The Meare was officially opened by Lord Huntingfield on 11th June 1913. One newspaper describes the entrance for members, beneath the clocktower, leading to a westward-facing loggia, ​equipped with chairs and tables, affording a panoramic view of the Meare and its islands. Another publication reports of the fleet of boats, skiffs, dinghies, punts and a squadron of sailing boats with names such as Red Rover or The Blue Bird, topped with a coloured sail matching the name.

In early August, a Venetian fete and concert was held on the Blue Lagoon. The Thorpeness Vitesse ferried people to and from the concert. Guests waited at the Boat House to be conveyed to the Blue Lagoon where a stage had been moored. A newspaper report describes ‘the grandeur of the scene’ with ‘the light shining across the waters, backed by the purple sunset … with the crescent of the moon just showing through.’ For those who did not wish to view from a boat, chairs were arranged on dry land. Two acetylene searchlights lit the sky until the performance started when only coloured flares provided illumination. After the concert, the guests returned to the fairy light lit Boat House for supper.​

That summer saw a regatta, the Thorpeness Marine Regatta, with the promise of sailing, rowing and swimming matches, novel illuminations in the evening, and fireworks. The event was to be held on 23rd August – one hundred and eleven years to the day of this year’s Regatta.

Since 1856, Oxford and Cambridge University have competed in the University Boat Race rowing, just over four miles along the Thames, between Putney and Mortley. During the 1930s each team paid a visit to Thorpeness.

​In 1936, the Oxford University crew, known as the Dark Blues, visited for a five-day stay ahead of the 88th Boat Race. Every room at the Dolphin Inn was booked to accommodate all the crew and trainers. The Oxford team had not won since 1923 and were looking to break Cambridge’s, known as the Light Blue’s, run of success.

During their stay, the crew divided up into teams of three and raced across the Meare. They were followed by a dinghy rowed by a reporter from the Yorkshire Post and coxed by a fellow journalist from the Morning Post. The race was watched by a crowd of onlookers, perhaps hoping to witness a spill into the chilly water.

While in Thorpeness, B.J Sciortino gave an interview to the press announcing that for the rest of their training, the rowers would be forsaking all alcohol except the occasional glass of champagne with meals. The reason for permitting the champagne was for teammate Mike Ashby, who, summoned to Thorpeness, had been forced to miss his planned twenty-first birthday celebrations. Years later, Mike recollected the downing of several crates of champagne.

The Boat Race took place on the 4th April. Oxford initially led, but Cambridge won for the thirteenth consecutive time despite the Dark Blues’ promising start.

​The 91st Boat Race, in 1939, was the last held before the outbreak of World War II.

Cambridge’s winning streak had come to an end in 1937 and they lost again the following year. The crew entered training for the 1939 race as the commentators’ underdogs tipped for another defeat. Coached by three men, one of whom had rowed three times for the Light Blues during their winning streak, their training included Swedish movement lessons. As part of their preparations, they visited Thorpeness for a long weekend of relaxation ahead of entering the final stages of training.

​The crew enjoyed time on the golf course and the beach. Robert Bourne, whose grandfather and father had also rowed for Cambridge injured his hand on a broken golf club shaft which required stitches. The injury forced him to pull out of the race. Robert, after being captured at Dunkirk and spending five years as a prisoner of war, returned to Cambridge and at last achieved managed to follow in his ancestors' footsteps winning the Boat Race in 1946.

One newspaper reported that the long weekend had been so successful that the crew had put on nearly three stone in weight between them and their training had to be intensified to shed the extra pounds.

The race took place on 1st April. This time the Thorpeness break paid off. Cambridge won by four lengths in the fastest winning time since 1937.

After 1939 the University Boat Race was put on hold, and no team has since returned to Thorpeness for training.
Many of the crews went on to fight in World War II, we researched them all to find out what became of them.

The 1936 Dark Blue Oxford University crew:

Michael, ‘Mike’, Ashby qualified as a doctor. He served in the Royal Army Medical from 19143 to 1947. After the war, he became a consultant at the Whittington Hospital where he remained for the rest of his career.

