John Luff and John Woodford on Regattas Village Life

Lisa: Were there any Regattas in Bembridge when you were younger?

John W: Yeah, Regattas were going on in Bembridge for a long time and of course other places as well, Sandown and Shanklin had their own Regattas, and Wooton.

Bembridge started in the late 1800s in the Sailing Club, and on Regatta days there were swimming races, yachting races and of course the famous greasy pole. And what they did they put the grease on a mast and put it between two boats and you had to walk across it without falling off and it’s very difficult.

Mr Jim Baker was the expert at that. He managed to walk across it without falling off, so he got a prize. I suppose the prize was ten shillings or something like that. I remember going on there one day once, to try to do it, and the man in front of me was a man called Robert Morley, who was a film star. He was staying at the Spit Hotel, and he said he was doing it for a bet. Of course, he took one step and straight in the water. He was a big chap …

John L: I expect he’d had a few too.

John W: Oh must have, he was a nice chap. I never got across and also what they called the ‘Fisherman’s Regatta’ at Lane End which was a race for boats and swimming and the local fishermen used to race against each other in little boats, and I think the Lane End one is still going as well.

John L: You know next to the Café where the Café was there’s a load of huts. Well, they all used to belong to the Café owner and those people, they was all August people came down and they used to organise their own Regatta. They still do.

John W: They call themselves, the ‘Lane Enders’.

John L: And they’ve just recently had it, you know, this past month and they have swimming races and rowing races and I don’t think the locals are allowed ‘cos they’re too good. We used to enter it and I think we used to win.