The

Bognor Club

A History

1871 – 1993

To celebrate its occupation of Bognor’s original

Assembly Rooms and Council Offices

in Sudley Road for 100 years

National press headlines in the early Spring of 1871 proclaimed Henry Morton Stanley's welcome message from the heart of Africa, that he had found tracks which, he believed, would lead him to the missing explorer, Dr. David Livingstone. The celebratory spirit generated nationally by this long awaited news might well have inspired Lord Nigel Kennedy to invite a number of his friends and local gentry to his house, Craigweil, in Aldwick, for the purpose of establishing a club in Bognor to consist of "Reading, Cards and Billiard Rooms." In the first minute book,twenty eight names of the gentlemen who accepted his invitation and resolved to form a Club are recorded. They elected a Committee with the purpose of opening negotiations with Mr Maldrett, then proprietor of the Royal Norfolk Hotel, to lease the East Wing of the Hotel for a rental of one hundred pounds per annum. They also agreed certain guide lines for the Club's Constitution with an Annual Subscription of Three Guineas

Unfortunately negotiations with Mr Mildrett failed, nevertheless alternative premises were obtained in West Street on a short lease, suitable as a temporary home and allowing the Club to start its activities without delay. Sadly, suitable premises were not found before the short lease expired in 1876 so the Club was forced to close and place its assets in the care of two Trustees, Messrs Staffurth and Fletcher who were members of the Club.

Bognor, at that time was a small seaside holiday and retirement resort for gentry. It had a population of under 5,000 and its roads were tree-lined and free from motor cars, road markings and electric lights. Houses were lit by gas or oil lamps and heated by fires fuelled by wood or coal which was brought to Bognor by sea and unloaded on the beach. Sanitation and medicine were primitive and fatal diseases more often than not, went unrecognised.

House and factory chimneys in London created a killing smog, and the fresh air and a mild climate made Bognor an ideal gentle, flat resort where ladies and gentlemen could recover their strength after illness.

The two Great Wars had yet to savage the nation's youth and the fearsome power of the Atom had then been unexplored. Air travel was unknown and radio and television communication were but a dream in the minds of the country's leading scientists. Great Britain had the largest Empire that the world had ever seen and could easily support the lifestyles of the gentlemen who founded The Bognor Club which was to provide an unchanging haven of excellence in its facilities, fine cigars, single malt whiskies and fine brandy.

It was some time before an offer of accommodation was made by Langford-Webb, proprietor of the Victoria Hotel, then a hotel on the corner of Victoria Road and Aldwick Road to the west of the town,for a part of the building to be set aside as a Members Club. The Bognor Club could function independently from the hotel but, with horse racing at Goodwood bringing hundreds of visitors to Bognor for holiday during the last week in July, Langford-Webb was unable to allow the Club to use the premises during that week.

The membership increased substantially over the next four years when, in 1893, Arthur Smith, owner of the Old Assembly Rooms in Sudley Road, approached the Club Trustees offering the present fine, old premises which he was anxious to release on a long term lease. An emergency meeting of The Bognor Club was held in the Victoria Hotel and a local solicitor, one H.L. Staffurth, was charged with the responsibility of seeking a suitable lease of the premises with an option to purchase, hopefully in a reasonably short period of time.

The Old Assembly Rooms were built in 1837 by W.K.Wonham who was responsible for a number of elegant properties in various parts of Bognor including the original Rock Gardens Terrace on the seafront, and St. John's Chapel in The Steyne, both of which were to be later demolished. The Town Council occupied the Assembly Rooms for a considerable number of years, and used the main Assembly Room upstairs as the Council Chamber. It was also used for entertainments, balls and concerts. It is reported that Tannacker's Dragon Troupe of Japanese Performers held a successful series in 1874 and Sarah Thorne's Dramatic Company performed here in 1873. The interior of the building underwent extensive alterations in 1886 when the main Assembly Room on the first floor was reproduced in plain Regency style with a small wrought iron gallery containing, for no known reason, the word 'love'

A suitable lease having been achieved for the premises, Mr. Staffurth reported at a General Meeting of the Club in the downstairs Assembly Room on Monday 2nd October 1893 that::‑

"...he had successfully negotiated a lease for 21 years at a rental of £25 per annum determinable at the option of the lessee at the end of the 1st, 3rd, 7th or 14th year with a purchase clause of the Freehold at Four Hundred and Fifty Pounds provided that the latter was exercised within 7 years and on the condition that One Hundred Pounds was spent on new drainage and repairs during the first 12 months. The Assignment of the lease to Messrs Fletcher and George Gatehouse has been engrossed and is ready for execution".

Mr. Fletcher lived in the house that was to be later named 'Hotham House'. He was a substantial landowner, being the freeholder of much of Bognor's land and the farms that

bordered the coastline between Bognor and Church Norton. The Bognor Club took possession and moved in during the first week of October 1893.

