Fonds MS 9 - St. George's Golf-in-the-Country Club fonds

The St. George's Golf-in-the-Country Club was started in 1972. Gerry Mayne, a P.E. teachers at Kumsheen Secondary School, was the originator of the idea. He and the Doctors Marsh and Mackie actually played the required section of St. Georges land before the course had been laid out. Gerry Mayne laid out a 9-hole course, 4 par 3's and 5 par 4's, and formed a committee of interested men to look into building a golf course. Arnie Raven, who lease land from St. George's School, was approached for permission to use the land. He allowed usage, as long as the land could still be used as pasture. This was agreed to and and the work began. The original work crew consisted of Eli Makiev, Al Hickman, Joe Chute, L. Dodge, Gordy Ablett, Bryan Loring, Neil McNeil, Sandy Sanderson and Lew McArthur. A water line was built, with some sections being dug from Green Meadows to the golf course. 1" black plastic pipe was laid to every green and a sprinkler system installed. The greens were leveled off and laid with rubber mats. A walking bridge was built across the gully to the 6th hole. A shed was built to house the club lawn mower, a special machine for cutting greens. Arnie Raven loaned the club his mower to cut the fairways. All the work was done by volunteers. However, during the summer a student was sometimes hired to mow the course. The greens had to be cut every week, and the fairways at least every two weeks - the cows helped out here as volunteers. The records seem to be incomplete, but possibly there were very few regular meetings held. There were two tournaments held - in 1973 and 1975. According to Margaret Van Dykes diary, the tournament in 1975 was held on the coldest, wettest, most miserable day possible. The Lion's Club sponsored at least two more tournaments between 1973 and 1975. Funding seems to have been from membership fees, donations from private citizens, and from some businesses. No record exists of any executive, except that Joe Chute was Secretary Treasurer and Lloyd Dodge and Eugene Marshall were past presidents. The golf club finally had to close, because Arnie Raven gave up his lease and moved away and the Lytton First Nations then built a house on the 6th fairway in the late 1970s.