find that no matter what some people still stay and you still get

your workers, you still get the people who will still carry the load and carry on and I think

that’s there. The community spirit is still there they want to do this for the community and

they feel that they’ve got to do it and they I’m fairly convinced that surf clubs are really for

older people, when I say older I mean 18 year olds and I it’s got everything that an 18 year

old or over wants or needs. It’s got the community obligation, it’s got the fitness, it’s got

competition, it’s got camaraderie, it’s got social, it’s all our clubs got all that’s there so people

tend to stay and enjoy that you know and that’s what keeps them there you know. I still don’t

know how people can sit in park and do nothing on a weekend, they just must get bored and

the surf club in general can offer that sort of stuff to them.

AM: So were your parents involved with the surf club when they took you along when you

were very young?

KJ: Well in those days if a parent turned up they were grabbed.

AM: So commandeered?

KJ: Yeah just everybody was commandeered and it was probably the structures of the club

were less formal. You know you could come along yes my child wants to join but because I

said dad knew Ted and Ted was a foundation member of the club and still administering the

club he just sort of said to dad oh Albie you know you better can you help with this and can

you help with that and all of a sudden dad’s helping he is not on the books as a member but

he is as involved as anybody else in the club you know and yeah and I think dad would have

got involved anyway, knowing what my father was like but being a friend of Teds it just

helped out anyway.

AM: Been unnamed helpers.

KJ: Well yeah everybody’s like that yeah.

AM: And, and did were you involved in any rescues yourself?

KJ: I’ve done a few yeah. I mean Sorrento Beach itself is a fairly safe beach so it’s not like

Scarborough, or Triggs where there’s you know 30 or 40 rescues on a weekend. On the odd

weekend we might go one year two years without any rescues and then a few years later

there will be some. But yeah I’ve done a few and mainly they have been young kids caught

in rips close to the water’s edge. There’s also a time up at Waterman’s Bay there was a

which is just south of the club there’s there was a pretty bad weekend coming up and the

shopkeeper rang the club and said look there is some bad surf conditions here can you guys

come down and help out. So we went down there and I actually went down with some guys

and we getting people in probably three or four an hour we were getting in because there

was a bank there, and one incidence there was some people out about 60 meters off the

shore were calling for help and I got in the surf belt, that’s what it was going out and one of

the club members Mike Strange was on standing on the bank as I went past him on my way

out and I sort of yelled to him that I was going out to, to help get these people, so he picked

up the surf line to help pay out the line as it’s better if you’ve got someone on the bank than

on the beach because they can pull the line across the bank for you and a wave hit Mike and

he went under the water which is fine no problem and when he bobbed up the surf line had

actually looped and he put his head through the loop and my movement forward and the

drag of the beach or the wave pushing me back pulled around his neck that was quite funny

he had a few words to me afterwards about that.

AM: Oh so.

KJ: It didn’t interfere with what actually happened at the time.

AM: Came out of it okay.

KJ: But yeah as you got out there was actually four people on clinging to a Coolite board

and they just gathered around that and pulled them back in from there. That was probably

the, the biggest rescue that I myself have been involved with. I can remember a time one

Easter where a person had been out diving on a boat with his friends or family I’m not sure if

it was his family or friends but with a group of other people a couple of kilometres off the

beach and he had a heart attack while diving and he was rushed to the beach and it was

Easter so things were pretty quiet and there was a few of the members sitting around the

club rooms and this guy appeared in his wet suit and said does anybody know anything

about resuscitation. All these young bucks oh yeah we do yeah what’s your problem, we’ve

got somebody I thinks’ dead on the beach, yeah you know it changed everyone from being

young bucks to my god what happens now but we went down there and sure enough there

was this guy laying there blue and what have you and we just jumped in and started

resuscitating this guy. The training you know, you hear about it all the time you just do it and

then afterwards you think what happened and you just don’t even realise what you have

done and everybody just got in there and tried to resuscitate the guy. It was just a lost cause

but yeah a few people were a little bit upset about that and that was that would be in the

early 70’s, mid 70’s I think that actually happened.

AM: Do, do you know the name of the man who died?

KJ: No I actually don’t.

AM: No.