John, ‘Jock’, Lewes, on the outbreak of war, joined the Welsh Guards swiftly transferring to a newly formed unit of Commandos. In 1941 he was deployed to the Middle East where Jock instigated experiments in parachute training. He went on to co-found the SAS with David Stirling. In 1941, he was killed coming back from a mission.

Kenneth Garside joined the Royal Air Force, while still at university. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II. Rising to the rank of Air Vice Marshall, Kenneth remained on the RAF until the 1960s.

Samuel Wood enlisted in 1939 serving in Royal Australian Air Force the where he rose to the rank of Squadron Leader. He died in 2006 aged 91.

Bernard Sciortino died in a flying accident during the Spring of 1939.

John, ‘Jan’, Sturrock also rowed in the 1936 Olympics winning a silver medal and the 1938 British Empire Games where he won a gold medal.

John, ‘Con’ Cherry joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and was killed when his ship, HMS Welshman, was torpedoed by a U-Boat in 1943.

David, ‘Doc,’ M de R Winser graduated from Oxford and, on a scholarship, spent two years studying medicine at Yale University. David continued his studies at Charing Cross Hospital and joined the Royal Marines during World War II. Awarded a Military Cross for Gallantry, David died in 1944 during the Battle of Walcheren, the Netherlands.

Michael Kirke was the cox weighing in at less than 9 stone. He served in the Royal Air Force. He died in 2008.
The 1939

The 1939 Light Blue Cambridge University crew:

Brian Coulton served in the Royal Navy during World War II. He died in 2003.

Arthur Turner fought with the 8th Army in North Africa and Italy. He died in 1997.

Alan Burrough was President of the Crew. He served as an artillery observation officer in North Africa and was seriously injured losing part of his leg. His family owned the Beefeater Gin Distillery for whom he later went on to work. He died in 2002.

John L L Savill served with the Irish Guards during World War II. He died in 2005.

H Parker

John Turnbull, an Australian, joined the Royal Australian Air Force and was killed in action in 1942.

Maurice Buxton served with the Coldstream Guards during the war. He died in 2013.

Bevis Sanford joined the King’s African Rifles seeing action in Ethiopia and Abyssinia. He died in 2019.

Henry Smith served in the Welsh Guards during World War II. He died in 2011.

I am pleased to report that Thorpeness Meare was officially listed as a landscape of special historic interest on 23rd February 2024.

​The official list entry from the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens is reproduced below. Last August I led a group from the Suffolk Gardens Trust on a tour of Thorpeness on behalf of the Thorpeness and Aldringham Heritage Group. The Meare has achieved protected status thanks to Suffolk's Unforgettable Garden Story, a two year project which received a £36,000 grant from Historic England, and was made possible by the Gardens Trust, Historic England and the Suffolk Gardens Trust.

Five historic Suffolk landscapes have been newly registered, giving them national recognition and protection, with Thorpeness Meare being one of the five. The Meare has been registered at Grade II. The others are Abbot's Hall Pleasure Gardens, The Museum of Food, Stowmaket (Grade II); The Walled Garden at The Royal Hospital School, Holbrook (Grade II), Crow's Hall, Debenham, a moated manor house (Grade II) and Staverton Thicks, near Woodbridge, a medieval hunting park (Grade II*). The new registrations are part of Suffolk’s Unforgettable Garden Story, an exciting project to celebrate and protect historic Suffolk parks, gardens and landscapes, which is celebrating its successful completion.

More than 20 people volunteered on the project, sharing their knowledge and developing their research skills. As a result, the unknown stories of more than 20 historic parks and gardens have been told in detailed research reports, which will be published on the Suffolk Gardens Trust website. It’s great news that the passionate and dedicated volunteer group who came together for the Suffolk’s Unforgettable Garden Story project are continuing to research more historic designed landscapes and would love to welcome new volunteers to join

​At Aldringham Church there are two beautiful stained-glass windows. Looking into these, for an open day at Aldringham Church revealed a fascinating history of the philanthropic siblings Caroline and Edward Gannon.
They were born in 1830 and 1825 to Michael and Susannah Gannon in London. In 1835 their father Michael died, leaving them well provided for. The family settled in Richmond, London. Their mother, Susannah, took in orphaned sisters Sophia and Ada Rodgers. In 1851 Edward was living in Stockbridge, Hampshire while the rest of the family lived in Aldenham, Hertfordshire.
In 1852, Susannah died and Caroline, Sophia and Ada lived for a time in Scotland. In 1868 Sophia married Samuel Smythe of Aldeburgh, onetime secretary of the August Bank holiday fete and gala and business owner in the town. At around the same time, Edward and Letitia purchased Stone House, Aldringham.

