Mornin’ all. Inner Westies here. Yes, it’s been a while. Bit chilly this morning after the heatwaves this week, but the water was warm (20.9) – big crowd (280) and 19 newbies – they just keep on comin’! There were a few jimble reports from the early swimmers, but Ian’s wonderful instructions to ‘hug the coastline’ worked – no jimbles there.
Before we launch into our portraits from today, I met a lovely couple with a fantastic connection to Manly.
Here are Richard and Maria from Cronulla.
And here is their connection to Manly.
Yes, it’s the plaque attached to the stone looking out over the bay.
In case the photo isn’t clear, it says:
“This plaque commemorates the granting of 30 acres to Gilbert Baker and 100 acres to Richard Cheers in January 1810 – being the first Crown Grants of land at Manly”.
Our Richard is the great, great, great grandson of Richard Cheers. The story goes that Richard Cheers’ crime was to lead two horses to the sale yards. Unfortunately the horses weren’t his. He was tried in Abingdon and sentenced – arriving in NSW in 1790. He was pardoned and given 100 acres for helping save the ship ‘The Guardian’ from sinking after it hit icebergs on the treacherous journey to Australia. The Crown Grant was roughly from Ashburner Street to St Patricks College & ran from the Harbour Beach to the Ocean Beach. Can you imagine it!
You can read more of the story here.
http://www.convictrecords.com.au/convicts/chear-cheers/richard/45910
Now back to this morning’s swim!
A few early arrivers..
Before the crowds poured in!
Some VIPs today
Welcome to our visitors from Hampshire Evie, Jacob, Samantha and Aaron
Visitors from not-so-far-away Cremorne but equally welcome Anitra and John
Hi Vanessa!
Jane and Libby – sisters from Manly – great that you could join us!
And Lauren who blitzed her HSC – well done on a great result!
G’day Mark from Castle Hill – still on a high from 2016 Ironman triumph in Bussleton WA.
And a very good morning to Matt from Curl Curl
And Megan. Mother of 2 year old triplets. Yep. Triplets. Think about about it… Fantastic to have you with us for your first swim!
Some swim shots.
And now coming home…
Onya Fi1 !
Shower time.
And it’s all over for another day.
The best bit. Walking to breakfast with my friends.
And here we are. The Inner Westies signing off for another year !
Mickey, Emma, Fi1 and Fi2
7 comments
Edwina
December 18, 2016 at 12:04 pm
Great blog, thank you. The church owns a lot of the land now near st Patrick’s! His family must have sold it off. Unfortunately some of us don’t stop working over Christmas time 😜🐳👍.
Mark
December 18, 2016 at 12:51 pm
Pretty cool. My grandmother has also been telling me our family tales about Richard Cheers. Great to hear of some very very distant relatives enjoying this history also 🙂
JK
December 18, 2016 at 1:16 pm
Nice blog Em, thanks for all your blogging in 16. Happy Christmas to you and yours
LSA aka HKTQ
December 18, 2016 at 5:41 pm
Yes, thank you Inner Westies for all your lovely blogs!
Shelley K
December 18, 2016 at 6:09 pm
That’s a ditto from me Inner Westies, thanks for giving me a glimpse of what I miss on the weekends
Lesbubs
December 18, 2016 at 8:31 pm
That Hampshire family photo sums up the dark side of BNB…
Rusty.. who’s not a family member.. on the end ..hand on the wife’s shoulder…
Anne in the smiling crazily in the middle..
Tomholio
December 19, 2016 at 3:54 pm
Inner Westies, would it be possible to get a high res copy of the photo you have captioned as ‘Before the crowds poured in!’? You’ve captured the enigmatic fellow in the green jacket from his best side. Email me if you can, tomholio8@outlook.com , thanks, Tom