User:Rugfoot/Brent Valley Golf Club

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History
Brent Valley Golf Club is located in Hanwell, near Ealing, London. The club was founded in 1909 by Albert Toley (1855-1924). Before the club was founded in the 1800s the land on which Brent Valley was later to stand was owned by the Rector G.H. Glasse. The course was designed by JH Taylor in the early 1900s. At the first annual club dinner held on April 5 at the Trocodero, Hanwell membership was reported to be over 300. In 1933, the club won the Middlesex CGU Coronation Bowl in the second year it was played. In 1938, Ealing Council acquired course and a lease with Brent Valley Golf Club was signed. The new public course was opened on July 20, 1938 by the Mayor of Ealing. In 1966 the old clubhouse, the “Dublin House” was demolished by the council and the present one built and the course was remodeled to the present format by Peter Allis. In 2009 the club celebrated its centenary, which was marked by a ceremonial tee-off by the then Mayor of Ealing, Barbara Yerolemou.

Albert Toley
Albert Toley was Brent Valley Golf Club’s founder and first President, in 1909. Born in 1855 in Devon, he lived in The Grove from 1906 (marked on the 1800 map on page 6), which it is believed was later used as Brent Valley’s club house and later renamed Dublin House. Albert was a public benefactor and property developer. But his first post in London was as a teacher at the United Westminster School near Victoria Station aged 17. In 1876 he took over the school’s sports and found that the school lacked playing fields. He had the idea of renting land, in Willesden, for the school’s games and sub-letting some of it to local sports clubs. Sensing demand from other clubs, he repeated the exercise with other land. So successful was the venture that he gave up his teaching job and acquired other sites. At one point he was managing over 1,000 acres. One of the plots of land he acquired was later to become Brent Valley Golf Course, where he founded the club. Although he managed many other sites and founded other clubs, Brent Valley must have held a special place in his heart since he lived in The Grove, which was on the course, and he was the Club’s first president. Local newspapers report him playing in matches for Brent Valley, alongside his son Frank, against other local clubs with a handicap of 9 at the age of 64. Albert Toley died on September 6, 1924.