Our History
The first Committee Meeting of the Society to consider the Draft Rules was held in London on 23rd August 1935. Those present were Sir F Stanley Jackson (Chairman), Hon F S G Calthorpe, Messrs H D G Leveson Gower, G Brann and A H Gilligan and the Hon Sec, Capt E I M Barratt. The Draft Rules stated that “The object of the County Cricketers’ Golfing Society is to provide opportunities for occasional meetings on the golf course between County Cricketers and so revive friendships commenced on the cricket field” and that members of the Society “must have played for a First Class County or the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge at cricket”.
The first General Meeting of the Society was held at Camberley Heath Golf Club on Saturday 19th October 1935. It was attended by Sir Stanley Jackson (Chairman), G Brann, J S F Morrison, The Hon Sec, Treasurer and 35 members. The Draft Rules were approved and the meeting was informed that the membership presently numbered 73.
Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, meetings of the Society were held at, variously, Camberley Heath and The Berkshire Golf Clubs but, when the Society reconvened in 1946, it was agreed that the Annual Meeting for that year would be held at Worplesdon Golf Club, which Club remained the “Home” of the Society for the next 70 years.
At a Committee Meeting in March 1948, it was agreed to invite D G Bradman to become an Honorary Member of the Society and, following the decision in November 1949 to allow Professional Cricketers to be elected as Full Members of the Society, invitations were sent to Len Hutton (who apparently declined!), Jack Hobbs, Alf Gover, Les Ames, Denis Compton and Maurice Leyland. Since that time, many well-known cricketers (such as Ken Barrington, Alec Bedser and Peter May) have been members and Captains of the Society and the current membership list includes former England Captains Michael Atherton, Lord Botham and Mike Gatting.