The Motor Boat Club
In 1911 some members of the Club together with other motor boat owners decided to form the Cambridge Motor Boat Club. It seems likely that some of the older Sailing Club members felt that the interests of the motor boat fraternity were not being adequately served by the Sailing Club. It is interesting to note that many of the first members of the C.M.B.C. were also members of the Sailing Club. This dual membership was to continue as the norm for many years.

The first Vice-Commodore of the C.M.B.C. was W.H.Whitehead who had earlier taken the chair at the first meeting of the Sailing Club in 1899, and whose son J.E.L. Whitehead was to be a very prominent member and Commodore of the C.S.C., and who tragically died in office in 1923. Other early members of both clubs were the Banham brothers H.C. (known as Bert) and H.B. (known as Alf). Bert Banham founded the well known firm of Cambridge boat builders and built many of the craft both motor and sailing now seen on the river, as well as establishing a branch on the Broads at Horning. His own sailing cruiser “Elusive” built in the 1930s is still sailing at the Club.

In the early days the C.M.B.C. had no fixed home, but their headquarters were the Blue Boar Hotel the same as the Cambridge HQ of the Sailing Club. The first recorded correspondence between the two clubs in May 1911 is a letter asking for support from the Sailing Club for a petition to improve the condition of the river and particularly the weeds.

The Social Scene
The pattern of social events established in the early years continued unabated during this period. There were Annual Dinners, Smoking Concerts, Whist Drives, a Bohemian Concert and Committee Suppers. The Flotilla Concerts were not repeated due to the high cost, their purpose having been served in launching the Club. There can be no doubt that the early members of the Club enjoyed the winters with the many events as well as the summers.

Thus it was that the Club became a settled and (generally) happy institution with regular sailing, camps, fun and with its own home at Waterbeach. Much of this Edwardian contentment was, however to be very changed by the events of 1914-1918.