Page 24 - HGS Suburb News 152 - Winter 2022

In the bleak midwinter Hampstead Golf Course

ROSS BIDDISCOMBE golf courses nearby in Finchley,
MARIE-CHRISTINE O’CALLAGHAN a pig or six chickens to help a buying a gift, you could assist a East Finchley and Muswell Hill, no
family, (gifts.concern.org.uk/) they friend or a loved one in other ways. ust over a decade before Henrietta one knew if there were enough
fter a period of enforced will administer life-saving jabs for You could, for example, help by Barnett created Hampstead local golfers to join Hampstead
isolation, Christmas this children (Unicef) or install a water doing household chores, gardening, JGarden Suburb, a group of local and fund the course extension.
A year will hopefully be a pump for a village (Water Aid). You running errands, or simply making sports enthusiasts had a different 150 new members were needed
time we can celebrate together. can then give a card, recycled or time to visit and chat. idea for developing the same open but, in the end, the project was
We certainly need an occasion to digital, telling the recipient what Christmas is celebrated with space that for centuries had been rejected and the offer was never
make merry but recent events you did on their behalf. You could, gifts but also with a magnificent common-use heathland – they made again. Instead, the Church
such as Covid, the war in Ukraine of course, chose a much more meal. There is an old Polish wanted to build a golf course. Commissioners looked to property
and the economic situation have local charity like a food bank or a tradition which obliges hosts to They were bankers and stock- developers for income from their
cast a long shadow of gloom. hospice. If you feel that you would prepare an extra chair and plate brokers, lawyers and solicitors, land, while the golfers built a
Perhaps we should start by taking rather gift a physical object you at the table should there be an even the head master of Highgate pavilion-style clubhouse for £600
time to slow down, to reflect and could visit your local charity shop. unexpected visitor. How about School, who had taken to the and got on with making the club a
to understand what is really Your purchase there will help the bringing this tradition to the 21st sport which had become known success with Hampstead Garden
important; also to remember how charity and the planet, an ideal century by inviting someone who as the Great English Golf Boom. Suburb growing up around them.
fortunate we really are. It may be way to recycle. you know to be alone to join you Before, the sport in Britain was The Suburb’s growth included
that these reflections and There is nothing more precious for your Christmas feast? confined to Scotland, where the the construction of Winnington
realisations will make us decide than the gift of time. Rather than A Merry Christmas to us all. Open Championship had been Road which was set to run through
that the best way of celebrating taking place since 1860. the golf course. So, a new lease
Christmas is ‘to do good’, and to There were no formal courses was drawn up around 1906 and the
offer hope. in this part of London so, in 1893, original 1st golf hole (the tee was
The magi started the tradition they set up Hampstead Golf Club close to Spaniards Inn) and the
of gifts by offering the new born which today lies between four 2nd were moved to the west of
baby gold, frankincense and roads in the Suburb – Winnington where the road now runs and the
myrrh. Those gifts had meaning: Road, Ingram Avenue, Neville rest of the course was re-jigged.
myrrh being commonly used as an Drive and Wildwood Road. As time passed, substantial homes
anointing oil, frankincense as a There are no records of the with large gardens were built in
perfume, and gold as a valuable, original meeting, or who attended the area. Ingram Avenue was
they also carried spiritual meanings. (Club records from that period added off Winnington Road and,
Of all the gifts you gave or were lost in a fire in 1929), but along with The Bishops Avenue,
received last year, how many they negotiated with the Church they tip their hat to the church,
carried meaning? Perhaps this Commissioners to lease 38 acres not only as original owners of the
year you could choose to give the of farmland that was part of land, but also because the new
gift of hope to someone by Spaniard’s Farm. Bishop of London in 1901 was the
donating to a charity on behalf of Rooms at the Spaniards Inn Right Reverend Arthur Winnington-
Litchfields_Suburb_News_Aug21_PRINT2.pdf 1 16/08/2021 20:46
a friend or loved one. Charities were used as a makeshift club- Ingram who happened to be a
can organise the giving of a goat, house and changing areas, and a member of Hampstead Golf Club!
Scotsman named James Govan was In 1929 a clubhouse fire
tempted down from St Andrews to threatened the Club however the
become the first golf professional. insurance money covered the cost
Another Scot, Tom Dunn, from a of a new building (built in the arts
family of golfing royalty in the late & craft style).
19th century, was engaged to lay Local members have included
out nine holes and, in 1894, the the St Trinian’s actor of the 1930s,
course was playable. The Ham & Alistair Sim; one of Britain’s most
High reported club activities out-spoken Methodist ministers,
among the 125 male golfers plus a Lord Soper; and the two-term
handful of ladies who were allowed British Prime Minister Harold Wilson
to join as “associates” playing only who was a solid 16-handicapper.
“on certain days”. And so, the golf club and the
The following year was pivotal Suburb have existed happily side
for the newly formed golf club. by side for almost 130 years –
The Church Commissioners were although club members still wonder
keen to make more money from how they missed out on that extra
C
their heathland ownership and nine holes back in 1895.
M offered the golfers another 50 acres
to rent, enough for a second nine- A book entitled The History of
Y
holes. The lease would be around Hampstead Golf Club 1893-2023 by
CM £150 per year. Given that there Ross Biddiscombe will be published
were three recently constructed early next year.
MY
CY
CMY
K

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Call us or email us to find out how Litchfields can assist. CORRECTIONS REGARDING ISSUE 151

020 8458 5000 | sales@ litchfields.com | litchfields.com Judth Elkanʼs obituary – was authored by Margaret Harris not Miriam Elkin.
Church Initiative article – incorrect photo of Friends Meeting House.
No Streets on the Suburb article – misspelling of Lord Lyttelton.
Submissions deadline for issue 153 is 1st February 2023 • Suburb News Co-Editors are Marie-Christine OʼCallaghan & Shelley-Anne Salisbury • suburbnews@hgsra.uk
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