While Caroline appears to have permanently lived at Stone House, Edward also kept a house in Shepperton, Middlesex, where he served as a magistrate. Later, he purchased a house in Southwold and was appointed a magistrate in 1876. He went on to serve as a director of Southwold Railway and commissioner of the harbour. Standing as a Liberal, Edward was elected to the town council and in 1881 was appointed an alderman of the town. Later he was elected as deputy mayor. Edward also acted as surveyor of the highways in the parish of Aldringham cum Thorpe and a visitor to East Suffolk Hospital.

​In 1889, Edward stepped down as an alderman of Southwold. The following year, the Reverend Charles du Gard Makepeace was appointed vicar of Aldringham Church. The brother and sister became close friends of the new vicar. Around the same time, Edward and Caroline funded the building of the Thorpe Fisherman’s Bethel which stood roughly where the Heritage Hut stands today.

​Four years later, on 21st October 1894, Edward died leaving his entire estate to his sister. Caroline arranged for the installation of the east window in her brother’s memory designed by Alexander Gibbs and Co, which depicts the feeding of the multitude in the desert from seven barley leaves and a few small fish. She also commissioned the same company to make a pulpit, altar table, reredos and communion rails.

The tribute to Edward reads ‘A man of spotless integrity. A succourer of many in distress. He was especially respected for his touching devotion to his paralysed sister, which made him her inseparable companion through ten years of helplessness.’ A church service was held at the end of July 1895 to dedicate the window. A newspaper from 1895 notes that the window design reflects Edward's generosity towards the needy. As a magistrate, he would, the Ipswich Journal notes, hand down a sentence while quietly helping the offender’s family who had lost their breadwinner.

On the 8th November 1896, Caroline died aged eighty-one. She was buried alongside her brother in the churchyard. The inscription to Caroline reads: ‘She left no relatives, but many around her and at a distance in different ranks of life to mourn her
loss as a benefactress. As a fosterer of orphanhood and educator of youth though paralysed in body for nearly twelve years, her mind remained unclouded and ever active in benevolent intentions. She continued her brother’s charities and added to them, she fenced and planted the churchyard, repaired and beautified the church, doubled the endowment to the benefice, and erected a monument to her brother in token of her ‘intense affection for his memory.’

In her memory, the west window, see above, was installed depicting a disabled man being lowered through a roof to Christ, a reference to Caroline’s own disability. An inscription reads: ‘This window is placed here in grateful memory of Letitia Caroline Susannah Gannon who died 8th November 1896 aged 81 years, helpless from paralysis during 11 ½ years. She abounded in most generous gifts to the poor, the church, the churchyard and the endowment.’

Caroline appointed Robert Flick, Samuel Flick, and Reverend Makepeace as her executors. She bequeathed ‘all my wearing apparel jewellery and trinkets’ to her companion Lucy Rapson. Along with a legacy of £2500, around £300,000 in today’s money, ‘in gratitude for her great kindness to my late brother and myself.’


Other smaller legacies were left to friends and relatives including £1000 to her adoptive sister, Ada, and £500 to her sister, Sophia Smythe. Each servant employed at the time of her death received one year’s wages. The Eastern Counties Idiot Asylum, the Church Missionary Society and the Working Men’s Mission in London all received legacies. The remainder of her estate was to be held in trust managed by Robert Flick, Samuel Flick, Frank Garret and Reverend Makepeace ‘to be devoted by them to such charitable purposes as they in their absolute discretion shall think proper.’
Stone House along with a property owned in Southwold were placed up for sale. The contents of Stone House included: paintings attributed to Gainsborough, Vandyke and Rubens, 700 books and Chippendale chairs.

