Percy Albert de Malmanche (1902-1968)

The handwritten part at the bottom of the page [certificate] reads ”Mr Malmanche caught his own sheep from the pen”. The reason for adding this was that some would-be record holders cheated by having a shed hand waiting with the next sheep thereby saving precious seconds. Philip Sebastian Riley was the storekeeper in Pihama. He was also the Secretary of the Opunake Racing Club whose course was closer to Pihama than it was to Opunake. I can verify his signature and writing as he, [being] Postmaster, handwrote incoming telegrams. As my father was an M.P. he got lots of those telegrams. The shed where the record was established remained there for many years although no longer used as a woolshed. Jim Barr who lived on the property until recent years told me that occasionally people would turn up to see the place where that record was made. It remained the world record until Godfrey Bowen broke it in the mid 1950s.