50 years ago (1952-3)

At the Annual General Meeting in mid December, attended by the Chairman and eight members, all representing old boy clubs, P.C.Curtis was elected to succeed H.Le Bas as Secretary and B.D.Barton to take over as Treasurer. As usual in these years, just three committee meetings were held. The first was at the end of November, almost a year since the previous one in early December 1951. Subsequent meetings were held in the middle of December, immediately before the Annual General Meeting, and in April 1953. These were sufficient to deal with the three principle matters before the Committee in the year.

(a) The financial position of the EFA had improved markedly over the previous three years and the reserves had risen by £100 (or about £ 1600 in present day values). As a result the Treasurer recommended that £ 125 should be invested in 3 1/2 % Defence Bonds: £ 75 should be taken from the Post Office Savings Bank account, worth £ 183.14s.10d. (or about £ 3000 today), and £50 from cash in hand. That would leave £ 29. 12s. 3d cash in hand ( or about £ 475) with several subscriptions still to be paid. It is interesting to compare these figures with the annual accounts elsewhere in this Report.

(b) Details were settled over the two competitions which the EFA ran fifty years ago, the Kinnaird Cup and the Public Schools Championship. The Committee agreed to present replicas of the Kinnaird Cup to the winning pairs for the next year and that the competition should be budgeted to break even inclusive of the cost of the replicas: to save money since 1948, replicas were given only to those who had not received one before (saving the cost of 8 replica cups in this period), but there was no further need for such parsimony. There had again been complaints about the handicapping system for the Public Schools competition. No better system had been suggested, but the committee agreed to return to the pre-war open competition. In a fascinating insight to those days, the minutes record that the Headmasters' Conference would have to be approached for agreement tothis change, since it was they who had insisted (yes, insisted!) after the war on having the handicap competition. P.B.H.May and J.W.H.May (Carthusians) beat D.J.S.Guilford and M.J.Shortland Jones (Harrovians) in the final of the Kinnaird Cup and King Edwards Birmingham defeated Eton in the final of the Public Schools Championship.

(c) In the years since 1948, the Committee had been greatly bothered about finding a court or courts to use in London. There was fading hope that the fives courts at Queens would be repaired. Talks with the Queens Club continued. By April 1953, the committee had learned that licences to repair the war damage would only cover 50% of the work that was needed, so repairs to the fives courts would be deferred sine die. Westminster and St. Olaves schools were being approached to make temporary arrangements for hiring their courts. The idea of a court (s) built by the EFA was considered impracticable because of the lack of money and of a suitable site.

25 years ago (1977-78)

Chairman: F.B.Hooper
Treasurer: R.M.G.Turnbull,
Secretary: M.J.Shortland Jones.

A total of 23 members attended the Annual general Meeting in October 1977. A.T.Barber presided over the meeting, A. Hughes (Old Edwardians) and J.B.M.Roberson (Old Cholmeleians) were elected to the Committee. There was praise for the quality of the Annual Report and unanimous approval of the accounts. The Treasurer emphasised the valuable source of income from the individual membership. He mentioned that the first lady had been elected to individual membership of the association, which he hoped would be followed by others. In committee, one member had sought assurance that ladies should not be encouraged to join, but the feeling was that matters should be allowed to take their course. The main concerns of the committee were very similar to those of the preceding year, but the growing administrative demands on the committee required four meetings, instead of three, over the year, in October, February, May and July. At the May meeting, the Chairman proposed an increase of elected members from 6 to 8 and eligible to serve for four instead of three years which would enable the committee to benefit from the expertise acquired by individual members during their term of office.

The supervision of the rules and the arrangements for the four competitions and the League were increasingly an important part of the Committee's discussions. The League, dominated by Berkhamsted, was a success: a third division would be organised for the next year. The holders of the Kinnaird ( D.C.Firth and M.R.Keeling) had to surrender their title to A.E.Gibson and D.B.Wainwright when Keeling was injured in the first game of the final. The Schools Championship was narrowly won by Highgate against Aldenham in the final, and Wolverhampton retained their grip on the Under 16 and Under 14 competitions. With an increasing number of entrants in the two younger age groups, the schools championships might have to extend to five days - the main problem might be accommodation for those living some distance from London. A.Hughes in May proposed that every third year the Midlands should be the venue for the Schools Championships, which the Committee felt merited further investigation. The earliest possible date for such a venue would be 1980.

During the year, the committee considered the plight of those schools where fives struggled to exist, if at all. There were few EFA matches against schools and opponents did not seem to be enamoured at the prospect of matches,though those against Stowe and Repton had proved valuable. The need was felt to be for a person to 'look after' a school and provide help and advice. So committee members were allocated groups of schools to contact. The EFA would thereby keep track of the changing fortunes of fives and the courts. The scheme produced interesting information - that Dover had turned their courts into classrooms, King Edward's, Stratford, had one Winchester fives court, Birkenhead had one court and were interested in coaching and Wellington had recently installed lighting. A proposal to establish an EFA school league was felt to be premature at this stage.

