Founding of the club
The Course
The First World War
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1924 Canniesburn
1924 Windyhill
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THE FIRST WORLD WAR
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Unfortunately the records from February 1912 – August 1915 are missing but by September 1915 it was obvious that the Club had run into serious difficulties with many of its members serving in the Forces. They were kept on the membership roll but paid no fees. There was also a steady increase in resignations (golf perhaps seen as an unnecessary luxury in wartime), takings at the Clubhouse were decreasing every month, half the course had been taken for food production so they were back to nine holes again and even these were difficult to maintain due to an acute shortage of labour.
Drastic measures were needed if the Club was to survive. A Special General Meeting was called and having explained the situation to the members, the Committee asked for a £1 levy from each gentleman and 5/- from each lady. They also proposed admitting temporary members and more lady members. The proposals were unanimously agreed.
Gradually the Club’s finances improved and disaster was averted. They had found a way of surviving until the end of the war.
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CASUALTIES
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By the end of 1917, over 160 members of the Club were serving in the Forces. This amounted to almost half the male membership. Twenty-three of these men were reported to the Club as having been killed in action.
In October 1915 there is a poignant entry in the Management Committee minutes of Apologies from the Captain, John Walker, who had just heard that his son had been killed in action.
Captain Robert Walker served in the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders and had been ‘Mentioned in Despatches’. His name is inscribed on the Menin Gate in Ypres along with 54,895 other Commonwealth soldiers who lost their lives fighting in the Ypres Salient and who have no known grave. He was only twenty-four years old.
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THE END OF THE WAR
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By 1919 men were returning from war service and taking up their memberships again. While delighted at their safe return, the Club now had too many members for a nine-hole course and there was a problem with increasing congestion. To deal with this, Gents’ membership was restricted to a maximum of 300 and the Ladies, who had been encouraged to join during the War to keep the Club afloat, were now encouraged to resign. Even worse, all annual subscriptions had to be raised to cover costs.
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