Monday, November 27, 2017

Early Surf Life Saving in Waihi- Bess Middlebrook



Its been a long time since Ive posted about my Middlebrook branch but today I was sorting through some of the photos I have that belonged to Bess Middlebrook (Elizabeth Alice) my Great Grandmothers sister, looking for some photos of Piha Beach that I knew I had seen, and I was newly intrigued by these photos of what appears to be early surf lifesaving.

Im pretty sure the photo above was taken at Waihi Beach and it definitely looks like  Bess in the centre.
I did some reading on the history of the Waihi Surf Lifesaving club and according to their website the club wasnt formed until 1936 .

The confusing factor is that by 1936 Bess would have been aged 38 and I would have thought that may have been considered too old for surf lifesaving 

Additional photos in the album are below showing what appears to be a really large surf contest or carnival


 Unfortunately there is no information on the photos or in the album to identify the event or the year it occured.

Stay tuned as I research further