Part One:
The club was formally opened on 11th June 1910 when an exhibition match was played by James Braid and Amauld Massey (the Open champion from France) against Harry Vardon and J H Taylor of England for a prize of £100.
It was financed by Sir Walter Gilbey, Chairman of the famous wine and spirits firm W & A Gilbey Limited at an original cost of some £20,000 which was thought to be an enormous sum at the time.
Walter Gilbey came from local stock, his family tree recording kinsmen living in the nearby village of Widdington as early as 1668. His father was a prosperous innkeeper at the Bell Inn, Stansted who also ran a successful coaching service between Cambridge and London until competition from the new railways caused the business to collapse. Walter and his brother Alfred founded the family wine firm in 1857 after returning from the Crimea war and by adding the famous Gilbeys gin and other spirits to their brand the company became one of the greatest family run businesses of the late 19th Century.