Among the first charitable donations was £2340 to fund a wing, the Letitia Gannon Wing, at the Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital in Norwich the first children’s hospital outside of London. This was under the condition that the children of Aldringham and its environs should have priority admission.

Funds were provided to build facilities which became known as the Gannon Reading Rooms. During the nineteenth century, reading rooms became popular for educational and social purposes. Often funded by the philanthropy of the middle or upper classes some saw them as an alternative to a visit to the local inn and thus encouraging sobriety, others as a means of providing accessible educational material to the working classes in rural areas. Three were funded in Walberswick, Westleton and Saxmundham. The memorial stone for a Gannon Reading in Westleton was laid in 1901. In a speech, the stone layer, Lady Constance Barne, thanked Reverend Charles Du Gard Makepeace for ‘procuring the greater part of the money.’ The room remained open until the later 1960s.

Funds were also provided to build the Gannon Memorial Mission Rooms in Thorpeness at a cost of £711. Premises which were used as a chapel until the church in Thorpeness was consecrated in 1937 and for social events. Today, only the Gannon Rooms in Saxmundham remain for community use. Those in Thorpeness and Westleton are private homes.

​The trustees' decisions were not always met with approval. Sophia, Caroline’s adoptive sister, wrote angrily to the East Anglian Daily Times questioning why Stone House had been sold rather than being converted into an ‘isolation establishment’ which was so needed. She questioned why ‘so much of her money’ was being spent ‘on places wherein she had never set foot.’
In total over fifty different causes were supported including the RNLI, Norwich Cathedral and Theberton Church.

​During World War II, the Radar Station stood on the cliff at the end of North End Avenue. As the image shows, it was next to the now demolished Red House. It was one of a series known as Chain Home Extra Low (CHEL.) The aim was to use a sharper beam to detect fast low-flying fighter bomber aircraft that attacked largely non-military targets such as seaside towns with coastal defences. They continuously developed the technology thought the wat to counter the evolving threats, typically at an Air Ministry Experimental Station (AMES.)

​In Thorpeness the installation included the install of a 200-foot AMES Tower. By late May 1943, the tower was almost compete just waiting the addition of fittings and finishings such as ladder safety hoops, obstruction light and lighting conductors. This design image, right, shows it topped with a pointed lightning arrestor alongside the microwave dish antenna.
By July 1943 Nissen Huts were built and Thorpeness joined the CHEL network. Charmaine recollected underground bunkers being built as part of the station, one of which lay to the West towards toe allotments. From further research I learnt that it is believed these bunkers were used to house explosives. Across the common there were interconnecting channels linking two pillboxes one of which stands today to the North on the walk towards Sizewell.

Playing in her garden of the Sheepwash Cottage, a railway crossing on the Thorpeness Line three year old ‘Downs Syndrome’ sufferer Gillian Brown heard the passenger trainapproaching, having just left Aldeburgh station and innocently unaware of any danger opened the garden gate and ran onto the line to wave and greet the oncoming train which to a three year old must have been an exciting adventure. Heartbreakingly the moment of joy turned to tragedy as the train hit her and she was killed instantly. Her heartbroken parents Jim and Audrey laid Gillian to rest in Aldringham graveyard on the 9th of October 1953.

The following was the press report following the inquest:

EAST ANGLIAN DAILY TIMES Tues 9th October 1953.

SUFFOLK CHILD WHO STRAYED KILLED BY TRAIN AT CROSSING

A verdict of ‘Death by misadventure’ was returned at the inquest at Leiston yesterday on Gillian Brown a three year old Thorpeness child. Who was knocked down and killed by a passenger train at a level crossing beside their home on Saturday morning. The fatality occurred between Aldeburgh and Thorpeness as the train was pulling up to stop at Thorpeness Halt.
James Brown a railway lengths man father of the child said he was in charge of the Sheepwash level crossing on Saturday morning. The kissing gate by which the child gained entry to the line had a strap on it as a extra precaution and he thought the child must have undone this. Dr P. M. Acheson of Aldeburgh said the child’s injuries were consistent with having been run over.
And death must have been instantaneous. The Child was mentally retarded.

