Reminiscences of Rotherham
by G. Gummer, J.P.
« « prevsuch conditions, whereupon Alderman Wragg, who had engineered the selection, proposed that Mr. Clement Beatson Clark should take my place. The alderman did not readily forget the rebuff he met with, when Mr. Clark, in declining to act, commended me for my action, saying that if a man was good enough to be chief magistrate, his position on the Licensing Committee should be decided without going to a vote.
A GOLF STORY
The greatest hero in golf history is said to have been a Scotsman who, in the year 1719 used to start playing at dawn and end by putting at the last green by the aid of the light from a candle. He suffered from the golf fever so badly that at last his wife (an innkeeper) applied for a separation order. This gave occasion for him to make one of the most pathetic declarations in history:Let her have the business,he said. provided she gives me sufficient to clothe and feed myself and provide myself with golf balls.
The magistrates thought it a very good disposition of the property. They decreed accordingly and the man lived to be ninety-five and played golf right up to the day of his death.
As a means of recreation for men advanced in years, no game is equal to golf. Well may Dr. McNamara say in the House of Commons that it had added ten years to his life. To become obsessed, even in a milder form than the hero referred to, and so let the pursuit of the game interfere with business, is absurd; to use it as an exercise for the body, which has its claims, is necessary as a respite from toil; it is the safety valve to brain workers.
In providing these means of relaxation from business the promoters of the Thrybergh Golf Club deserve more than our thanks - they were benefactors.
MUNICIPAL GOLF
I believe the golfing members of the Rotherham Corporation can rightly claim to have been the first to introduce municipal golf that is, teams drawn from members and officials to play matches against the repre sentatives of other corporations.We played our first match in 1905 against the Sheffield Corporation representatives on the Thrybergh course, which the local golf club committee kindly placed at our disposal. Every year since that date these matches have taken place, Rotherham claiming the most victories.
Other matches have been played against the Corporations of Nottingham and Huddersfield and on one occasion we journeyed as far as Yarmouth to meet the Yarmouth Corporation team.
IN SCOTLAND
We were certainly the first team to cross the border to play municipal golf. In 1911 I arranged a holiday tour in the West of Scotland, when matches were played against Ayr, Troon, Glasgow, and Edinburgh Corporations. Great interest was taken in our doings, the Sheffield papers publishing an account of each match and illustrations of the teams at play. We were handsomely entertained in each of these towns, particularly in the City of Glasgow, where the Lord Provost, accompanied by a few of his colleagues and their wives, dined and wined us at the North British Hotel.In the Glasgow match we made the acquaintance of Councillor Rosslyn-Mitchell, a young solicitor, who had recently joined the City Council. Since then he has been much in the public eye, first by defeating Mr. Asquith at Paisley at the last General Election and more recently by a speech he made in Parliament on housing construction, which has been pronounced to have been the finest speech delivered during the present Parliament.
A further four in Scotland followed in 1912, when matcaes were played against a St. Andrew’s team, composed of members of the Municipal Burgh and County Councillors. Another match against the Burgh of North Berwick followed. In this I had the privilege of having as my opponent the Provost or next »
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