The small Assembly Room downstairs was converted into a stately and elegant billiard room furnished with a Burroughs & Watts billiard table, scoreboard, cues and fittings supplied by the Army and Navy Stores, London, for one hundred and twenty pounds. This splendid room, with the original table and fittings continues in regular use to-day, where snooker has replaced billiards and is played in the peaceful and dignified atmosphere of the Victorian period. Extensive changes were made to the servants' quarters and stables at the rear of the premises which led, through a small lane, to Lyon Street. These parts of the Club's premises were later sold as the Club's servants' quarters were no longer required, and, with motor cars replacing horses and carriages, stabling for horses became superfluous.

Membership increased rapidly and the freehold of the Assembly Rooms was purchased in 1900. The adjoining premises known as No 1, Sudley Terrace were acquired for which the freehold cost one hundred pounds. These premises were sold soon after the first World War and have been replaced by a building known as Copplestone House, currently occupied by the Automobile Association and other office premises.

A possible indication of the prosperity of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras is that the Club decided that the whisky available to members should not be less than 10 years old and, after a tasting appointment at the Club, it was agreed to buy 12 cases, each containing 12 bottles of Three Star Malt Whisky for thirty seven shillings (£1.75) per case.

Whilst the Club records indicate that it survived the First World War period fairly successfully, it is interesting to see that banking facilities were obtained to support its first overdraft at the London and County Bank in Bognor High Street early in 1921.This was to enable the Club to have funds in addition to those which had been obtained by the sale of the Copplestone House site.

Both Great Wars fertilised substantial social changes and serving Officers of the Crown were granted temporary membership during those times. These replaced the fewer local members able to enjoy membership of the Club and provided a haven of courtesy and excellence whilst helping the Club to survive in traumatic circumstances.

At the Club's committee meeting of 3rd June 1909 concern was expressed about the sagging of the floor of the upstairs Assembly Room and it is recorded that it was decided to reinforce the floor with two steel girders across the ceiling of the smaller, downstairs assembly room which had previously been reconstructed as a billiard room. The work was completed for the sum of twenty pounds and was the last major structural repair to the Club building until the present time.

As the Club recovered from the effects of the Second World War, food, drink, fuel and necessities of life were in short supply. Many members had much of their income taxed at 19/6 (97.5p) in each pound. It was at this time that the servants' quarters and former stables were sold. To add to its slender income, the Club admitted a few ladies to play Bridge with Club members during week-ends, and this pattern was soon established. Out of this there grew up a separate Bridge Club which ultimately flourished for some years under the guidance of it's secretary Amy Crocker. The ladies who played Bridge at week-ends became known affectionately to the Club committee as Amy Crocker's Party because it was her initiative that encouraged the committee to create a fully recognised Bridge section. Donald H. Spurgeon DFC, a member of the Club and in practice locally as a solicitor, drafted a new constitution for the Club incorporating the Bridge Section of which he became its first chairman. It was the first time that regular activities by people, not Annual members of the Club, had taken place in the Club's premises.

In the mid 1970s Christopher W.Trevor, the Club's chairman and his committee were faced with severe problems as penal taxation and high inflation savaged the Club's budget. With the guidance of Pat Beeny MBE, a Club member and accountant, a Member's Loan Scheme was established which enabled the Club to reduce the burden of bank borrowing with its associated high interest rates and charges.

A suggestion was made to the Club by a long standing Committee member , K. W. Adam, that the main Assembly Room would be suitable for use by a modest Music and Concert Club with a high standard of musicianship. A Music Section was acordingly formed in 1977 under the chairmanship of Derek G. Debuse with the object of staging a programme of concerts to increase the Club's income. Later The Regis Music and Concert Club was to be separated from The Bognor Club but continued to be associated with it, holding concerts on the Club's premises.

Severe financial restrictions of the past decades had allowed only the most urgent and essential repairs to the Club's premises. In the early 1980s Brian H. Johnson, a member of the Club was entrusted by the chairman James.S.Williams OBE to undertake a detailed examination of the building. The finances of the Club were reconstructed and a restoration programme planned which was to take several years to complete. The programme included substantial repairs to the fabric of the building.

In order that the affairs of the Club could be consolidated into the beckoning twenty first century, a further thorough review of the finances, activities and membership of the Club was undertaken in 1990 under the guidance of the chairman James T.Briggs. The Honarary Secretary, Roger Matthews an accountant by profession, drafted a somewhat controversial new constitution for the Club which accepted the social changes and circumstances that had taken place, whilst maintaining the concept of quality and tranquility that had been the intention of the founding members nearly a century previously. Despite the regrettable loss of several members who could not accept the new constitution, for they felt that it was a betrayal of the earliest concept of a club for gentlemen, the Bridge Section was incorporated fully into the Club and ladies were given equal status of annual membership with representation on the Club's main committee. Snooker was also made a Section of the Club in an identical manner and it too had its own committee with representation on the main Club Committee.