There were the usual reports on the fortunes of courts. Eton had a proposal to pull down 18 courts for building development, though later in the year it seemed that only 9 would suffer that fate. The future of the St Olaves courts was still in abeyance and the committee was seeking an assessment of the cost of renovating them. The Governors of Chigwell were not prepared to finance the repair of the school fives courts. Finance was the prohibiting factor in an interesting proposal by Guildford Recreation Centre to build fives courts. Oh, for a multi-millionaire Eton Fives addict!

10 years ago (1992-3)

Chairman: R.N.L.Black
Treasurer: R.M.G.Turnbull
Secretary: M.P.Powell

Westminster School was the venue for the Annual General Meeting held on 3 November 1992 with M.J.Shortland Jones in the chair. A total of 12 members attended. Two new Vice Presidents were elected viz. G.D.Stringer and J.D.C.Vargas. A.Hughes, C.M.B.Williams and S.A.Woolfries were elected on to the Committee. M.R.Fenn, as editor, was warmly thanked for the high quality of the Annual Report which was unanimously adopted. An amendment to Rule II relating to hitting the ball twice was passed and it was agreed to give it a year's trial run.

Over the year the Committee met six times, compared with eight meetings in the previous year. Attendance fluctuated from 6 to 10. The committee continued to explore ways of attracting newcomers to the game and increasing the individual membership, as well as retaining the support of school leavers. Central to the overall strategy was the coaching manual which was edging its way towards completion. There was confidence that the deadline of 15 September 1993, set by the sponsors, would be comfortably met. There was substantial discussion on how best to spend the £4,000 grant from the Foundation of Sport and Art to attract new players. The terms of the grant "envisaged a combined TV and national / local press campaign (with perhaps a Sunday paper colour supplement feature) to promote interest in learning the game" which would be followed up by coaching at existing centres. There was some anxiety about the cost of a television feature, though coincidently two 5 to 8 minute programmes on fives were filmed during the year at Eton College by Carlton TV and NHK of Japan. By the summer of 1993, the committee had agreed five centres, with a sixth under review, which would receive grants for coaching, and advertisements had been placed in old boy magazines. The Orpington project, a series of fives evening classes, initially financed by the EFA, became one of the centres benefiting from a grant.

The most important development was the setting up of the Charitable Trust to raise money to spend on courts and coaching at educational establishments. The committee commended the tenacity of the chairman and the vision, commitment and financial support of P.C.Curtis in realising this project. The trust would significantly improve the opportunities to develop the game further in the future. The perennial anxiety was, and is, the care or neglect of fives courts and the ebb and flow of enthusiasm for fives at schools and universities. The saga of the Cambridge courts continued. There were plans for raising money for them and various meetings recorded, but no agreed site emerged. On the other hand, two schools, Harrow and Lancing, had made substantial improvements to their courts. All sixteen courts at Harrow were operational and at Lancing the courts had been reroofed, relit, repaired and redecorated at the cost of £1100, to which the EFA were able to make a modest contribution. Sadly, Wolverhampton Grammar School, which won the Schools Championship defeating Eton in the final, and had had such a successful period in all age groups for nearly twenty years, had no fixtures arranged for the coming year. Other snippets of information on the schools recorded that Uppingham had had no fixtures in 1992-3, Oakham was still purchasing fives balls and there was a revival of interest at Wrekin, with a regular group of players and school matches being arranged.

To retain the links with school leavers, it was planned to collect the names and addresses of fives playing school leavers, to contact them and encourage them to continue playing fives and to join the EFA. It was also hoped to persuade those who had been student members to become full adult paying members. Attempts to launch a Junior Committee were proving more difficult.

Overseas, there had been a very successful tournament at Zuoz with 27 pairs from 10 countries, though only one pair from England. It was intended to repeat the event every two years and, hopefully, with a stronger English contingent next time. A master from Eton had visited Malay College at perak where Eton Fives had not been played for 20 years. He reported that the courts were not in bad condition and the school had asked for a coaching manual. The arrangements for the many competitions and matches that are the life blood of the game, and reports from the competitions sub-committee figured regularly on the agenda. With some thirteen (the number changes every time I count them) adult competitions and the League, there was provision for most ages and ability. The Kinnaird was won by R.A.Mason and J.R.Mole (Edwardians), the Salopians won the Alan Barber Cup and Division 1 of the League, the Old Cholmeleians took the EFA trophy. With seven competitions for the schools, there were opportunities for a wide age range from the Open Championship to the under 12's and for both the more experienced players and the beginners. Wolverhampton Grammar School won the Open Championship for the second year running, whilst Highgate dominated the younger age groups. In its first year, the Williams Cup for three school pairs was won by Harrow who beat Shrewsbury in the final. There was still a demand for an under 15 competition which the committee agreed to introduce in 1993-4.

Reading the minutes of the ten years ago, one is aware of the growing development of the game and the annual report of 2001-2 showed the benefits accruing from the foundations which were being gradually laid by the committees in previous two decades. There was much routine administration to be dealt with, but the minutes also reveal innovative ideas and considerable vitality.

Minutes of Yesteryear by Roger Beament
created 12th September 2003
efa@etonfives.co.uk

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