INTERVIEW
By the Dart INTERVIEW
CLIVE BENNETT
COMMODORE OF THE ROYAL DART YACHT CLUB
Interview by Kate Cotton c
live Bennett was appointed commodore of the royal Dart yacht club last spring,
after being an active member for more than 20 years. he said: “I was asked to stand
for the commodore position and having had such a fantastic time enjoying all the benefits of the club, I thought it was probably the right thing to do and step up to the post. I’m incredibly fortunate to have such a brilliant bunch of like-minded members as my committee and once we’d been appointed in april last year, we set about trying to make the club a more attractive place for members. “and just as an army marches on its stomach, so does a club! so we instantly set about recruiting a professional house manager – David rothwell who used to own The laughing monk in strete. The yacht club is now not only the best place to spend a sunny afternoon on the river Dart but also one of the best places to eat. “apart from being in the most fantastic location on the Dart – in the sunshine too! – it’s a brilliant place to meet friends and have fun. We do everything, from junior and ladies sailing, to competitive racing. you don’t even need your own boat to join.” clive has been sailing for nearly
30 years. having learned to cruise and race a 26 foot super seal, he now owns Toucana, a starlight
35 and a squib, called Baby Hippo in homage to his african safari interests, which he races. he has also been a dinghy instructor at the yacht club, helping youngsters learn to sail on the Dart. clive and his wife, Jill, bought their
Kingswear home (with its amazing panoramic view) in the early 1990s, while clive was working as an accountant in london and europe. he said: “I was one of the first to do the weekly commute from Totnes on a monday morning. I used to work on the train, fly to europe Tuesday to Thursday and
His love of South Africa never waned and
friendships were always maintained.
then get the train back to Devon on Thursday evening. It was tiring but worth it to wake up here the next morning. “I saw a lot of Devon as a child,
as my grandmother was Devonian. We’d also had a holiday home in Tuckenhay from the early 80s, where our children spent their summers - growing up with Devon as their back garden. so when we looked to relocate from Oxford, south Devon was the obvious choice. We started looking from Wembury and worked our way along the coast. By pure chance we found pine lodge and
have lived here very happily since.” clive was born in Oxford. he was educated with his brother at the Dragon school and st lawrence college, thanks to the generosity of their grandfather who owned a removal business. st lawrence, typical of boarding schools in the 1950s, could be a harsh regime. clive added: “however, the sport and friendship were fantastic and I got a very good education out of it. I still meet up and have dinner once a year with my old house mates.” after a-levels clive opted to train as an accountant and began his four years article clerk training at Thornton Baker and co, where his father was a partner. The company is now called Grant Thornton and is the fifth largest accountancy firm in the world. During his training he met Jill, a
nursery nurse at the time. They got married in 1969 and decided to live overseas for a while. clive explained: “I’d been brought up and educated in a very contained and constrained environment so had a feeling of wanting to do something more exciting before falling into the normal pattern of family life. “We had all sorts of hare-brained ideas before we eventually picked south africa. The money was good and Jill is a sun worshipper, so it seemed perfect. my father was also born in south africa so I had a connection to the place. “We married on February 22,
71
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132