The South Eastern Junior Golfing Society was founded in August 1957. Brian Chapman and Stephen Proctor were two of the founding members. They were students at Cambridge and Oxford Universities respectively, both receiving blues for their golfing achievements. It was these University colours which were the basis for the South Eastern Junior tie and subsequent logo shown above.
The society was set up with the aim of giving boys and girls between the age of 18 and 25 the opportunity to play mixed golf together. Nowadays the aim is the same but the age range has increased to 18-28.
In the early years, many of the matches were played at Porters Park Golf Club (Chapman’s home course) and Moor Park Golf Club (Proctor’s home course) against other clubs and indeed other societies such as the Midland Junior Golfing Society and the Yorkshire Junior Golfing Society. Unfortunately both of these societies have failed to survive with the South Eastern Juniors being the only one left of its kind.
The first meeting of the Society was reported in Golf Illustrated below (22nd August 1957). Angela Ward, who is mentioned as one of the Committee, is pictured on the front cover of the same edition, kissing her fiancé, Michael Bonallack, on his way to the Walker Cup.
Many very good golfers since then have been members of the society (including Walker and Curtis Cup players), but also some not-so-good and the ethos has remained the same… playing good courses, having good lunches (!) and socialising with the other South Eastern Juniors.
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