KJ: You know it was so long ago and you know we just reacted and obviously called an

ambulance and that but it was the man it was just a lost cause before you actually even

started.

AM: So your training came in?

KJ: Mm, training came in but then you know train on mannequins and you learn how to do it

but then you actually do it on somebody and it’s different.

AM: So what were your feelings when you’ve?

KJ: The feelings came afterwards not during.

AM: Afterwards.

KJ: You know it was one of the hardest things that I can recall about it is when you

resuscitate you your blowing in and that you blow in and turn your head and listen, well you

turn your head and you’re listening for expired air and that’s not coming out all you hear is

this gurgitation and he regurgitates and there’s just fluids coming out and you just sort of got

to wipe it and go back and there’s a lovely taste and afterwards you’re a little bit sick

afterwards you know but it was probably a bit disappointing that we didn’t revive the guy and

now everybody is a little bit down for a while but that’s all I can sort of recall about it.

AM: Yes, yes and, and it brings a kind of closeness to you to you if you’ve been through

something like that together does it?

KJ: Yeah probably if probably you find out who, who can handle stress and who can’t.

AM: Mm.

KJ: You know a couple of members tried but just couldn’t you know. But yeah it was

different it is hard to put into words what actually happened and how it felt you know other

than the fact that so you just react and then afterwards it it’s comes, yeah.

AM: And you’ve mentioned the Waterman’s Bay they didn’t have their own surf club or they

needed you as extra help?

KJ: No there was no Waterman’s Bay surf club.

AM: Oh, oh.

KJ: There was just the shopkeeper had seen a few people.

AM: Oh.

KJ: In trouble and rang the club and said can you send somebody down there about a

kilometre and a half south of the club yeah it’s probably a well know surfing spot so when the

surfs up that that’s going to happen there.

AM: Just let it run awhile to.

AM: So you mention George Geneff. Any particular counsellors or anything that were that

type of person that was involved in raising funds or supporting the club or just the whole

Wanneroo Shire or City?

KJ: Well.

AM: Or council?

KJ: I really don’t know much about the.

AM: No.

KJ: Early days I was probably too young to know about it. Over the years as I’ve got older

and got involved in the politics of the running of a surf club the City of Wanneroo, as I said

earlier City of Wanneroo, Shire of Wanneroo have always supported the club and the

councillors the local councillors have always supported the group I really don’t think that

there’s any time when we haven’t had support. I mean today in today’s climate the City of

Wanneroo it’s harder to get money out of them you know because there are so much

demands on them from other clubs, but we have always enjoyed a pretty good relationship

with them and we could probably go through the phases of the club rooms. We’ve had

effectively four buildings of stages of building, we’ve had the original club rooms which the

City or Wanneroo Roads Board I think it was called was involved in supporting us there, the

second stage was the one in 68 because we had to shift and my understanding is that they

paid for that. After that we built an extension slightly to the north of the clubrooms only a

matter of metres and the City of Wanneroo were involved with the funding with that but also

the WA Lottery Commission and that was Bernie Duncan who started his era as president of

the club and he that was a change I think one of the fundamental changes of the direction of

the club was when Bernie took over and again the City of Wanneroo was effective in

supplying funds for that one.

AM: In, in what way did it change it?

KJ: Well I’ll probably finish off the stage of the club rooms and then I’ll get back to the

phases.

AM: Oh, okay fine.

KJ: Then that was in 78 those club rooms and extensions were put on and in the late 80’s

early 90’s we then effectively joined the two facilities together and did some internal

alterations and again the City of Wanneroo paid for the whole lot and that then was

$500,000 worth of extensions so while we won’t get a dollar off of them this year we’ve had

quite a bit a few years ago and I think that’s how it tends, tends to go. So there’s been those

support from the City of Wanneroo all along and we can’t get that without the local

councillors helping us you know being in there and going you know you’ve got to play the

game so to say. But getting back to the era changes I think we had the original club start

with the Ted Shelton’s, the Jack Geneff’s, George Geneff’s all those sort of people. And that

was the formative stage the beginnings and the club sort of tended to just while along

through that period and then Bernie Duncan came along with his son’s, his son’s joined the

club and as a father he was sort of dragged in so can you help, yeah he helped out but

