The present Cheshire Polo Club dates from 1952 but it is the successor to a number of clubs that have played in the North West for over a hundred years. The earliest of these was the Manchester Polo Club that can rightly claim to be the oldest club in England, after the game had been brought to this country from India in the 1860’s.
In 1906 the Manchester Club moved to Ashley where it remained until 1939 when it amalgamated with the Wirral Club and moved to the mid-Cheshire Club. When the war broke out the club had reached the finals of two Hurlingham Polo Association Official Tournaments - The County Cup and The Junior County Cup. The cup we play for today in the National 8 Goal every July is The Junior County Cup.
Play did not start again after the war until 1951 when the newly formed Cheshire Polo Club leased an additional ground from Captain Gordon Fergusson and began to play the traditional club tournaments.
Cheshire Polo Club today has over 80 playing members, five grounds and is famous in the world of polo for its fantastic parties and fun atmosphere
The wettest summer on record caused considerable problems throughout the 2012 season. It is always frustrating and disappointing when polo has to be abandoned due to the weather especially in the middle of a Great British summer. However, due to our grounds being on such free draining land I think it’s fair to say we suffered far fewer cancellations than many other clubs around the country. Then, just when we thought it couldn’t get any wetter, it did! The autumn and winter weather has continued in a similar vein making it impossible, so far, to carry out the repairs to the vehicle tracks alongside the grounds. All we can do is pray that everywhere dries out in time to carry out the repairs in good time before the start of the season and that we don’t have a repeat of last summer’s weather.
On a more positive note I’m delighted to see that the overall standard of polo being played in the club is improving with several player’s handicaps being raised for the coming season. To reflect this we have slightly raised the handicap limits of some of the tournaments in the hope that this will continue to drive the standard of polo upwards whilst ensuring that there are plenty of tournaments for everybody in the club. Better polo is more interesting to watch and I hope that in turn we will attract more spectators and generate more interest throughout the coming season.
As always we will be holding numerous social events during the season and I would ask all members of the club to do their utmost to support these events along with friends and family. We have some new sponsors this season including “The Editeur” clothing company for the Wirral Ladies’ and KL Freight Ltd who will be sponsoring the end of season ball and I look forward to welcoming them to the club.
Wishing you all an enjoyable and drier 2013 season!
Paul Thomason
Chairman, Cheshire Polo Club
