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NEDLANDS YACHT CLUB
(The Esplanade, Nedlands)

Situated on the foreshore of the Swan River at Nedlands overlooking the broad expanse of Melville Water, with wide lush lawns and sandy beaches, Nedlands yacht Club is an ideal location for sailing.

Nedlands Yacht Club has grown from a small club sailing VJs in 1953 to a club that supports many different classes of boats, from small monohull dinghies to medium monohull dinghies; fast catamarans including Nacras, Tornados and Hobies; and cruisers which include family cruisers as well as fast sports boats. They concentrate on sailing boats and the only power boats at the club belong to the club as support boats.

NYC has always been a family oriented, vibrant and friendly club. Some NYC families have reached four generations of members. They are a self help club, able to minimize costs using resources given voluntarily by club members. New members are always welcome and will find many members eager to share their knowledge.

The Fakeouts at Nedlands Yacht Club

Recently, The Fakeouts rocked the Nedlands Yacht Club. It was a great night with The Fakeouts rockin tunes from the sixties to the new millennium from the early evening until after midnight. It was a great venue with great people and The Fakeouts held nothing back on the night. A few photos from the gig, sorry we missed Conrad and Ziggy on the right:

Some Fan Feedback

What a great night - The Fakeotus were fabulous, everyone has been sending us great feedback - your choice of songs was perfect, everyone in the band looked like they were having as good a time as the guests - I couldn't have hoped for a better night.  Thank you so much.  It really was an absolute blast.  The people behind the bar reckoned that they had never ever before seen people get straight up and onto the dance floor as soon as the music started.  The play list was perfect.  Thanks so much for the surprise of Hey Jude, that was absolutely better than any speeches! 

Please thank all the band and the crew for working together to create such a top night.  Please do apologise to the drummer because unfortunately in all the rush to get in (we only had 3 hours to set up), we forgot to put a light on the drummer and he did such a great job.  So many of my friends commenting to me that he smiled all night! 

Thanks again to all of you - we still can't get over what a fabulous night it was.  If you ever do any concerts which are available to the public, or any Council free to the public concerts, let us know.  We'll come along and rave.

HISTORY OF THE CYGNET THEATRE
(16 Preston Street, Como)

The Cygnet Theatre, built in 1938 for James Stiles of the Grand Theatre Company[2] , was originally named the Como Theatre. Formerly a real estate agent, Stiles moved into the cinema industry to save one of his assets, Grand Theatre, which faced ruin in the wake of the stock market crash in 1929. With the boom in cheap entertainment, the Grand Theatre Company soon became a very successful company. In 1938, Stiles managed to secure a ten year lease on Piccadilly Theatre[2], modernised his existing cinemas and built Como Theatre.

In the late 1930s South Perth had developed as a desirable, respectable riverside suburb. Como Beach was a popular recreation area for families, and a ferry service to the city left from the Como jetty at the bottom end of Preston Street.

The 1930s were also a boom period for entertainment. Attending the cinema was a popular pastime and an escape from the poverty of the Depression. A number of cinemas were built, not only in the city centres of Perth or Fremantle, but also in the suburbs. The Cygnet Theatre was not the first cinema in the South Perth area. It was preceded by the picture shows held twice weekly at the Swan Street Hall (1922), the Gaiety Picture Theatre on the corner of Coode and Angelo Streets (1926) and the Hurlingham Picture Theatre on Canning Highway (1933). The Gaiety and Hurlingham were still in operation when the Como Theatre opened in 1938 as the most modern and up-to-date-cinema in the district, screening ‘talkies’ for the first time.

The Como Theatre was officially opened on 4 March 1938, by the Chairman of the South Perth Road Board, G.V. Abjornson.[3] It was designed by William Leighton, the well known Inter-War architect, and built by W H Ralph and Sons. In the late 1930s Leighton secured a reputation as a leading cinema designer for his work on several Perth cinemas, including the Piccadilly Theatre and Arcade, the Windsor Theatre in Nedlands, and the now non-operational Astor Theatre in Mount Lawley. He was also behind the refurbishment of the Royal Theatre and Grand Theatre.[4]Como Theatre originally had both an indoor auditorium and an outdoor picture garden, which was serviced by one mechanised 'bio box'.[3] The tram and ferry services brought people from outside the area to the Cinema.

The theatre was renamed the Cygnet Theatre in the 1960s[5] to associate it with the Festival of Perth's black swan logo. Despite the name change, the original Broadway face type lettering stating The Como Theatre around the 'bio box' still exists. Although no longer a Festival of Perth venue, the Cygnet Cinema continues to successfully operate as a suburban cinema.

The entrance and foyer of the cinema were rearranged in 1964, with the entry doors shifted west of the original entrance, and the original entrance area was converted into part of the confectionery counter. Air conditioning was installed in the cinema in October 1968 to combat the threat of television, but patronage continued to drop and the picture garden was demolished within a year.[3] In 1981 alterations were made to the auditorium, with the seats in the front stalls removed and the other seating realigned.

THE FAKEOUTS AT THE CYGNET THEATRE

The Fakeouts played to a packed theatre on Thursday 19 March 2009. The audience was dancing in the aisles to the fabulous beats of the 50's and 60's Rock and Roll. The crowd was slow to get going at first but once the band started to bump out the top notch rock and roll from the era, memories came flooding back of the good times that were once had. One of the main speakers on the day was the Mayor of South Perth who loved the music, and even he was up dancing to the great hits.

The Fakeouts loved this event and would love to provide the local people of Perth with more events like this.