Bernard (Bernie) Cawthorne

Life in Kingston upon Hill and Beverley 

Bernard Cawthorne was born an only child in Kingston upon Hull close, to the commercial docks area on the 14th December 1932. Due to the proximity of the family home to the docks, Bernie was evacuated for safety purposes to a small market town a few miles from Hull. His temporary home was on the outskirts of Beverley which overlooked green fields and pasture land known locally as the Westwood, which to his delight also had a fair number of trees. It was during these war years that his love of the outdoors blossomed, climbing and swinging on tree branches, trying to do forward rolls and handstands. All these activities improved his general fitness and well-being and must have entertained his audience – the cows grazing the lush grass.

After the War

After the war, he was back home with his parents, and of course, back to school where he obtained a good education. It was about this time that his uncle Tom persuaded Bernie to accompany him to a fitness and wellness club where they did various exercising routines, balancing, and weight training. This led to Bernie becoming more interested in fitness and he started learning basic gymnastics such as handsprings, somersaults and flips with his school and longtime friend Keith Clarke.

National Service 

National Service came in the early 50s. He was disappointed that his friend Keith would not be joining him as he was doing an apprenticeship with a local engineering company.

Bernie went off to Aldershot for his eight weeks of training.  Near the end of this time, Bernie was asked to do extra training and hopefully be accepted as an instructor in the Physical Training Corps. He accepted the invitation and at the time was thinking this would be an easier route through his National Service years. He enjoyed his time giving orders to the Officers in training but his main aim was to encourage and help them pass the various tests.

During his time in the army, Bernie took an increased interest in Olympic Gymnastics, now known as Artistic Gymnastics. He was demobbed just a few months before Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in 1953.

Following in his father’s footsteps

Bernie not knowing what type of work would suit him, found work as an apprentice engineer in a factory which lasted one day – this type of work was not for him. He then interviewed for a trainee sampler and weigher on the docks for the same company as his father, which became his only job and employer until his retirement.

Around 1957, he re-kindled his interest in gymnastics practicing his tumble moves in the park opposite his house, as no gym club or equipment existed in his hometown. His friend Keith having now completed his National Service and having passed his engineering exams mentioned to Bernie that he could make some sort of gym equipment.

Homemade apparatus

So Keith started making metal pommel handles and a makeshift horse for them from old planking and covered in oilcloth. This they housed on the first floor of a small outhouse that used to be a weightlifting club behind a cobbler’s shop known as the barn. The homemade equipment was placed on the first floor reached by a rickety staircase. The room was unheated and measured approx. 14ft x 20ft. The pommel horse was at the end where the staircase was placed and if you got a move wrong and you were not quick enough to stop falling, you found yourself downstairs on the ground floor joining the weight lifters, much to their amusement. The horse was followed by a ring frame, put up in Bernie’s back garden, and a horizontal bar made from a length of round un-sprung steel bar with the uprights fabricated from old gas piping. Training during these times was – DIFFERENT – shall we say. By this time, in the later part of the 1950s, Bernie had competed in a few minor Yorkshire competitions.

Bernie was 12 years older

I first met Bernie in 1959 at the age of 14 and he was 12 years older. I was at a PE class at my local youth club and he popped in to speak to the teacher, a friend from his days at the Fitness and Wellness Club. I was in awe at some of the skills he performed and was later told that Bernie was hoping to try for the Olympic Games the following year. He must have seen some potential in me performing simple tumble moves and vaulting over a wooden box. As a result, he asked if I would like to come and try to learn more gymnastic moves on more advanced equipment. I did not know that the equipment was homemade, but I did meet with Bernie and friends, one of whom was Brian Metcalf, who became another fine gymnast and later British vault champion in 1964. 

Training here and there

Training began in the park, tumbling until the dew started to rise, thus making things a little bit tricky. It was then onto Bernie’s for a session on rings, landing on cushions. On a different day, it would be to Brian Metcalfe’s where the high bar had been put up. This had its problems, every few goes the HB had to be taken off and turned over because it had a bend in it.  On a few occasions,  we would ping off and land in the flowerbeds or the neighbour’s cabbage patch. Some days we would go to the barn and work the pommel horse, finishing the session with blooded legs where they had come into contact with the edges of the planking. The homemade parallel bars stood about 4ft high and 6ft long, good for upstarts and not a lot more. Handstands always had to be in the middle, otherwise your feet touched the beams of the sloping roof. During the winter months, Bernie and his two friends still trained outdoors while neighbours watched from the warmth of their homes. Even with frost and snow, they carried on to land on cushions; the neighbours must have thought them crazy. The best part after these sessions was going back inside to see that his mother had made a large roast dinner for the very cold and hungry gymnasts.

