Old Tridents

The Old Tridents’ Golfing Society has a membership of golfers who attended Trent College. The current Officers of the OTGS are:

Chris Swallow    Captain
Nick Peplow       Treasurer
Jon Carter          Secretary
Chris Cutts         President

Brief History

The Society operated before World War II, but it was reconstituted after the war. B.G. Catterns accepted the office of President, E.D. Cochrane was Captain, and R.K. May was Secretary and Treasurer. The first meeting of the ‘new’ Society took place at the Castle Hotel, Deal, on 19th April 1947. It was necessary that the Society should exist in order to enter a team of 10 players in the Halford Hewitt Competition.

It was resolved at this meeting that members should be charged an annual subscription of 10/6d, and that golfing meetings should be held if possible at least once a year, such meetings to enable members to compete for prizes and to aid in the selection of suitable candidates for the Halford Hewitt Cup.

Trent’s first victory in the Halford Hewitt occurred at Deal in April 1948 against King’s School, Canterbury, 3 matches to 2. The first golfing meeting for the members took place at Longcliffe Golf Club on 8th and 9th October 1949. 14 competitors assembled, in torrential rain. The Cochrane cups were competed for.

The Society continued to arrange these fixtures. It was minuted at the AGM on 6th October 1951:
‘New members – Ways and means were discussed for encouraging golf while boys were still at school, so improving the standard of the Halford Hewitt team. On the recommendation of C.S. Lang it was agreed to advance 10 gns. toward the cost of putting into being four or five holes on the school ground, and all members were invited to send up to the school any old balls and/or clubs.’

(TO BE CONTINUED)

 

OT Golfing Society AGM
Chevin Golf Club
Sunday 6th April 2008

Chair: Jon Carter (Hon Sec)
Officers Attending: Chris Cutts (President), Chris Swallow (Captain), Nick Peplow (Treasurer)

OT’s attending: Miles Ravern, John Smalley, David Harrison, Terry Lethbridge, Neville Vickery, Mike Craven, David Evans, Rob Bowen, Chris Foulds, Brian Westerman.

1) Minutes from the previous meeting were read out and approved.

2) The main topic of discussion focused on the perennial issue of how to encourage boys leaving Trent to join the society. This was especially relevant as 4 boys were supposed to take part in the Spring meeting that took place earlier in the day but all had failed to attend. This may have been due to the overnight snowfall or the potential cost of the event.

Chris Cutts felt that there was a need for someone at Trent to take responsibility for promoting Golf at the school. Chris was going to raise this point when he next met with the Head Teacher.

A discussion took place around how the OT society could do more to support golf at Trent. The idea of a scholarship or other financial support was raised but the point was made that because the charitable status of public schools was under review such a scheme would be seen as too selective by the school. Other ideas included:
a) Working with the Professional at Trent Lock Golf Club (whose daughter currently attends Trent) to provide lessons to pupils that would be subsidised or paid for by the society. Chris Cutts agreed to look into this.
b) Providing some sort of practice facility at the school that would be available to pupils. Jon Carter agreed to look into potential costs.
c) Setting up a match against the High School that included a mixture of OT’s and boys. Chris Cutts agreed to look into this.

3) Suggestions for future events and venues were invited from the floor. Nick Peplow suggested a Captain’s vs Presidents match to take place over the summer, an idea that enjoyed widespread support. Jon Carter to organise.