Feature
Polo Club anniversaries
Binfield Heath – 20 years
Diana’s daughter Tessa now runs Offchurch Bury
Offchurch Bury – 25 years
The idea of Offchurch Bury Polo Club first came about in India, when Diana and Harry Johnson were invited to visit the home of Colonel Raghvir “Rags” Singh, in Dundlod, which would later become the name of Diana’s team. The pair wanted to establish a club in Warwickshire, a far cry from the grasslands of Nepal where Diana captained the English Ladies’ Elephant Polo team during the early 1980s. It was during this time that she met Rags, senior coach of a team called the Rajasthani Rowdies, who offered to help with the launch of the club, and to take charge of the coaching. And so Offchurch Bury was born, thought to be the first club in the UK to be started by a woman. At the time, the closest club was Kirtlington Park, in Oxfordshire, so Offchurch Bury fulfilled a geographical gap on the polo map, as well as establishing themselves on the arena polo circuit. Several of the early members were clients of Diana’s hunter hireling business, who she wanted to provide with a summer activity to keep them riding fit all year round. In 1993 the club relocated to Stoneleigh Abbey, adopting the name Stoneleigh Park Polo Club. During its time there, one of those who took up the game was Dallas Burston. When the club found itself without a home in 2001, he offered his Stoneythorpe Estate, and the club became Royal Leamington Spa (RLS). Six years ago, it was all change once again, but this time the club returned to its original location, reviving the name Offchurch Bury. It is now run successfully by Diana’s daughter Tessa, and her husband Grant Collett, hosting the SUPA University National championships every summer while continuing to encourage new players into the game. 36
Polo Times, June 2014
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This year, Binfield Heath Polo Club celebrates 20 years since it was founded in 1994. The Checkendon Park Polo Club was launched two years prior at the same grounds between Reading and Henley-on-Thames by Toby Greenbury and Lord Francis Phillimore, and it was the core members of this club who decided to replace it with the Binfield Heath Polo Club. The club has come a long way since its launch 20 years ago. In the early days, the club didn’t have any trophies, so instead, teams played for a large cardboard cut-out of one. Nowadays, there is plenty of silverware to be won at the many 0-6-goal fixtures held over the summer months on the club’s two irrigated grounds, as well as its annual highlight, the Summer Festival. But, with several of the original club members still involved with the club, such as current chairman Michael Mylonas and committee member Lisa Spiers, the ethos of Binfield Heath remains the same: to bring about the highest possible quality of low-goal polo, as well as providing a friendly introduction to the sport for beginners. This year, the club will be especially busy, with a 20th anniversary tournament to be held on 28-29 June, with Mike Cunningham, Lord Francis Phillimore, Garth Bearman and Paul Lucas receive a cardboard action at 0 and 4-goal levels, as well as a trophy, in the days before the club had its own silverware party to toast the last 20 years, and look ahead to the next.
Cirencester Park – 120 years
2014 marks the 120th anniversary of one of the oldest polo clubs in England – Cirencester Park Polo Club. First set up by Seymour Henry the 7th Earl Bathurst in 1894, in his own Cirencester Park, the club is now one of the world’s few 19th century polo clubs still in existence. The club began life as Cirencester Polo Club, with a membership fee of 10 shillings and six pence, and its polo matches held in conjunction with gymkhana games and other equestrian events to help introduce the game to the public. It was a combination of the effects of the Depression and the establishment of the Beaufort Polo Club at nearby Westonbirt that caused player numbers to decline during the 1920s and in 1933 the decision was made to close the club. But when the Henry the 8th Earl Bathurst and his brother George developed a taste for polo, they resurrected the club, now named Cirencester Park Polo Club, in 1953 on the original grounds. Since then, the club has gone from strength to strength, with return of high-goal polo there in the 1950s and Cirencester-based teams such as Foxcote, Los Locos, Black Bears and Bulldogs making a significant mark on high-goal polo in England and abroad during the latter part of the 20th century. Nowadays the high-goal tournaments hosted by the club are the 22-goal Warwickshire Cup and the 26-goal Gloucestershire Cup.
Silver Leys – 120 years
Dating back to 1894, Silver Leys is amongst the oldest clubs in the UK. Originally known as the Stansted Polo Club, it has retained its original location at Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire. The grounds had originally served as Army barracks, but were converted into polo grounds by Tresham Gilbey, president of the Polo Pony Society. Alfie Boyd-Gibbons revived the club on the same grounds after the Second World War, when it adopted the name Silver Leys. The club is now run as a not for profit private member’s club and boasts almost 50 members.
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27/05/2014 17:02