Secretary’s Forward

A link in time.
At about 1.30pm on Monday 12th September I knocked on the door of a man named Reg Woolford in Newent. I was full of trepidation, his name was given to me by a member of my 1991 Past captains group as a person who might help me in my quest to try & track down a photograph of the man who was to become the Secretary and founder of the Gloucestershire Golf Union, H. W. (Harry) Grimes of the Gloucester Golf Club. I had been searching for a picture of Harry Grimes to put in the Centenary yearbook for over 2 years & was getting close to giving up.
Reg Woolford took his time to answer the door, after all he was now in his mid nineties and very nearly blind.

I expected to see a frail old man so was surprised to see quite a fit solid figure of a man who opened the door with a big smile to greet me with a firm handshake.

He took me through to his small converted office, there were wall to wall bookcases full of old books, newspapers & files. Lying on his old desk were several books and articles in plastic wallets. He sat me down in the only chair & asked me to see if what he had managed to put together was of interest. Over the next 15 minutes or so, I was engrossed in some wonderful pictures of Gloucestershire in the early 1900’s. Many of these pictures are in the picture parade in the middle of the book. My heart skipped a beat when I first saw the picture of ‘The Wellington Hotel’ (circa 1906) the birthplace of the Union. The picture features on our front cover.
We had tea & he talked for many hours about the early 1900’s of which he was a part.

We came across references to Harry Grimes who was a Solicitor in the practice of Grimes & Barry-Lewis, Commissioners for Oaths, at 20 Bell Lane, Gloucester a few hundred yards from ‘The Cross’ in the heart of the City but sadly no photograph of him. Bell Lane is no longer in existence & I feared my wish to see what the great man looked like was pretty much over. Reg told me that his father had introduced him at 10 years of age to Mr. Grimes the Past Sheriff of Gloucester, he remembered shaking hands with him and thinking that he was the most important person he would ever meet. Reg contemplated for a minute or two. He told me to go back into his office & see if there was an old file on the top shelf relating to the streets of Gloucester & if there was a reference to Bell Lane. I found the file on Gloucestershire Street’s, brought it back and looked through the index so meticulously recorded by Reg many years earlier. Bell Lane was listed. As I turned over the frontispiece of the entry, a newspaper clipping of a fine looking upright man in a Sheriffs cloak was looking straight back at me. The entry 3rd April 1920, the title of the picture, ‘The late Mr. Harry Warner Grimes’

This was a moment I cannot begin to describe to you, all that time spent looking for his photograph & there he was, the man who had written the letter to arrange the meeting to form the Gloucestershire Golf Union. I turned & grasped the hand of Reg Woolford, who now had a light smile of satisfaction on his face, he knew without being able to see very much that he had switched the light on for me, his delight was obvious. ‘Do you realise’ he said, ‘ I am the link between Mr. Grimes & yourself, I shook his hand when he was the first Secretary of the Union & now I am shaking your hand, I am the link in time’

I was unable to speak for what seemed ages, the realisation that this man had not only helped me in my quest for photographs & information but that he was defining what history is all about. A person from one generation telling another person from another generation how things were in his time. ‘The link in time’ was complete.

I have had considerable help from so many people & clubs in seeking out old photographs of buildings, people & things that it is impossible to list them all down but you know who you are and I thank you for everything, however I must personally record my thanks to Alan Jackson, who wrote me the brief history from our Minute books and researched the lost courses, Eric White of Shirehampton Park, John Moreton of Worcestershire Union of Golf Clubs & of course dear Reg Woolford.

So here we are, in 2006 with luxuries around us our founders could not contemplate or believe.

• In 1906 The Wright Brothers had just about carried out their first flight in an aircraft.
• Henry Campbell- Bannerman was the Liberal Prime Minister who’s Cabinet included Asquith, Lloyd George & Churchill.
• Roosevelt was the President of America.
• Picasso painted his first masterpiece.
• Rolls Royce was first registered.
• SOS became the international Morse code distress signal.
• Radio was broadcast for the first time.
• Everton won the F.A. Cup beating Newcastle 1-0 and James Braid retained the Open Championship at Muirfield with a total score of 300 in the wind & rain.

With all the changes that have taken place inside & outside golf, I would like to think that Harry Grimes would shake my hand and approve of what his vision of our Union has become. I hope somehow that he was looking over Reg Woolford's shoulder during our moment of discovery.

Enjoy what we have now, take a moment to look back and then try & imagine what the Secretary of our Union will be writing about in 2106.

Thank you all for the opportunity to be your Secretary in our Centenary year. It is a privilege.

Ian Watkins
Secretary
Gloucestershire Golf Union