The lengthy, detailed and exacting work of ensuring that the many changes resulting from the comprehensive review of the affairs of the Club and its new constitution, was overseen and completed by the Club Committee under the chairmanship of James T. Briggs who had been the Honorary Secretary when the changes that preceeded the entire reorganisation and refurbishment of the Club coincided almost exactly with the Club's centenary of the occupation of Bognor's first place of civic government.

Despite a turbulent century, the Club has maintained the ethos of its founding members. Unprecedented changes in the social structure of society have been accommodated with tact and vision, whilst material benefits have been accompanied by the Club maintaining a quiet insistence of quality. By evolution, the Club has adapted to change and ensured that its members are able to enjoy the benefits of a Club, where the conduct of its members complement the pleasant surroundings which in turn are a tribute to generations of members who have enjoyed the privileges and responsibilities of membership for over One Hundred Years.

Doubtless the next century will bring further changes as yet unimagined, nevertheless, its jealously guarded tradition of quality will ensure that The Bognor Club continues to prosper for the benefit of generations of members to come.

Honours List

Chairman

Initial Meeting April 1871 -	Lord Nigel Kennedy
1871 -	Captain H. L. Round-Turner RN
1872 -	W. J. Wilson Esq.
1873 -	Captain L. W. Williams
1874 -	G. E. Owen Jackson Esq.
1875 -	W. J. Wilson Esq.
1876 -	Arther J. Harvie Esq.
1893 -	W. K. Davies Esq.
1900 -	W. H. B. Fletcher Esq. JP
1910 -	A. Lloyd Esq.
1911 -	George Gaterhouse Esq. JP
1912 -	Dr. W. Conway Cooke
1918 -	W. R. E. Barker Esq.
1920 -	Dr. W. Conway Cooke
1922 -	Lt. Colonel W. P. Ingle
1928 -	Lt. Colonel A. G. H. Byrne
1930 -	J. H. S. Butt Esq.
1931 -	A. H. Goodall Esq.
1934 -	A. St. J. Ingle
1938 -	Lt. Colonel A. G. H. Byrne
1941 -	Herbert B. Hayes Esq.
1948 -	Lt. Colonel A. G. H. Byrne
1952 -	W. J. Wigley Esq.
1959 -	E. G. Foord Esq.
1963 -	A. M. Nisbet Esq.
1966 –	W. E. Chesney Allen Esq.
1968 -	R. H. Ames Esq.
1969 -	W. J. Wigley Esq.
1972 -	H. L. Gardner Esq.
1974 -	H. E. Kirby Esq.
1975 -	J. King Esq.
1978 -	C. W. Trevor Esq.
1984 -	J. S. Williams Esq. OBE
1990 -	Lt. Colonel J. T. Briggs

Honouary Secretaries

1871 -	D. Cary Elwes Esq.
1874 -	Thomas Waters Esq.
1893 -	H. L. Staffurth Esq.
1910 -	A. St. J. Ingle Esq.
1920 -	A.H. Giidall
1928 -	t. W. Cutte Esq.
1930 -	Captain H. C. Pocock RN
1941 -	F. H. Cockell Esq.
1963 -	G. A. Anderson Esq.
1966 –	H. E. W. Kirby Esq.
1974 -	Commander S M. de l. Longsdon RN
1977 -	D. H. Spurgeon Esq. D.F.C.
1983 -	Lt. Colonel J. T. Briggs
1990 -	R. Matthews Esq.
1992 -	Derek A. Jones Esq.

Life Members

1954 -	Captain H. C. Pocock RN
1954 -	K. M. L.Robinson Esq.
1954 -	G. W. Benton Esq.
1958 -	Major J. Harries
1961 -	Commander J. A. Elwin RN
1962 -	J. A. S. Butt Esq.
1963 -	F. B. Cockell Esq.
1971 -	R. Staley Esq.
1976 -	Michael Marshall MP
1978 -	Chesney Allen Esq.
1984 -	H. E. W. Kirby Esq.
1985 -	Brig. D. B. Rendell CBE MC
1989 -	Charles R. Purley OBE

Trustees

- Past and Present -

W. H. B. Fletcher Esq. JP

H. L. Staffurth Esq.

George Gatehaous Esq. JP

Dr. A. H. Conder

Dr. W. Conway

A. H. Goodall Esq.

Lt. Colonel A. J. S. Byrne

Dr. J. Irvine

j. A. S. Butt Esq.

A. J. Flavell Esq. CBE QC

P. C. G. Wigley Esq.

W. C. Turrell Esq.

H. E. Kirby Esq.

C. W. Trevor Esq.

Pat Beeny Esq. MBE JP

D. H. Spurgeon Esq. DFC

J. S. Williams Esq OBE