Cecil Graham Webster. The Aldringham postman, who was approaching the level crossing gates and heard the train coming, said “I just turned my head and saw her the same the minute as the train went by I was helpless; she was standing in the middle of the track about five yards away, looking towards me.” He added that on a previous occasion he had seen the child on the line, and that he had put her back in the garden. Herbert Charles Runnacles of 127 Saxmundham Road Aldeburgh, driver of the train. Said the engine was travelling tender first. As they went over the crossing he was looking out of his left side and saw nothing on the line, just after the train passed the gates he saw the child’s father coming round the back of the bungalow, he did not hear the train strike anything. Maurice Holman of Knodishall the fireman who was looking out the other side of the engine also said he saw nothing.

PC Thomas Nunn (Aldringham) said the catch on the gate leading to the bungalow was not in good working order, if the gate was opened it stayed open and did not swing back into its proper position. There was a leather strap as an additional fastener, but this was undone. Summing up the Coroner Mrs. T Symes said the child was normal physically, and it was quite
possible she slipped out of the house. The gate was apparently in a dangerous condition for a child of her sort, but her father had done all he could to make it safe. It would only take a matter
of seconds for the child to get through the gate onto the line and it would have been impossible
for her to be seen.
The Jury added to their verdict exonerating the driver and the fireman from any blame,
It was not until I found these details of the inquest of this tragedy that I realised my uncle Maurice
Holman was the fireman on the footplate. Maurice married my auntie Pam nee Vincent the only
daughter of Bert and Rose Vincent, who lived in Mill Hill Aldringham they named their house after
their two grandchildren Mandy and Richard that made up Maurice and Pam’s family, hence
MANDRICK.
When the railway cuts came about courtesy of Mr Beechman. Maurice along with his family moved
to Barnet so he could work as a train driver at Finsbury Park on the new Diesel trains. But it was
here that tragedy struck again in 1971, Maurice lost his life in a train accident aged 47.
Ironically Maurice was buried in Aldringham graveyard close to the grave of young Gillian.

​In Her Majesty the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year 2022, it seems appropriate to remember the spectacular pageant which took place on Thorpeness Meare in 1953 to celebrate the Coronation. The following account is taken from an article in the Leiston Observer of July 3rd 1953 and photographs from the George Cook collection which has proved to be such a valuable historical source for the Heritage Group.
 
Despite unfavourable weather, The Thorpeness Pageant was described as having ‘.....totally eclipsed anything previously seen there...the story of the British Empire was portrayed in a procession of seventeen illuminated boats'.The theme was the formation and growth of the Empire arranged by the staff and pupils of Leiston Grammar & Modern Schools who undertook the carpentry and lighting effects on their own boats and the Primary Schools who made the garments, weapons, shields, backcloths etc.
 
Aldeburgh Primary School led the procession with a boat representing the invasion of Britain by the Romans, with standard bearer, slaves rowing and Julius Caesar in the stern. The Norsemen or Vikings were portrayed by Leiston Primary School with the Chieftan in the bow. FristonPrimary School depicted the Normans against a background of a Norman castle, with King and Queen, knights in armour, bowmen and a jester in the stern. An independent preparatory school from Sizewell Hall performed the signing of the Magna Carta and Leiston Modern School represented Tudor splendour with Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh. The British Empire scenes were created by Leiston Modern School which showed India with the Great Mogul and pro-Consul Lord Clive, and two boats representing Canada, designed, manned and constructed by Aldringham Primary School.
 