Learning from the George Kunzle books 

His interest in learning proper skills and techniques on all of the equipment led him to purchase all of the books written by another gymnast named George Kunzle. He studied the techniques shown in the books and with the help of his friend acting as a coach he improved his skills and decided to enroll at a summer camp held by the Amateur Gymnastics Association at Bisham Abbey. 

Bisham Abbey Summer courses 

In 1960, Bernard was training hard hoping to get a place in the team for the Olympics to be held in Rome. The Hull Daily Mail did a small article on him with an accompanying picture of him in his work clothes on the dock doing a one arm handstand on a bale of wool being discharged from a ship. At the Olympic trials, the last place in the team was to be decided from three gymnasts, Bernie, John Mulhall, and Dick Russell. Unfortunately, he did not make the team, but was the non-travelling first reserve. However, he did travel to Rome as a spectator and was Alan Burrows’ unofficial assistant carrying the many cameras and other equipment a photographer needs. Bernie was unsure about continuing with the Olympic training as he was poorly placed with a lack of good equipment and facilities.

Some good did come out of him being shortlisted for the Olympics. The Hull Daily Mail ran an article on him at this time and the city council took up his cause. The Council decided that they would purchase some equipment which was finally delivered from Germany in the winter of 1961 and placed in a school where training could take place on two nights of 2 hours per session per week together with trampolining and weight lifting classes. The council obviously had little concept of the training regime of a potential Olympic gymnast, Bernie needed more nights, but this was not an option.

Bernie continued to train and act as a coach to both Brian Metcalfe and myself in the new indoor school facility.  However, tumbling was still mainly on the wooden floor with someone having to throw a coir mat under the gymnast for a safe landing from somersaults. Erecting and dismantling equipment on the nights we were able to train just became part of our given time in the gymnasium.

Above – The Yorkshire team champions Keith Clark, Mike Larsen and Bernie Cawthorne

Representing Great Britain

Bernie represented his country on many occasions, but sometimes he would have to say no to international events as he could not have the time off work.

British Champion

I think that his most memorable achievement was when he became All Around Men’s British champion in 1965 at the Albert Hall beating the Army’s Jack Pancott.

Bernie missed defending his title the following year but reappeared the year after in the 1967 preliminary British Championships held at the Crystal Palace when again the last piece was the HB. I believe that getting on performing a couple of long swings and a dismount would have put him in the top position. However, at this point, he withdrew from the competition. We can only assume that due to new family commitments and problems getting time off work was the deciding factor. Maybe someone else who could give that commitment should have the honour of performing at the final of the British Championships was his thinking.

Dorothy Holt

During 1961, Bernard met a gymnast from Saltaire, trained by Pat Hirst. Her name was Dorothy Holt.  She became an international gymnast when she represented GB against Canada in 1962.  They married in October 1964 and had three children, two sons and a daughter Julie who became a gymnast.

Bernie and his family moved to Bridlington in 1976. Gary his eldest son mentioned to his PE teacher that his dad had been a gymnast and was a past British Champion. The teacher invited him to attend one of his school classes to offer advice and maybe some help.

Women’s British Team Championships

A team was entered in the Women’s British Team Championship, sponsored by Butlins at Bogner Regis in 1987.  A judge asked where was ‘this team’  from, and probably not knowing that Bridlington was actually in Yorkshire. That year the team came 4th overall. The following year 1988 the team was entered again, and on this occasion finished in 2nd place. It was about this time many of Bernie’s gymnasts were being asked to trial for the North Elite Zone training squad. Yorkshire participated in inter-county and friendly international events and the girls from East Yorkshire College were well represented on these occasions.

Bernie the coach and East Yorkshire College Gym Club

That was the start of Bernard re-entering the world of gymnastics as a coach. The school classes moved to the Bridlington Sports Hall for a while using the name of Bridlington Gymnastics Club until the principal the East Yorkshire College heard about the successes the young gymnasts were having. The Principal of EYC asked Bernard if the club would move, change the name, and compete under the college name.  Any additional equipment required would be made available, however, no pit facility could be made available and all equipment must be erected before classes and dismantled after the session. Despite this, the club moved in.  The senior and junior teams had success after success being winners or medalists in local, Yorkshire, and National team and individual competitions. 

Women’s British Team Championships 

A team was entered in the Women’s British Team Championship, sponsored by Butlins at Bogner Regis in 1987.  A judge asked where was ‘this team’  from, and probably not knowing that Bridlington was actually in Yorkshire. That year the team came 4th overall. The following year 1988 the team was entered again, and on this occasion finished in 2nd place. It was about this time many of Bernie’s gymnasts were being asked to trial for the North Elite Zone training squad. Yorkshire participated in inter-county and friendly international events and the girls from East Yorkshire College were well represented on these occasions.

I am pleased to have known Bernie, or Ben as he was also known, he was my best friend and mentor for just short of 50 years, and I miss him dearly.