Left to right: Isobel Ponsford, Keith Fisher, Mrs Holt, Robin Duchesne, Jack Holt, Bill Bacon, Howard Tear, Oliver Ponsford
photo by Clive Ponsford
The raffle for “milestone “ Mirror No 70,000 was drawn at this year’s Nationals at Felpham SC. The lucky winner was Bill Bacon and the boat was handed over by Robin Duchesne (Secretary General of the RYA) at a special ceremony on 20th June. Present were Keith Fisher, Commodore of Fepham SC (who picked the winning ticket out of the “Sea Chest”) and Howard Tear, Commodore of the Association. We were delighted and honoured by the fact that Jack Holt and Mrs Holt were able to attend.
Thanks go to Robin Duchesne for coming along to make the presentation and a very special thank you to Clive and Gilly Ponsford and their children. They stored No 70,000 for us during the Nationals and allowed us to use their delightful home for the presentation ceremony. Clive also took the photographs. The children helped enormously in moving the boat around and getting it rigged.
The raffle was organised by Bob Turk (to whom many thanks) to raise funds for the Mirror World Championship being held at Pembrokeshire YC this summer. Although not very profitable the raffle did lead to a lot of interest and publicity.
Mr Bacon has recently retired as a lecturer in Traffic Management and now lives in Dorset. He built his first Mirror from a kit in 1970 He was a member of Oxford SC for many years but now sails at Spinnaker SC.
In fact, according to Keith, Bill’s ticket was not the first selected. When Keith was asked to make the draw he put his hand into the plastic “Sea Chest” through a hole cut in the top. Then he gave the tickets a final stir and grabbed one in his fist. He then found that with his fist closed he was unable to withdraw his fist. He, therefore, had to drop the ticket and select another which he held in his fingers. We shall never know whose ticket Keith was forced to drop but it is intertesting to speculate.
Finally, many thanks to all of you who took part in the raffle. You can now watch out for 70,000 on the water and I can have my front garden back.
Editors Note: This article is from Reflections No. 105 Summer 1995, page 4. It has been captured by OCR, so typos & errors are possible.