Bernie being Bernie doesn’t like to just help. I think he has his natural leadership. Well boys I

can see you need some real good help I’ll be your president and so he took over the

presidency in the 70’s. I can’t remember the exact date or the year that he took over and I

think really no I think he was president for 12 years or somewhere around that time and he

took the club from being just a surf club to a surf club you know and as I say when I was in

the early 70’s there was 20 people if that patrolling and he, he turned the club around and,

and I don’t know not made it more professional but started to introduce it to have a bit more

ideas. Increased the membership retain members get people and get more people from the

community in he started to bring in through his contacts politicians and how they could

support the club, increase the money into the club which allowed to have better facilities,

better facilities more members, more members less work for everybody, less work for

everybody retained more members and you know so it went on. And Bernie also was a

pretty tough on discipline as well and you either did it the right way or you got canned and in

a lot of trouble and generally speaking he took the club from its infancy and took it through

its adolescence you know and set it up to be a mature surf club. A lot of hard work from him

and I believe he was the person who, who brought that change about, obviously upset a few

people on the way but you know sometimes your got to look at the end result and now does

the end justify the means but that’s what happened and we went from just that barn looking

club rooms to you know a club with a hall, we never had a hall before somewhere we could

have our socials and showers and hot showers and what we thought was a terrific

gymnasium which was this room half the size of a bedroom that had a three or four sets of

weights in it but that was our gym you know and we thought this is terrific and what have you

and we started then progressing as a club and started to move from being a small you know

surf club at the end of the road to something and I think that was the first of the changes.

AM: Did this come through in the competition and with competition with other clubs did you

find it small?

KJ: Yeah well, being a small club we just didn’t we had this small club attitude that we

couldn’t compete so we just wouldn’t we didn’t but towards say the end of Bernie’s reign as

president we started you know and there was this more self-belief and competition started to

evolve in the club and we started going off to compete at other surf clubs and surf clubs had

been going for infinite years before us with other surf clubs and we just weren’t getting

ourselves involved and we started to get people going into carnivals but not a great deal but

the change was in place and we started to move that way. Just trying to think who took over

after Bernie was I think it was John, John Hayes you know this a series of people and I think

for want of a word Bernie was very astute enough to start to groom people and get people in

you know if there was a deficiency in something he would go out and find somebody and

what have you. So we started to get these other people come in and new ideas and what

have you. So around this time I think John Hayes took over as president and by that stage I

had become club captain and John and I sat down had a thought about how can we move

the club forward and get going into competition and that’s when we decided that if we could

prove to our members that we were as good as anybody else or better in some area then it

would lift them all up and we picked on patrol efficiency and we set about improving our

patrol efficiency to the point where we could win the State Patrol Efficiency competition and

with that under our belt we could then tell our members and show our members that we were

as good as anybody else and move into surf competitions?

AM: So what year was that when you won for the first time?

KJ: We, I’m trying to think we when we actually won it, it was oh dear I’m just trying to flick

through these files.

AM: But when you were captain?

KJ: Yeah.

AM: How many years were you captain for Ken, does that change every year or?

KJ: You elect every member as office bearer is selected each year you know. I did it quite a

few years as captain but you know the idea came from John and myself but it was

everybody in the committee had to support it and we all got behind it and we actually went

through and won it eventually we won it for two years running and that’s what kicked us off in

terms of competition.

AM: So who did you compete with the clubs?

KJ: 81, 82.

AM: 81, 82.

KJ: Yeah.

AM: And what other clubs did you compete with, all metropolitan?

KJ: All metropolitan. The system was a little bit different than it is today but as it always is.

But each club was inspected five times a year by the state association unannounced and

they just come down, the examiners and they would check that you had all your equipment

there it was already to go and they would give you a mock rescue and they would mark you

on it and the club with obviously a point score and the club at the end of the year who had

the most points won the patrol efficiency competition. Also if they would not only with these

five inspections they could come down at any time and do a number count make sure you

had the right number of people, all qualified people all those sort of things, so we were

competing against every other club on this coast and when we set out to win this it was a

goal that was set up by club management at the time and we went through and won it for a

few years. We felt good you know the club felt good and.

AM: That was the State Efficiency award?

