Brent Valley Golf Club is located in Hanwell

Hanwell

Hanwell is a town situated in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, between Ealing and Southall. The motto of Hanwell Urban District Council was Nec Aspera Terrent...

, near Ealing

Ealing

Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The club is a member of the English Golf Union

English Golf Union

The English Golf Union is the governing body for men's and boys' amateur golf in England. It represents over 1,900 golf clubs with over 740,000 members and is affiliated to The R&A, which is the global governing body of golf outside the United States and Mexico.The English Golf Union was founded in...

 and is based on the Brent Valley Golf course, which is owned by Ealing Council. The club also belongs to the National Association of Public Golf Clubs and Courses. The club currently has just over 100 members.

History

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, 1910 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 the course to preserve it from being developed 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. It was believed that the remodelling was carried out by Peter Alliss

Peter Alliss

Peter Alliss is an English professional golfer, BBC television presenter and commentator, author and golf course designer. Alliss is known for his charismatic and unique style of commentary, often displaying a witty demeanour...

but he has stated that this was not the case . In 2009 the club celebrated its centenary, which was marked by a ceremonial tee-off by the then Mayor of Ealing, Barbara Yerolemou http://www.ealinggazette.co.uk/sport/other-sport-ealing/2009/07/30/golf-mayor-swings-it-for-brent-valley-64767-24286587/. The course is now run by a private contractor, MyTime Active http://www.mytimeactive.org.uk/, through a contract with Ealing Council.

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 in Hanwell from 1906, 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 1000 acres (4 km²). 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 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.

The Course

Hole No.	Yards	Par	Score Index	Hole No.	Yards	Par	Score Index
1	308	4	9	10	350	4	6
2	361	4	5	11	327	4	10
3	359	4	13	12	160	3	14
4	126	3	17	13	207	3	12
5	436	4	3	14	359	4	2
6	439	4	1	15	279	4	18
7	160	3	15	16	175	3	16
8	277	4	11	17	377	4	4
9	381	4	7	18	365	4	8
	2847	34		IN	2599	33
				OUT	2847	34
				TOTAL	5446	67

External links

• Club website http://brentvalleygolfclub.com