LBGC Centenary Book - Flipbook - Page 19
Langland Centenary Book
15/2/05
6:08 pm
Page 19
Another Peel Cup anecdote concerns a very good male player
and his seventeen-year-old partner who played well, but in a
carefree manner. One down playing the seventeenth, the male
player topped his tee shot into one of the lateral ditches which
then abounded on this hole. He recovered the ball, dropped it
for the penalty shot, and then gave instructions to his partner,
as he had been all the way round, as to what club she should
play and where she should play her shot.The young lady
selected the club of her own choice, a putter, hit the ball firmly
back in to the ditch, replaced her club and walked back into the
Clubhouse without saying a word! That partnership never
played together again!
The Club was, in 1928/29, engaged in litigation with a
Mr. Stroud regarding a caravan he had on the course and which
the Club wanted removed. Eventually the Club won its case
and Mr. Stroud removed his caravan to an adjacent field where
it remained for many years. He also purchased an adjoining field
and constructed a bungalow.This field was out of bounds to
golfers and was to be the source of many complaints in
the future.
The new eighteen-hole course was not at all satisfactory, and
the Club became involved in a series of changes.That it was
dangerous is evidenced by the payment of £4-19-6d by the
Club’s Insurers to a lady who was struck by a ball, but it
appears that the re-arrangements were not all that good either
because within a month of opening the remodelled course in
May 1929, the Chairman is reported as saying that the course
had “undoubtedly led to danger and congestion”. A subcommittee was set up with plenary powers to make such
alterations as they deemed necessary “even at the sacrifice of
reducing the bogey of the course”.
The first Annual General Meeting reported a profit even after
charging all the costs of the nine new holes against revenue,
but caused consternation when it was discovered that the
holders of the one shilling share were not eligible to vote or
become directors.The Annual Return showed a total of 474
members, but as both Country members and Junior members
were shareholders the numbers cannot be compared
accurately with today’s figures.
It was indeed fortunate that at this time, when the Board was
considering the dangers on the course, two additional fields
came on the market and were purchased for £500. One of
these fields was immediately exchanged with the Hillgrove
Estate for one of their fields, the Club paying an additional
£375 to compensate for the larger size of this field, calculated
at the rate of £125 per acre! These fields now form part of the
fifteenth and seventh fairways, from the Ladies tee to the ridge,
and the adjoining field from Cliff Cottage to the wall. Mr.
Stroud offered to sell three-quarters of his field to the Club for
£600 but this was not accepted, “the whole field cost him £425
and he is asking too much” states the minute recording this.
In view of the dangers and congestion resulting from the
“home-made” layout, coupled with the newly acquired land,
W. Fernie the Penarth professional, was again engaged to plan
and report on the course layout. Fernie may have been getting
on in years but he certainly moved fast, because at a meeting
held on the 9th November it was reported that Fernie had
commenced his survey on the 4th November and completed it
on the 6th and the plans were then laid before the meeting!
The plan was adopted and was basically the course we played
with variations when we obtained extra land - until altered by
Henry Cotton in 1965.
It was about then that, for the first but not the last time,
discussions were taking place about the road leading to the
Clubhouse.The Borough Surveyor, until recently the Club’s
Honorary. Secretary, estimated that the improvements would
cost £150, and the Highways Committee of the Borough
Council were to be asked to make a substantial contribution to
this cost.Their reply is not minuted, but as the road question
crops up at intervals over the next twenty years before action
was taken, it may be assumed that it was unsatisfactory to the
Directors.
The Club was progressing well financially, and the minutes each
month showed an average of ten new members.The minutes
do not unfortunately record resignations, but they must also
have been plentiful, otherwise congestion would have reached
crisis proportions. Although the Club was still “dry” it is
intriguing to note that the address of one of these new
members is given as “Beashwood Road, Uplands!” Did the
Board regale themselves from hip flasks and was this a
phonetic interpretation of the way it was said? Or, more
prosaically, is it just a typing error of the secretary?
In 1930 a deputation of the members met the Directors to ask
for changes in the Articles of Association.The point being that
all shareholder members, other than junior and country, should
be eligible to vote at meetings and to be elected as Directors.
The existing Directors must have been sympathetic to the
views of the deputation as they agreed not to convene the
Annual General Meeting until a special resolution to alter the
Article had been drawn up and passed and this was duly done
on 8th November, 1930.
As members are aware the Club’s shares are some at £1 and
some at 1/- (now of course 5p) and after the alteration of the
Articles both classes of shares have the same rights. At an
Annual General Meeting prior to 1971, when asked the
difference between the £1 shares and the 1/- shares, the
answer given by David Billings, the Treasurer, was “nineteen
shillings”. He had been waiting for some years to answer that
particular question!
At the Annual General Meeting in 1930 Sid Cooper was
appointed Honorary Secretary and remained so until the late
Tom Evans took over in 1938. Sid was a very small man, but a
bundle of energy. He had a leg infirmity but this did not deter
him from a full and exacting life. He played golf and tennis and
was an ardent crabber amongst the rocks at Langland. He was
not a particularly notable golfer, being rather like the P.G.
Woodhouse character who “never spared himself to do the
ball a violent injury”, and it was recorded that he once beat the
cover off a new Penfold in three shots which only covered
ninety yards! Rowley Norman, the professional at the time, is
alleged to have said “a Warwick is your ball, Mr. Cooper”, given
him two Warwicks (or were they Goblins in those days?) and
received the mangled Penfold in return, ostensibly for return
with a complaint to the makers. Despite being such a small
man, Sid drove a large fabric bodied Riley and could scarcely be
seen behind the steering wheel; indeed, it was regularly
reported that the Riley had been seen in various districts
making good progress, driverless!
After some years of comparative prosperity the Club now hit
some hard times, and for a number of years was in a poor
financial situation. Of course, the depression and the slump
were hitting leisure activities harder than many others.Too
many people had too much leisure and not enough money.The
downturn in prosperity appears to have hit the Club very
suddenly, for in November 1930, an investment of £500 surplus
money had been made, but by June 1931 the investment was
sold and in November 1931 it was reported that the Club was
in a serious financial position with a deficit of £200. It was
decided that in order to improve the cash position and income
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