Club History | Club History |
THE SEVEN SPORTS CLUB FOUNDER MEMBERSMR. W.J.YENDLE MR. D.C.JACKSON MR. D.BESSEY MR. J.BIRD MR. E.WHITE MISS R.WOOD MISS A.HEDGER MISS J.HARRIES MISS C.YENDLE MISS C.BOLTON MISS P.BRIDGES The History of Seven Sports Club Mr Walter J. Yendle founded the club in January 1948 with a membership of four boys and six girls for the purpose of playing sport. The name of the club was derived from the club meeting time being “Seven” o’clock in the evening and not as many had believed, the number of participant sports in which the club was represented. At that time, it was a youth club with an average age of sixteen. In those early years many sporting activities were played. The club had a football team, that was later to play in the South West Middlesex League, a girls netball team and a mixed hockey team that continued until 1971, when due to a lack of players it disbanded. Cricket was also a mainstay of the club and is now the only remaining activity. A genuine sports club, Seven Sports also participated in athletics, tennis, table tennis and boxing, in which we had an ABA champion in Frank J.J.Ackary. All these sports were played in full throughout the 1950’s and during this time the club would meet on a Wednesday evening in the garden bar of the “Rising Sun” in Twickenham. The President, Mr. Yendle would always be punctual in opening the door, but not the bar and many pleasant evenings were enjoyed by the club members under his guidance. One of the earliest Secretaries of the Club was Mr. Leslie Crowther who would achieve later fame through radio and television. It is a matter of record that a large number of the members married brothers, sisters or cousins of friends and new members had difficulty sorting out the inter-relationships. To raise funds for the club, public dances and other functions were run at local church halls in Twickenham and Whitton. In the mid 1950’s the club decided to sectionalise itself although the Wednsday evening meetings continued at the Rising Sun until the early 1960’s when marriage and family commitments took toll on the support. Seven Sports Cricket Club Cricket in the early years was played at Marble Hill and in the early 1960’s we moved to Hatherop Road in Hampton, where for the first time we possessed sight screens. Our next move was to Victory Park, Addlestone and then to our present ground at Abbeyfield in Chertsey. For the majority of the early years former club Chairman Mr. Frank Soden was the club umpire. An annual cricket dinner dance was inaugurated in 1961, partly as a festive occasion for the long-suffering wives and girl friends of the players and also to raise funds for the club. For many years the cricket dinner was annual event that saw the presentation of the seasons playing awards. At our twelfth annual dinner a presentation was made to both our President (Mr Yendle) and our Chairman (Mr Soden) of a silver chalice to mark 25 years association with the club. At the same dinner our Vice Presidents, D.E.Osborne, F.A.Soden, R.L.Sumpter and J.D.Williams presented a silver bowl, “The Rose Bowl”, which was originally presented to the winner of the club’s annual single-wicket competition and is now presented to the players’ player of the year. Although it was not possible to continue on an annual basis, a very successful Dinner Dance was arranged on 4th July 1998 to celebrate the club’s 50th Anniversary. The success of the anniversary dinner and a general spirit of camaraderie within the club saw a desire to hold further social functions that wives and partners could attend outside of the cricket season. The first of these was a club dinner held in 1999 at the Marquis of Granby in Esher. The annual dinner has now become something of a tradition and a summer barbecue also now features on the club’s social calendar. To acknowledge the increasing number of social functions undertaken by the club it was proposed at the Annual General Meeting in 2002 that the status of Social Secretary be recognised as an Officer of the Club. The annual cricket tour had been a feature in the fixture card from 1976, with many happy visits being made to Yetminster in Dorset and Barrington in Somerset. Increasing family commitments saw the last of these tours take place in 1983. In 2002, the membership decided to resurrect the tour weekend and arrangements were made for a visit to Bournemouth. Sadly the weather intervened and the Sunday game was lost, but the tour proved to be very popular and has continued every year since with the club visiting Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Wiltshire in the ensuing years. The year 2000 saw the inaugural holding of the Seven Sports Golf Society annual tournament, which was won by Jim Johnson. This has proved to be a very popular event, which is now in its seventh year. Whilst golf was not one of the original sports in which the membership of the club partook, it is pleasing that the club can be considered for one day of the year at least a multi-sports club again. This is but a brief history and no doubt many who have been connected to the Club as members, players or supporters will have other happy memories. |