The pageant circumnavigated the Meare, returning to the 'old country' at the beginning of the 19th century with a fine model of HMS Victory, constructed by George Cook. There was then a return to the Empire with Africa represented by Leiston Modern School and Australia depicted by Knodishall Primary School. The 20th century was portrayed by three boats designed by Leiston Grammar School which showed scientific achievements including medical advances, the jet age, radar and atomic energy. The final boat was the crowning glory of the Empire; 'a magnificent piece of work, beautifully illuminated, which took its chief architect Mr. George Cook, eight months to complete'. This was a crown which stood five feet high and was made from card, paper, cloth, imitation jewels using mirror glass and foil, all on a wooden frame with several hundred ping-pong balls covered with silver paint for all the pearls. George Cook spent many hours constructing the magnificent crown in the rear of the Fish Shop (part of the thatched barn in Old Homes Road) and in the cellar of his home at Beacon Hill Cottages.

​The Coronation year of 1953 was the only time in the history of the Thorpeness Regatta that the village employees and their children were allowed to take part in the race events and the results were recorded in the Leiston Observer of Friday 3rd July 1953. The crown, like the British Empire, did not survive intact. It resided for many years in the Workman's Club (opposite The Dolphin, now holiday apartments) where the ping pong balls came in handy for the games table when supplies ran short.

Records indicate that a Chapel was built in Thorpe, then a small hamlet. The Chapel was referred to in 1477 and named The Chapel of St Mary of Thorpe, also known as a Chapel-of-ease, recorded as a Chapelry of Snape Priory.

Dates of demolition have been disputed, the earliest being 1500, further dates in 1783 and dismantled in 1820. The site was ploughed in 1870 leaving a very small portion of the building.
In 1997 a documentary search established without doubt the location of the chapel. This was close to the east end of the Almshouses on the site of known as the Matrons House.

There has been evidence over the years of a cemetery to the west of the chapel. It has to be conjecture concerning identifying the boundaries of the cemetery, although there is no evidence of it extending under Old Homes Road. Locals have reported further evidence of the cemetery extending to adjacent gardens and the rear of the Almshouses, two skeletons were found in this area in September 1990 when a gas trench was dug and also further human bones were unearthed when an Almhouse had a bathroom extension built.

Although there is no evidence remaining of the chapel above ground, there is a field to the west of the Almshouses known as Chapel field, also the road running through the Almshouses known as Pilgrims Way, I wonder if this is a part of a route from Snape Priory via Thorpe Chapel to an Abbey in the Minsmere area built in 1182. This Abbey was later dismantled being vulnerable to the sea, it's materials were used towards building Leiston Abbey. The possibility of this route is unlikely to be substantiated.

​The term a 'Chapel-of-ease' relates to a church building, other than a parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the accommodation of increasing numbers of parishioners, or for those who live a long distance from the parish Church

​Thorpeness by Maggie Boswell.
My family have had connections with Thorpeness for a hundred years. My grandparents bought a house in the Benthills in 1923. The house has stayed in the family and is now owned by my daughter and her family. In the old days the houses were all owned by the Ogilvie’s, the houses in the Haven and the Dunes were rented by members of the Colonial Service, who had 6 months leave every 3 years, but no house to come home to. After Stuart Ogilvie’s death a lot of Thorpeness properties had to be sold off to pay death duties, but over the years owners, including my mother were able to buy the free holds.
At the beginning of the war most of the beach was mined, but there was a small path where people could go to safely get on it. I remember well sitting with my mother, my friend Fiona Gimson and her mother having great fun. The house in the Clouds was a water tower and the story goes that when it was bombed the water came down on 3 old ladies who had to be rescued.
This village was a great attraction to holiday makers with the Meare and the Country Club, the latter having various events such as Bingo, Quizzes, 2 dances a week and tennis tournaments. Every August the Regatta was held on the Meare. There was 2 days of racing with decorated floats in the evening and ending with a magnificent display of fireworks. The club season was very short, from mid July to mid December. After this the club closed and Thorpeness became very quiet.
Most of the houses were holiday lets but over the years many have started to be lived in permanently. The Dolphin Inn has had several owners but since David James took over the lease it has been full of activity, indeed the hub of the village. At one stage the Country Club was threatened with closure, several people tried to take it over with no success and all the activities ended. Then along came Brian and Alison Bell who bought it from the Estate and took 3 years to renovate it. It opened up once again to members and their families and several people took out debentures to help the finance and all the activities returned once again.
One sadness was the closure of the Church where Services were held in the holiday season. It was owned by the Margaret Ogilvie Trust and there was no money for essential repairs. The last service was taken by the Reverend Christine Brooks who found it so difficult as that was the day that Princess Diana died - a double sadness.
There have been many changes in Thorpeness over the years and many houses are now permanently occupied, giving the village a vibrant feel. A recent major change has been the Heritage Centre which many people have worked so hard to install. Visitors can read for themselves the history of Thorpeness.
When Glencairn Stuart Ogilvie had the vision of creating a holiday village her could never have foreseen what a wonderful unique place it would turn out to be, enjoyed by so many residents and holiday makers alike.
How pleased he would be.

