Marchwood Yacht Club celebrates its 60th anniversary with six of its founding members present at the occasion

WHEN a few friends decided to establish a yacht club in Marchwood they hoped it would be popular.

And it certainly proved to be, gaining more than 100 members in three weeks.

Now Marchwood Yacht Club has just celebrated its 60th anniversary with six of the remaining founding members present to honour the occasion.

The club was created after the then-Millbrook and Marchwood Parish Council wanted to introduce more activities in the village.

Past commodore Graham Candlish said: “I think after the war people were looking for things to do. It was all little wooden boats then, which were great fun and still are.

“People were looking for a little bit of adventure, and in sailing they could certainly find that.”

The club found a home in a defunct Royal Naval Armament depot at Marchwood which had been built in 1814.

It rented an old ex-Ministry of Defence building near the creek for its first HQ. Its first commodore was Bryan Sexton who was at the recent celebrations for the club’s anniversary along with five other founding members.

The club has grown over the years, purchasing land and buildings at the former naval site including one it turned into an “excellent” clubhouse.

It now has storage for 180 boats and 170 moorings on the river.

Staggeringly Graham reveals that, globally, Marchwood Yacht Club now has 5-600 members.

He said: “It’s gone from strength to strength, and is now one of the largest and most successful clubs in the Solent. But it is still what it always was, a half sailing club and half social club.

“We pride ourselves on being very friendly.”

The club also has a “very active” cadet section for youngsters aged from 8-18, but Graham said they would love to see even more join.

He said: “We don’t charge anything to join, and it really is an excellent thing to get involved in. Sailing is great fun but it also teaches teamwork and gives youngsters really good experience in all sorts of stuff.”

To find out more visit: https://marchwoodyc.org.uk