Huyton & Prescot Golf Club
The first 35 years of the club appear to have run smoothly, possibly masked by the loss of all records, trophies and honours boards. Huyton Golf Club was formed in 1905 at the instigation of the Atherton family who owned and lived on the estate. Hurst House had been a rural retreat in the early 1700s having originally been constructed as a square manor house with later additions in 1879 including the clock tower with its five bell chime. The Atherton family were founders of the nearby British Insulated Wire Company, later to become BICC, and their family home was the first domestic property to be wired for electricity using the paper insulated wiring that they had introduced to Britain. The two Atherton brothers who lived at Hurst House did not get on together as evidenced during the 1961 clubhouse refurbishment when it was discovered that part of the house was wired for alternating current (AC) and the other part for direct current (DC).
James Braid directed the layout for the 18 hole course and Herbert Baxter was appointed Captain and the Hon. Arthur Stanley, the son of Lord Derby, elected as President. Lord Derby was a friend of the Athertons and would sometimes bring the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, to play at Huyton. Deer donated by Lord Derby roamed the park until one of them attacked a local golfing vicar and his Lordship was asked to take them back to Knowsley. The initial membership was 77 men and 45 ladies with the latter having the same voting rights as the men - an enlightened philosophy that was extended to the mixed use of the clubhouse, thus setting the standard for future social relations within the club.
The year 1939 brought bad news to the club, not only for the outbreak of World War II when it became a convalescent home, but also because the Athertons served notice that the lease would not be renewed. They set up Huyton Golf Links Ltd to manage the course on a “pay as you go” basis and many members left to join other clubs.Those who remained formed Huyton & District Golf Club paying green fees until 1945 when they formed Hurst Park Golf Club with a scheme to sign a new lease. However, before they could do so the Athertons announced their plan to sell the estate and that they had received a firm offer. A determined group of 62 members managed to raise and borrow £29,000 to buy the course and clubhouse. Thus on 26 August 1948 Huyton & Prescot Golf Club Ltd was formed and the other bidders graciously withdrew and went o to build Lee Park. Bob Knowles was elected Captain with Jack Vaughan as Secretary, a position he held for 34 years. His daughter, Sheila Maher, a former international golfer, was Captain of the Lancashire Ladies Golf Union in 2007.
There was welcome financial relief in 1954 when land at the paddock was sold for building. A major reconstruction of the clubhouse in 1961 was followed by an even greater upheaval in 1969 when the M57 motorway removed a quarter of the land. Compensatory land from BICC enabled the course to be re-planned under the guidance of Fred Hawtree and Dave Smith’s Development Committee. As a member of that Committee Geoffrey Leece enjoyed a unique opportunity to plan a new golf course and his lasting epitaph is that he can claim the 5th hole as his idea.
Harold Hayco was one of the four men who attended the first recorded Committee meeting of the Society in 1923 and in the following year he presented the trophy that still bears his name. Walter Coombs was Society Captain in 1965/66 and Geoffrey Leece followed him in 1987/88.
James Braid directed the layout for the 18 hole course and Herbert Baxter was appointed Captain and the Hon. Arthur Stanley, the son of Lord Derby, elected as President. Lord Derby was a friend of the Athertons and would sometimes bring the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, to play at Huyton. Deer donated by Lord Derby roamed the park until one of them attacked a local golfing vicar and his Lordship was asked to take them back to Knowsley. The initial membership was 77 men and 45 ladies with the latter having the same voting rights as the men - an enlightened philosophy that was extended to the mixed use of the clubhouse, thus setting the standard for future social relations within the club.
The year 1939 brought bad news to the club, not only for the outbreak of World War II when it became a convalescent home, but also because the Athertons served notice that the lease would not be renewed. They set up Huyton Golf Links Ltd to manage the course on a “pay as you go” basis and many members left to join other clubs.Those who remained formed Huyton & District Golf Club paying green fees until 1945 when they formed Hurst Park Golf Club with a scheme to sign a new lease. However, before they could do so the Athertons announced their plan to sell the estate and that they had received a firm offer. A determined group of 62 members managed to raise and borrow £29,000 to buy the course and clubhouse. Thus on 26 August 1948 Huyton & Prescot Golf Club Ltd was formed and the other bidders graciously withdrew and went o to build Lee Park. Bob Knowles was elected Captain with Jack Vaughan as Secretary, a position he held for 34 years. His daughter, Sheila Maher, a former international golfer, was Captain of the Lancashire Ladies Golf Union in 2007.
There was welcome financial relief in 1954 when land at the paddock was sold for building. A major reconstruction of the clubhouse in 1961 was followed by an even greater upheaval in 1969 when the M57 motorway removed a quarter of the land. Compensatory land from BICC enabled the course to be re-planned under the guidance of Fred Hawtree and Dave Smith’s Development Committee. As a member of that Committee Geoffrey Leece enjoyed a unique opportunity to plan a new golf course and his lasting epitaph is that he can claim the 5th hole as his idea.
Harold Hayco was one of the four men who attended the first recorded Committee meeting of the Society in 1923 and in the following year he presented the trophy that still bears his name. Walter Coombs was Society Captain in 1965/66 and Geoffrey Leece followed him in 1987/88.