In search of the next Andy Murray at Titwood Tennis Club

A group from Shawlands Primary visited Titwood Tennis Club in the leafy suburb near Maxwell Park in Pollokshields and met the club Treasurer Joan Walsh. The club was formed in 1890 at the same time as the adjacent bowling club which shares the same name and plot of land originally under the tenure (feu) of Sir John Stirling Maxwell.

Joan told the children about the history of club membership, which at its peak reached over 600 and now stands at around 300 with many family members. The children discovered Joan took up playing the sport in her fifties and the oldest member of the club is in his eighties -proof if needed that tennis is a sport for all ages.

The children asked various questions about playing tennis, competitions and trophies, and the various photographs of former club teams that are now displayed in the clubhouse.

The current clubhouse was designed by local architect Robert Walker in 1913. Walker had worked on exhibition space at Kelvingrove and the Albert Hall in Glasgow, the Titwood pavilion (below) was completed in 1925.

The children had the opportunity to play some tennis and learn the basics of play and the method of scoring.

Who knows, Titwood could be home to Scotland’s next Andy Murray!

Shawlands Primary explore Junior Football in Glasgow

A group from Shawlands Primary School met long-time members of Pollok Football Club at their home ground at Newlandsfield in Shawlands. Jim McNaught, Gordon Tait and Stuart McCulloch have all been Presidents of the club, a role they can only hold for two years.

Jim told the children that many of the club records were lost in a fire during the Second World War and so a full record of the club’s history and it’s former members has been lost. Nevertheless, the children learnt about the origin of the club and its first home in Haggs Park, part of the former Pollok Estate. The club received patronage from Sir John Stirling Maxwell, which is the reason why the club play in black and white hoops in honour of the Maxwell family heraldic colours.

They also looked around the club house at the various photograph’s, trophies, and mementoes which celebrate famous players, teams and memorable matches in Junior football. The photograph’s included an image of one of Pollok’s most famous former players Bobby Collins who went on to play for Celtic, Everton and Don Revie’s Leeds United.

Stuart revealed he used to support Third Lanark F.C. before their demise in 1967, a common story among a number of Pollok members. The term ‘Junior’ refers to the level of football being played, in contrast to ‘Senior’ football played by professional clubs in Scotland. It is the equivalent of non-League football in England, and players receive a modest payment for playing. However, unlike the English league system, there is no direct promotion or relegation from the Junior league system in to the Senior Scottish Football League. The children asked Jim why he started watching Pollok, to which he cheekily replied “The wife wanted me out of the house!” Football has predominantly been a ‘man’s game’, but when Gordon fetched a ball the girls were soon on the pitch taking penalties. After today, Pollok F.C. has gained three new young fans!

The club website carries further details of its history and successes.

Shawlands Primary visit to Poloc Cricket Club

On 2 May 2013 the group from Shawlands Primary School carried on their journey to local cricket clubs to visit Poloc Cricket Club. The girls visited Poloc’s historic ground at Shawholm where they were met by club youth coach Keith Young. Keith had explored the club archive and displayed an amazing array of photographs from the late-Victorian, Edwardian and mid-Twentieth Century which he had kindly set out on tables throughout the clubhouse.

Keith gave the girls a brief history of the club, explaining why the club is called Poloc, with a C, rather than the usual spelling of Pollok. The club had originally taken the name of the area, but when a new football club was formed with the same name in 1908 – the local junior football club Pollok –  which also played within the environs of the Pollok estate of the Stirling Maxwell family, the cricketers decided to distinguish the club by using a different spelling.  Keith helped the girls explore some of the details in the photographs including stories of a team from 1911 some of whom appear in the club’s war memorial set in the clubhouse.

The war memorial lists those members who lost their lives in both World Wars, many of whom appeared in the club’s photographic archives.

The children also looked at an image of the first televised cricket match in Scotland (see previous posting) and images from the annual club fete when the club had a vibrant membership, not only playing cricket but also tennis, table tennis, croquet, bowls and golf. The latter survives today during the winter on a 5 hole course which spans the outfield of the cricket pitch.

They asked Keith about when and why he started playing cricket, and learnt he started when he was eight and that he ‘absolutely loves it!’. The girls also had the opportunity to try on some cricket kit and experience what it is like to run up and down the wicket, which they learnt was not as easy as it seemed.

Further details on the history of the club and a wide range of photographs from its archive are available on Poloc’s history page.

Shawlands Primary Visit Clydesdale Cricket Club

 

On 2 May 2013, four girls from Shawlands Learning Community met Mike Stanger, former president and ‘history man’ of Clydesdale Cricket Club to learn about its heritage. Mike gave a guided tour of the club, providing detailed stories of historical milestones along the way.

The girls learnt about the origin of the club in Kinning Park in 1848 (pictured below) and its founder Archie Campbell of Hawick.

Mike gave an account of the changing structure of the clubhouse and the reinstatement of the original clock (seen in the photo at the opening of the new clubhouse from1904 below).

 

 

The girls learnt about the preparation of the cricket wicket and the tools needed to look after grass.

 

This included the big heavy roller which used to be pulled by the club horse which was kept in a stable below the clubhouse until the club purchased its first motorised tractor after the war.

 

 

Clydesdale is one of the oldest surviving club teams in Glasgow and its club crest combines a number of local landmarks which include an historical reference to local beekeeping that used to take place adjacent to the ground and a graphical interpretation of Titwood, the name of the ground.

 

 

 

Finally, Mike also showed the girls around the recently refurbished water dressed hockey pitch which is supplied by the clubs own well and will host international hockey teams in their preparations for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

 

Further details of the history of the club are available on this PDF prepared by Mike on behalf of the club.