KJ: State Patrol Efficiency Award yeah we were the best patrolling surf club along the coast

you know that’s how we promoted ourselves and said to our members, you know you are the

best you’re the best lifesavers and when you think about it, it was the associations way of

maintaining standards, because if you failed when you had one of these test or didn’t have

the appropriate people or equipment there, then you were suspended from competition you

know and there was penalties put out. So clubs didn’t want worry or our club who weren’t

competitive it didn’t really matter if you got breached as they call it but club pride comes into

it as well you know, your club gets breached you can’t patrol your beach it’s like getting the

wooden spoon in football. So yeah we won that and it made us tremendous feel good and

then competitions started and people started to go in competition and by the mid 80’s we

were starting to win surf carnivals. In a matter of five years we’d gone from nothings to

winning surf carnivals competing against all the other clubs. You know then you obviously

fall away a bit since then but everything goes in cycles, so you go back and you get Bernie

took us through to and got us out of this small club syndrome into you know a surf club and

then John came along as president and got to put the club in a direction of competition and

we started winning state awards, state trophies making people in the state team. We won

Australian titles in first aid, we won a cadet R&R Australian title you know so things

progressed and we now probably bubbled out to about a middle of the road competitive club

you know, that’s how we sort of sit these days.

AM: And so when you did the national title do, do you go over to the eastern states to

compete?

KJ: Yes.

AM: Or it’s alternated is it?

KJ: Yeah it used to be rotated through each state every year. You know one year it would

be Western Australia, next South Australia, Queensland and right round so it would be

Western Australia once every six years you know so for the other five we had to travel

interstate yeah so I think our first Australian title came at Kurrawa. I think it was in first aid we

actually Graham Dietrich and his off siders to end up with a few Neil O’Leary I think was the

partner at the time, won this first aid competition which proved that we had the best first

aiders in Australia you know and then you know once you get into that then help pick it up

and they maintained we had a club I think won that trophy or national title four years in six

which is you know is pretty, pretty good. But we also set out a guy called Dennis Smith who

was a life member of Scarborough joined our club and he’s an R&R man and he set out with

the view to win an Australian gold medal in R&R and he effectively hand-picked some 13

year olds and said you know you guys are going to win this Australian title and he very

meticulous in what he did. He’s an old R&R competitor himself from Scarborough and he

took these young guys and trained them up and it was almost watching a professional team

going the way he was handling them and he convinced the club that these guys were going

to win it and we paid for them to go to Adelaide in their second year of competition to feel

what it’s like to compete in the Australian title. So they went through all this experience at

Moana I think they made the semi-finals that’s as far as they went but they had experienced

an Australian title and the plan was go and experience the Australian title because the

following year they were at Scarborough, in Western Australia so you get this home town

advantage were you can sleep in your own bed and you get mums food and all these sort of

things and they had one years’ experience under their belt and they came back to you know

the following year the same guys trained up again went into the Australian titles at

Scarborough and they won. You know it was a set up part of the set up too was that the

senior R&R team had was at that stage the state’s best team for about 3 years running and

we decided we would go to Moana as well as these young kids, were starting to feel that we

could do well we actually made the semi-finals ourselves but that’s when we fronted up with

these lime green bathers you know they were a shocking green you know and the whole

idea of those bathers was to catch the attention of everybody. R&R was or is a subjective

event where you do things and the judges mark you accordingly you know it’s not first past

the post type of event and with these sort of events you have to have a name before they

sort of recognise you and so we went there with this idea that we would just hit them and it

worked. Who’s this team in green, who’s this team in green?

AM: And asked?

KJ: And it was a bright lime green so we captured the Australian judges imagination in

Moana came back to Perth, Australian titles again at Scarborough, again our senior team

went in bright green and then our juniors or the cadet team then marched in with lime green

bathers so it was all a bit of a part of Dennis’s planning as such and it we got our title, that’s

how it all happened.

AM: The, so you’re going to talk about the social side the socials you might have had at the

club and mostly they were for fund raising reasons?

KJ: Yeah.

AM: Any incidents you can remember?

