In a meeting of the Club on 11th May, 1977 there was a record of Life Members at that time and included Arthur Jones. At the AGM of 1974 he was given Honorary Membership, which presumably during this period appears to have meant the same as our current Life Membership. Apparently he was the first Club member to get this recognition.
It is worth noting that Honorary Member was added to the Club Rules at the Management Committee Meeting held on 23rd November, 1960 by a motion from L. Ellis and seconded by E. Melrose that Rule 34 read “The active members of the Club may elect any person as an Honorary Member, who shall be exempt from fees, and also eligible for election to any office in the club”. This was when the Club was called Concord and Rhodes Open Sailing Club. When his sons joined our Club, Arthur soon became involved in the running of our Club becoming a force in the Starter’s boat.
Don Melrose wrote once that Arthur arrived at the Club when everyone wanted to sail – so at the time there was a great need for a starter and this is how Arthur ‘volunteered’. It was a position he held for many years often towing back a number of boats behind the small boat with a 15 hp motor and received great respect from the sailors. He later contributed much of his time to the training Class on Saturday mornings. Arthur was also our Commodore for two seasons from 1971 to 1973. Arthur died at the age of 70 in 1996.