The CRAFT Club
President:
Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, KCVO, CB, ADC
Vice Presidents:
Jan Sienesi, C.D. Beynon Esq, M. Eggers Esq, W. Ford Esq.
Chairman:
His Honour Jeremy Carey, DL
The CRAFT Club was founded on 1st April 1991 at the bar of Rye Golf Club when a few old chaps were telling stories, probably of dubious worth, and one story finished with the punch line of “Can’t remember a flipping thing.” Now the stories might have been naughty but the men weren’t, and from that moment they decided to use the punch line as a vehicle to raise money for three charities, namely Lifeboats, SSAFA and Save the Children. Since 1991 The CRAFT Club has raised and donated almost £300,000 to these three charities.
Our first President, Rear-Admiral Ian Robertson CB, was decorated as a young pilot and was one of the very few officers who started out in the RNVR to reach flag rank. He was Admiral Commanding Reserves and Director General of Naval Recruiting. He retired in 1974 to Piltdown, where he was an active member of the Golf Club.
LIFE MEMBERSHIP is offered to friends and each new member is asked to recruit four new members. From that start The Club has recruited over 30,000 members world-wide. The donations to our three charities continue, supported by new members, the purchase of our elephant-logo items, golf competition days and generous bequests and donations.
After the granting of life membership The Club does not solicit any further money from its members. The Honorary Secretary is the point of contact and enjoys much happy correspondence from all over the world.
If you have the smallest moment of forgetfulness and a generous nature you will be a perfect and welcome member of THE CRAFT CLUB.
ODE TO THE CRAFT CLUB
You may think us daft
To have founded the CRAFT
But it gives us something to do
It came as a whim
To both Tom and to Jim
It sort of flew out of the blue.
We both can’t remember
Was it May or September
It certainly was not at an inn
T’was the 19th at Rye
With Andy close by
And both of us full up with Gin
The Club when it started
Was all so half-hearted
It looked to be dead as a duck
Now 30,000 folk on
From New York to Hong Kong
We’ve certainly had all the luck.
Thanks to all you kind folk
Who soon saw the joke
And parted with tenners galore
More than 250,000 pounds
Have gone on their rounds
To the Lifeboat, SSAFA and more.
We’ve got Viscounts and Earls
We’ve got old men and girls
Judges, Bishops and lots of nice members
Scarves and ties are still selling
Our coffers are swelling
AND NOBODY REALLY REMEMBERS
By Tom McMillan
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History of Affiliated Golf Clubs
Thorndon Park GC
Thorndon Park Golf Course was created in 1920 by Harry Shapland Colt, one of the greatest golf architects, on a deer park dating back to the 1580s. The deer park, already rich with oaks from the 16th century – some of which survive to this day – was enhanced with oaks and chestnuts planted in the 1730s by the eighth Lord Petre, a noted botanist.
The Hall and present Club House was designed by James Paine and completed in 1770. It was the home of the Petre family until 1919 and where George III was entertained in 1778. Lancelot “Capability” Brown laid out a park that was the finest in the county and some of the great families of England stayed there during the deer-hunting season and even joined the Petre family roller skating in the ballroom.
In 240 acres of an ancient deer park, Thorndon Park was designed for players of all standards, with the Palladian mansion of Thorndon Hall as the magnificent backdrop to the final hole. Little more than two miles from the M25, it is a place of tranquillity, bounded by a vast country park, with mighty oaks adding their grandeur alongside the fairways and greens.
Piltdown GC
Skilfully carved out of ancient Sussex heathland in 1904, Piltdown Golf Club enjoys a colourful history, including the sensational archaeological discovery near the course in 1912 of a skull known as the Piltdown Man, which was believed to belong to a million-year-old ape-man with a large brain but a primitive jaw and teeth. However, in 1953 it was tested and proved to be a hoax!
The Ladies’ section was strengthened enormously in 1907 when Lady Margaret Hamilton-Russell joined Piltdown. She was the outstanding lady golfer of her day, winning the first three British Ladies’Championships in 1893, 1894 and 1895, plus the Swiss Ladies’ Open in 1907, 1908 and 1909.
Piltown has a stunning location and a devoted following among golfers young and old. Visitors are drawn again and again to the challenging heather-lined 18-hole course, its excellent practice facilities and welcoming period clubhouse.
Wildernesse
Consistently rated amongst the top courses in Kent and one of the oldest, Wildernesse Golf Club was founded in 1890. Lord Hillingdon, the owner of the Wilderness Estate at the time, was a great local benefactor, providing the land which included Sevenoaks Hospital, a cricket pitch and a nine-hole golf course on land around the mansion house as diversions for his house guests. In 1890 a more formal nine-hole course was laid out around Chance Wood, to the east of Park Lane, and extended to a full 18 holes in 1892.
For over 125 years golfers have enjoyed the beautiful, wooded course and warm hospitality that Wildernesse has to offer. The Club has a proud heritage and today is a private members’ club which offers a very special place for both members and visitors.
Littlestone
Golf has been a fixture at Littlestone since 1888. Although challenging enough to host the first L.G.U. Ladies Championship in 1894, the Club’s first Captain, William Laidlaw Purves, along with the professional David Herd, designed a course that covers much of the same ground as the links do now.
In the early days, the Bar, the Stock Exchange and Parliament were strongly represented at the Club. On one occasion the Club was in the unique position of having the Prime Minister of the day (Asquith) and the Leader of the Opposition (Balfour) as Captain & President respectively. Perhaps the one occasion when the Prime Minister has ever had to defer to the Leader of the Opposition!
Other members during the first half of the last century included Herbert Gladstone, Harry Colt, Philip Sassoon, Noel Coward and Gloria Minoprio (the first lady to wear trousers on a golf course)! More recently, Lord Bill Deedes was Captain & then President of the Club.
Visible from the 17th tee is the only remaining evidence of the time when this “delightful course” was “in the heart of the greatest shooting gallery the world has seen” (Henry Longhurst “˜Shooting Gallery’) It is a section of the Mulberry Harbour, which did not make it across the Channel following the D-day landings of June 1944.
To play golf at Littlestone is to step back in time and to enjoy links golf at its best.