KJ: Yeah the one incident was over raising money for a surf boat. It was John Griffiths turn

to be president of the club at that time and he was approached by somebody who said that

they were from Apex and said the club would that Apex would buy the surf club a boat and in

those days they were these new foam sandwich boats they were they were quite common

these boats we were going to be the first club to buy a foam sandwich boat. So this guy

from Apex told John to go and order the boat Apex would pay for it, so the club in good faith

went away and did this ordered the boat sent the deposit away and eventually the boat

turned up and all the meantime we getting asked by the boat builder to pay for the boat and

were asking Apex, this is through this guy, where’s the money he says, It’s coming, it’s

coming we will give it to you on the day of the christening, so we set up this christening of

the boat and everything is set up and we had all this you know bits and pieces and local

newspaper camera man and nobody from Apex turned up. So we went through the charade

of christening the boat Miss Apex and away it went and did all that sort of stuff because

behind all the scenes all the clubs where’s what’s happened to Apex, as it transpires was

this guy had pretended to be part of Apex and had.

AM: He had no connection with them?

KJ: My understanding is he had no connection or if he was a very tenuous one and

probably just sort of big named himself I don’t know. Anyway we’re left with this bill to pay for

a boat nobody from Apex knows anything about it and the boat builder wants his money in a

hurry. So we actually get in touch with the local Apex group and tell them the story, they feel

sorry for us and say well we can help you out but we need to organise some sort of fund

raising activities together. So we did this and back in those days the gambling nights and

you know men only type function was organised as a way of raising quick money in a hurry.

And we organised this event and the usual things, it was illegal gambling going on and

should we be saying this is what happened. There was a gambling night there and some

waitresses were there and floor show and we raised quite a bit of money that night to pay for

this boat. Anyway by this stage there had been a change of presidents and so John was,

John Hayes was president at this stage and I think Garry Williams also John’s mate was

Vice president, or it could have been the other way around I’m not sure which one was

president, vice president at the time. Anyway the next day there was a phone call for John

and Gary to front the Warwick Police Station.

AM: Oh dear.

KJ: Yes and they were sort of going up there and were sort of quizzed by the local

constabulary about what had happened and worked out the big finger came out, don’t do

this again type of stuff and you know I think fortunately the police took a common sense

approach and knew the situation we were in and that was nobody was gaining from it

personally. It was something that was done and the club was caught out but John still this

day thinks he could have been put in jail because of the surf club.

AM: So it was a supreme sacrifice?

KJ: Yes he, he was prepared to go to jail for the club. I don’t know if Deidre his wife would

have been too keen on that though.

AM: Probably not.

KJ: No.

AM: And any, any kind of characters or humorous incident you can remember involved with

the?

KJ: There’s lots of characters at different times, different things and a lot of them you’ve got

to know the person to really appreciate what was going on and I suppose with a lot of clubs

there’s the code of silence you’re not allowed to say what goes on you know.

AM: Code of silence?

KJ: There’s a lot of trips we’ve had to Australian titles. They’re been fun, we hire a bus and

go over there different things. I think one of the funniest things that happened in Australian

titles, we were at Kurrawa we’d hired the R&R team which I was a part of.

AM: Kurrawa is that?

KJ: Kurrawa in Queensland.

AM: Queensland?

KJ: Yeah and there was a group of us staying in one of these rooms and a guy called Peter

Thompson “Tomo” we call him. He demanded to have the double bed, that’s fine so Garry

Williams and I had the two single beds and then I think it was the first night we were there

Garry and I we kept going to bed and all of a sudden our bed is short sheeted, yeah okay

Tomo is sort of giggling away but also there’s cornflakes in the bed as well. Big joke ha, ha

so he thought he was quite funny. Garry and I sort of had to remake the bed. We’ll fix you up

Tomo no worries about that. Anyway as we were there for a week as the week transpired we

found out that, that Tomo had this phobia about spiders, so I try to look into the Gold Coast

and find a joke shop and buy this big black tarantula spider you know. That night I sneaked

back to Tomos room put the spider in Tomos bed and things happened during the day and I

had actually forgotten about it, Gary had forgotten about it. Come the time to go to sleep

Gary and I are going in our room, get into bed think this minute hear Tomo what the hell is

this and let it set in he opened the flywire, it was on the first floor opened the door up threw

the spider out cursed us gawd knows what and we had a great laugh about that and that

was years ago. And at a party the other week at Tomos house when I was talking to his wife

Tess and I subsequently found out that he rang her up and said these guys have put a

spider in my bed and he rang and complained and was almost crying to her about it.

