Charlie Fenton and his tail-wagging, four-legged mates. The Crookwell publican says the company of men is even more important and has set aside a weekend next month to set tongues wagging. Photo: Charlie Fenton.
A former endurance rider, polocrosse player and serial pub owner, Charlie Fenton is back in the saddle at Crookwell.
Charlie is aiming to get 50 or more riders on horseback together at the end of February to ride alongside him through the night to raise awareness about men’s mental health.
He bought the Crookwell Hotel – the 11th pub he has owned in NSW, almost two years ago, has repainted, re-furnished and re-carpeted it and is now calling on people to get together more often for their own wellbeing.
“It is a lovely community but unfortunately we have had a series of rural suicides which is a bit disheartening and I thought well, what I would like to do is a 24-hour horse endurance ride,” he said.
He has three Australian stock horses, Brigalow, Slinky Minx and her foal Harold Colt and is riding them every day to prepare for ‘Saddle Up for A Mate’ that will begin at Crookwell Showgrounds at 3 pm on Friday 28 February.
He plans on rotating the horses and having breaks in between and is relaxed about how other participants approach the endurance ride.
“I hopefully can do 24 hours but have suggested to people, just do relays or teams or whatever they like to do; just come along and participate in any particular way they can or would like to.”
At the end of the ride at 3 pm on Saturday 1 March, three top artists, Crookwell singer-songwriter Chalkie White, Southern Highlands country singer Ross Webb and William Wallace, a.k.a. BiiG WilliE will entertain the riders and their supporters.
“It is free to get people to come along, have a talk and I have several speakers to get up and talk about men’s mental health,” Charlie said.
“Young people in this day and age spend too much time on their phones, unfortunately, and I think that is a bit of the way the culture is at the moment,” he said.
The importance of talking to people is drummed into his staff at the pub. “It doesn’t matter whether it is the prime minister or the guy that picks up the garbage,” he said. “They are all people and when they come to your pub, treat them all with respect and make them laugh, no matter who they are.”
He describes his new hometown of Crookwell as a seriously old-school town where people have lived for more than five or six generations.
“It is such a delight, I kid you not,” he said. “You can leave your wallet on the bar, go outside and have a cigarette and no one will touch it; no one will touch anything,” he said. “The honesty of the town, that’s what I love about the place.”
A former hotel broker who once wrote a handbook for hoteliers, ‘The Publican’s Mate’, Charlie is also a fourth-generation publican and remembers the precise date he began in the liquor industry 47 years ago – 6 December 1977.
A decade later he began buying pubs. “I started at the Leeton Hotel on 5 May 1985, the Victoria Hotel in Griffith on the day the stock market crashed in 1987 and then in ’89 I opened a pub in Bowral, the Grand Bar and Brasserie which is no longer there,” he said.
“Then I had another venue in Mittagong. Then I went to Taree on Boxing Day 1992, had the Royal Hotel in Taree and got out in 2002,” he said. “I had the Old Bar Tavern as well (nearby), the Glasshouse up in Coffs Harbour, then the Lansdowne Hotel at Broadway; I took that over in 2003 and got out of there in 2008 and also the Erskineville Hotel at the same time. I got out of that in 2011 and bought the Bargo Hotel on 4 April 2011.”
Involved with horses for much of his life, Charlie played polocrosse for many years and polo.
While at Leeton he began the Murrumbidgee Riders Association, an endurance riders club and organised a ride from Hay to Leeton, a 200-kilometre event which took 11 and a half hours.
Now he is focussed on one of the hardest endurance runs of them all, men taking on mental challenges and believes they should at least talk about them.
- Saddle Up for a Mate, 3 pm, Friday 28 February, Crookwell Showground, 255-25 Goulburn St, Crookwell and live performances 4 pm, Saturday 1 March, Crookwell Showground. Entry is free. Overnight camping is free. Details can be found here.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact:
Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support line – 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467
Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800 or kidshelpline.com.au
MensLine Australia – 1300 789 978.
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