Former Pupils’ Section As things returned to normal after 1945 the Sports Sections continued but there is no sign of any information about either the Motor Section or the Club Room Section and it is assumed that they were not revived.
F.P. Club History – Part 2 In the years following the end of the War in 1945 the Club resumed its usual activities, most notably in the Sports Sections with, in particular, several seasons of high class Rugby, Cricket and Hockey teams fielded in the name of the Club. Post-match socialising was done in different locations, notably in the case of Rugby in the George Hotel. There were from time to time thoughts from the Rugby Section about having Club premises at Rubislaw Field, but the impossibility of obtaining permission for licensed premises on a sports ground, the main use of which was for children’s education, was recognised and the thought was never any more than just an idea. In the mid-1960s the Gordonian Association leased premises in Seafield Road, close to their Sports ground, where they opened a licensed club. Gordon Henderson (1921-34) was a long-serving member of the Executive Committee and himself a former Rugby player for FPs, who was aware of the Rugby Section’s thinking. In April 1968, as Vice-President of the F.P. Club and Chairman of the Executive, he was a guest at the Aberdeen Heriot Club annual dinner where he learned much about that Club’s presence at Goldenacre in Edinburgh. He was so impressed by what he heard that he put himself about to learn in detail the nature of their premises. The critical difference in their case was, of course, that Heriot College was a private school and owned their Goldenacre ground and the buildings on it and the Edinburgh Education Authority had no input to their activities. Gordon came to the next meeting of the Executive, explained how impressed he had been with what he had learned about Goldenacre, and proposed that the possibility of obtaining premises for the Club in the vicinity of Rubislaw should be explored. The members of the Executive were infected with Gordon’s enthusiasm and the idea was to be further considered. By the time of the next meeting, in the summer of 1968, it had become known that a member of the F.P. Club, Bill Wisely, was the owner of 86 Queen’s Road and was planning to move to Kincardineshire, where he had farming interests. It was believed that he might be willing to sell his house to the Club. Of all the possible buildings in the area this was without doubt the best suited for the needs of the Club and its Sports Sections. Described at the time as “this handsome mansion” Bayview House, as it was formerly known, was built in the 1870s but was completely re-designed in 1913 by the distinguished architect Dr. William Kelly R.S.A. and finished to a high standard of craftsmanship and distinction. In the view of architects it was one of the finest dwelling-houses in the city. The 21
