History – Victory Carnival 1946-style

This year is the 150th anniversary of the start of World War I so many stories are being told about that conflict.  However, only 21 years later, the unthinkable happened and the world was once more at war. Albertland lost family and friends in both wars. You can imagine the rejoicing when survivors came home. In 1946 the Wharehine community organised a ‘Welcome Home’ function for their Returned Servicemen. An energetic committee, chaired by Harold Grice with secretary Noel Blackburn, decided not to have the usual dance and social because that would not cater for enough people. Instead, they planned an Athletic Sports called The Victory Carnival Sports to be held on the Marsh farm on February 16. Aquatic events would be held at the beach and athletic events on a nearby paddock.

All the athletics competitions were novelty events on a team basis. Teams competing were Middle East, Pacific and Home Guard. The weather was beautiful and an enthusiastic crowd of about 700 were there to cheer them on. Two events were particularly hilarious – one was the Old Diggers Race which had the Old Diggers leaving the starting line with a full glass (reports don’t specify with what) and finishing with as much left in the glass as possible. A newspaper report said the starter had great difficulty getting the race going as the ‘Old Diggers’ played up (as Old Diggers do) and no-one ever did find out who won.

The second highlight was the Dizzy Peg race, in which three teams took part. The men had to run about 50 yards, revolve five times around a peg which was about two feet high, then get back to the starting point as best they could. They arrived at the peg all right – that part was easy –  but their efforts to regain the starting point were not so great. Tom Treadwell (Middle East) focussed on his objective but got onto the wrong track and barged into the crowd, landing his 15 stone neatly into a young lady’s lap. A confused Darby Watson never expected to find himself in a baby’s pram again but arrived there without ceremony or invitation. Frank Stables just couldn’t make it and his team had to go on without him. He was found some time later, half-a-mile away, still looking for the finishing post. Harry Grigg did a couple of extra turns around the peg, went the wrong way and ended up in the committee tent.

There was also barrel-rolling around a slalom course of sticks, a centipede race and a tug of war. Final results were: Home Guard 1 with 41 points; Middle East 2, 35 points; and Pacific 3, 29 points.

During the lunch break, C. Kruse officially welcomed home the Wharehine boys on behalf of the residents of the district. At the end of the day, Mr Dudding thanked all the helpers for the great work but particularly all the ladies for their catering efforts and the Warkworth Junior Brass Band for their fine performances during the day.