What sporting activities were being enjoyed in Thorpeness in 1931 & 1932?

The International Gundog League held field trials for the Retriever Championship 1931 at Elm Tree Farm, Aldringham on 26th November and at Crown Farm, Sizewell on 27th November by kind permission of G Stuart Ogilvie and the Shooting Tenant C R Aldrich, Esq.  The judges were Major D G Astley, Captain A C Fraser and Lt.-Colonel E S Godman all of whom, no doubt, presided with military precision.  Accommodation was available at The Dolphin Inn and the Wentworth and White Hart Hotels, Aldeburgh.  The handlers stayed at The Parrot Inn, Aldringham and the White Horse Hotel, Leiston.  The advertisement for the trials specified  'All persons attending the Trials must consider themselves absolutely under the control of the Officials, and must follow the Spectators' Flag.  A stand up luncheon will be available in a covered barn.'

A long list of results for the two days was published in the East Anglian Daily Times of 27th and 28th November:- 
'The cream of the gundog world was present and scenting conditions were good.  Unfortunately two of the Labradors entered by Lorna, Countess Howe were absent owing to the illness of their owner who would normally have handled them herself.  Lady Howe was represented, however, by the well-known Labrador bitch Banchory Becky which came second overall.  The winner was Mr G T Johnson Houghton's Croughton Sceptre which was presented with the Glen Kidston Challenge Cup.....The winner ran consistently well, doing the work required of her smartly and without fuss or potter, and showing nose, style, and the happy mean of dash and perseverance.'

On 13th August 1932, The 'House in the Clouds' Riding Establishment, in conjunction with The Melton Riding Establishment, held a mounted gymkhana at Throrpeness in aid of the RSPCA.  The races included a bending  race, parcel post, musical chairs and a pillion race for pairs of a lady and gentleman.  The gymkhana was held on the 'House in the Clouds' Riding Establishment's exercise ground at Thorpeness. 

​The EADT carried a detailed report:-
'As one sat and watched the various events that made up the display, one could not be otherwise than struck by the renewal of popularity of riding, especially among the younger generation, and it is hoped that it will prove permanent......The arrangements for the day were carried out by Lt.-Colonel Arthur Leech, DSO, and Miss Rosemarie Mason, of the 'House in the Clouds' Establishment, this enthusiastic young lady being also in charge of the horses , whilst Colonel Leech was also an efficient master of ceremonies.... This was the first time that an event of such magnitude had been attempted here.  Though there were several spills during the afternoon, there was nothing in the way of a mishap, so that the members of the St John Ambulance who were present had no call upon their services.  At the end of the programme the prizes were presented by Mrs Sholto S Ogilvie.'
The Pillion Race had 20 entries & 2 heats, involving a lady bound to a stake at the far end of the course, whom the gentleman rescued and brought her back to the winning post.

Besides the Annual Children's Regatta, on 18th August 1932 a 'Novel Treasure Hunt' was held on the Meare for crews of four which could include one person over the age of 16. Competitors started from the flag staff at the Country Club and raced to the landing stage where numbered boats awaited them.  In each was a clue which necessitated rowing to a spot on the Meare where other clues were to be found. and the instructions in them followed.  When the last clue was picked up, the crews made for the landing stage and raced back to the Country Club flag staff.

I am grateful to Hilary Chandler for lending me a meticulously kept album of news cuttings in the George C Cook Collection.

​Janey Blanchflower