SANDS OF time By Joe Novella Photos Supplied
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hances are, if you've ever dropped in for a drink at any of the peninsula's famous watering holes, or watched some local sport at one of the many sporting fields in the area, you'd have either seen, or heard, Kenny Sands. Sadly, Kenny passed away recently, so we'll no longer hear the sound of his raucous barracking at the cricket, or his laughter in the public bar, but the memories will never fade. Put simply, the bloke was a bona fide legend.
At 16, Kenny's mum died of bowel cancer and a year later he walked into his home to find that his dad had taken his own life. For many kids Kenny's age, those tragic events would have been more than they could handle, but Kenny was made of sterner stuff. Thankfully, he also had the support of his older sister, Jean, who took Kenny in to live with her and her husband in their Dandenong home. Keen to pay his own way, Kenny ditched school and began his working life as an apprentice in the plumbing trade.
Kenny was born in Sandringham Hospital in 1940 and had a typical childhood until he was 16 years of age. He went to Brighton Beach Primary and later Brighton Technical, but wasn't too fond of the books. Instead, young Kenny loved his sport, playing cricket at school and footy for the Sandringham footy club.
In the 1950s, Jean and her husband purchased a block of land on the peninsula on which they planned to build their new family home.
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Not wanting to leave Kenny behind, they encouraged him to follow suit. So, at just 20, using his hard-earned savings, Kenny bought himself a block in Jackson St, Mount Martha, at the top