Penzance & Newlyn RFC – History Made!

Penzance & Newlyn RFC – History Made!

By Phil Westren

This week is special in the history of the Pirates, as eighty years ago on the 22nd September 1945 marked the occasion of Penzance & Newlyn RFC’s first ever game.

📷Programme cover.

The two rugby clubs of Newlyn and Penzance had agreed to amalgamate and ahead of the opening game against Guy’s Hospital a press headline read ‘It’ll be a great day’. Well, it surely was, when in sunshine and with a crowd of 3,000 the occasion of the first match and the opening of our new Mennaye Field ground proved a memorable one. Praise was also due many people, especially including leading officials of the former two clubs, such as Rex Carr and Jack Jenkin of Penzance, and Tom Cotton and Joe Barron of Newlyn. They had, together, worked a minor miracle in bringing the amalgamation negotiations to a favourable conclusion.

📷The two teams pictured together pre-match.

Before the match against Guy’s Hospital, who emerged 15-3 winners, the new ground was formally opened by the town Mayor, Alderman Robert Thomas, and the flag was dedicated by the Mayor’s Chaplain, the Reverend A.C. Williams – who I remember well, having attended St. Mary’s Church ‘cubs’ in the 1950s. Penzance Silver Band paraded from the Railway Station (doubtful in the style of Falmouth Marine Band!) and played before the game, and our President, Mrs. Mavis Lawry, welcomed ‘Guy’s’. Mrs. Lawry’s husband, Dr. R.C. ‘Dick’ Lawry, who was the President of the Cornwall RFU from 1923-45, had played for the leading Hospital Cup winners in his younger days. The expectation was that he would be our first President, but Dr. Lawry died just before the club came into being, so it was considered a graceful act to ask his widow to accept the office. It was a wise choice, and this lovely lady, who several will remember with great affection, served as our President for 21 years.

📷Mavis Lawry speaks - on the left are Barrie Bennetts and Mayor Robert Thomas and to the right is Rex Carr.

The game was refereed by Tom Bryant from St. Ives, and our side was as follows: C. Paull, C. Maddern, H. Richards, P. Gartrell (captain), M. Terry, W. Pappin, V. Taylor, G. Batten, G. North, J. Uren, B. Batten, C. May, W. Monckton, S. Barnett, C. Thomas. It is hoped that sons of Bill Monckton and John Uren, namely Phil Monckton and Mike Uren, will be guests of ours this coming Saturday for the league game against Wadebridge Camels, hopefully along with Becky Gartrell, a daughter of Peter Gartrell who skippered us on the historic day back in 1945.

📷Team line-ups in the programme.

For the Pirates, it had been impossible to get the new jerseys in the right colours, so the Newlyn red and white were worn. The Souvenir programme was priced 6d, and the first club notes were written by Rex Carr. Admission was one shilling, service personnel in uniform and schoolboys 6d, and the ball used had been autographed by the selectors and all those who played in the 1939 Calcutta Cup match. Former Penzance and England international Barrie Bennetts, who had been named President of the Cornwall RFU, kicked the game off.

📷Barrie Bennetts kicks the game off.

Our team was considered a scratch side, as many former players were not yet ‘demobbed’. A ‘Pirate’ who I always held great admiration for, the late Ben Batten, said he was lucky to be home on leave, and unable to buy ‘rugger’ boots in Penzance before the game he fortunately managed to at St. Ives.

Ben had played for Newlyn before WW2, as in one game together at St. Ives had his brothers Jim and Jack.

📷Match action

Of the match against Guy’s Hospital, Ben had few clear recollections, though he had noted in his diary that his four-year old son had brought him an orange juice drink at halftime. He said it was much appreciated, remembering also that availability of oranges and lemons was still on hold for a good while yet.

The strongest impression Ben retained was of the crowd, who were wildly enthusiastic, urging the team on with mixed cries of ‘Up Newlyn!’, ‘Come on Penzance’, and ‘Well done Pirates!’. He also felt that there were more women in the crowd than he had ever seen at a rugby match before 1939, and he highlighted that the Pirates were unique in having a lady President in Mavis Lawry.

Ben felt that Guy’s Hospital were fully deserved winners, as they were understandably better organised, and they had brilliant backs in Macrae-Gibson and Van de Westhuizen. But it was a gala day, a day of civic pride and general jubilation, and one could feel the emotional fervour of spectators delighting in the spectacle of rugby once more after six years of war and all its attendant sorrows and privations.

Okay, there was no stand, no covered end, no floodlights, no concrete terraces, no Supporters’ Club, no ‘Westholme’ clubhouse, and very limited changing facilities, besides rationing and restrictions still being very much in force. However, there was a new ground, a new flag, a new outlook, and a new club that was soon destined for fame and many triumphs which, all combined, made the very first match day supreme and unique, and one unforgettable for all who participated.

For those involved in the new club, it must have been very emotional time, and new heroes were about to be born at the ‘Minney’, as the area was at one time called, with its earlier tithe and monastic associations. There was certainly a unifying spirit – the Pirates of Penzance & Newlyn were on their way!

📷Match action