AM: Oh.

KJ: And she kept that secret for a long time but yeah Tomo the big boy, didn’t like spiders

and rang his wife up.

AM: So he hasn’t been able to live it down probably?

KJ: No, no we never let him forget it.

AM: So what I was going to ask also did then was there Hillarys Marina when it was built did

that have an impact on, on Sorrento the tides or anything like that did it have any effect at

all?

KJ: No I really don’t think that it’s had an effect on the beach. If anything it’s helped save

the beach I mean there was a time when the club, the beach was almost fully eroded and

the City of Wanneroo put the groins in on the beach, three small groins to help save the

beach and they did. The Marina going in apart from the controversy associated with it ends

up with a breakwater to the north of the club that goes out a kilometre and because it’s to the

north it actually protects the club from the north westerly storms and I believe that it’s

actually helped stop the erosion. Whether it’s put sand back on the beach I don’t know but

I’m fairly confident it’s stopped any more erosion that would have occurred through, through

the storms eroding the beach so, so I think it’s had a beneficial effect in that respect.

AM: Yes.

KJ: You know I personally think that the Marina’s helped the area.

AM: Yes.

KJ: It meant that, that the beach users couldn’t use it but you know that’s another issue and

you know.

AM: And, and where is the next club up now from you now further north?

KJ: Mullaloo.

AM: Mullaloo.

KJ: Mullaloo I think started a few years after Sorrento somewhere in the early to mid 60’s.

So West Coast Highway stopped at Sorrento and if you wanted to go any further north you

had to go back into Wanneroo Road and go around through Wanneroo area and then come

back down to Mullaloo. So yeah Mullaloo has sort of always been we regard it as a smaller

club to us, but they’ve in the last few years been very successful and sort of probably got

better in terms of membership than us but you know these things are all eventide and that’s

all to do with the areas growing and the populations and all those sort of demographics that

are associated with it.

AM: Because there’s all the Ocean Reef area to isn’t there?

KJ: Yes.

AM: It’s been settled since that time.

KJ: Yeah, well I think if you compare to 1958 and starting a surf club and the 60’s for

Mullaloo I think it would be easier to start a surf club then than if you tried to start a surf club

at Ocean Reef or what have you but there is one at Yanchep but it’s struggling and it’s all to

do with expectation what, what I would have expected or people would have expected out of

a surf club in the 60’s wouldn’t have been much. Today people want to go down to a club

and walk in to a club rooms that’s got everything that’s what they expect and a surf club

starting can’t offer that, just can’t do it. They can’t provide million dollar club rooms, they

can’t provide all of equipment and facilities and infrastructure on their own back. To start one

now would take a huge, huge effort. I mean I’m sure the people who started Sorrento might

have thought it would have been a huge effort but I don’t think the effort then would have

been as great as it would be today to do it because expectations of the community.

AM: Have changed.

KJ: Oh yeah.

AM: Along with other things all types of things?

KJ: Yeah.

AM: And if to sum up Ken what would you say it’s been you know what, what’s the most

pleasure you’ve got out of it is it part of your life?

KJ: Oh yeah, it’s been a part of my life for a very long time.

AM: Very, very.

KJ: For a very, very long time. I just think the friends you make the people you meet is, is

tremendous at the surf club it offers it’s not a one dimensional club. You join a football club

you play football that’s it. Surf clubs you’ve got everything that you want that any club can

offer plus there’s four or five different streams of competition there’s running, there’s

swimming, there’s rowing, there’s canoes, kayaks, surf skis there’s the community bit that

people put in and I think that is so varied and that’s what, what it’s all about and meeting

people and some of the friends I’ve made I’ve made for life I think.

AM: So you couldn’t imagine your life without surfing?

KJ: No, no. No it’s yeah tremendous.

AM: Well I would like to thank you very much Ken for contributing to this record of your

experiences in Sorrento.

KJ: Thank you.

End of recording

******************************************