James Braid Anniversary .....
6th February 2020 (Thursday) 07.30 .....
For its size the village of Earlsferry,
and its Thistle Golf Club, has had a surprising
James, the son of James and Mary Braid (nee Harris)
made his presence known at 11.30 p.m. on February 6th 1870 in a cottage in
Liberty belonging to a family friend .... or a midwife; perhaps both.
His birth was registered in Kilconquhar
because the family home at the time, in which he would live with his parents
and step sister Jane, would have been a cottage on Grange Farm, Earlsferry, where his ‘Dad’
was a ploughman. Rent
free accommodation for married ploughmen, usually in the form of a cottage (cottar house) with garden ground, was the
norm by the 1870’s.... the monetary reward was £17 (£1870 today) per year so
free accommodation was a big help with
the perpetual struggle of trying to make ends meet. For
that they were working a 10 hour day.
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| St Georges Churchyard - Walton on The Hill, Surrey. |
Today we celebrate a ‘Ferry Boy’ who
made it to the top of his chosen profession;
against the wishes of his parents who insisted that he ‘get a trade’
.... luckily as an apprentice joiner in
Colinsburgh. James was to find this beneficial
when he eventually (at the age of 23) travelled south to begin working as a
professional golfer (i.e. making a living from golf) with Ralph Smith, a
friend from ‘The Ferry’, who was the foreman in the Army and Navy Stores golf
club making department in London.
He had to
combine playing competitive golf with his job as a professional... first as an
‘unattached’ professional at the Army
and Navy Stores... he wasn’t attached to
a club. James became an ‘attached’ professional
after he moved to Romford Golf Club in 1896 where he won his first Open. He stayed at Romford until 1904 then moved to
Walton Heath Golf Club in Surrey where he was to remain until his death in
1950. Walton Heath
allowed him time off to play in
competitions but in 1912 he decided to concentrate ‘full time’ at Walton: the fact that he was there for 46 years tells
us how much respect he had for the Members of Walton Heath Golf Club and they
for him. After the Great War he played
in fewer tournaments though he made an annual appearance at The Open Championship; the last time as a player, was in 1938... 82 years ago .... I was four months old.
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| Earlsferry Town Hall. |
09.30 There’s n overcast sky and a raw cold feel
to the air this morning... not a morning for going ‘out to play’.... and I
haven’t. I’ll go for the paper and
morning coffee and have a short run round the villages in the car but I think
today is going to be ‘stay in and warm’ doing things on the computer and around
Ivy. I plan to visit Jim tomorrow.
I
cannot understand why the Democrats (USA) went ahead with the impeachment farce
that they were never going to win; the
only people to gain out of it are the legal teams and they’ll be paid regardless
of which side they are on. ‘Big Don
rumbles on’ just as before.... now with another ‘win’ under his belt.
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| Elie Estate road. |
20.00 Our World back to normal; Harbour House is ‘open’ again! It was good to be back.... loads of chat
and happy banter: Geoff had his haircut
for the event. The ‘girls’ (sometimes affectionately known as
‘The Coven’) were there.... and Laura and Brenda were there to operate the
coffee machine. Yes all is well in
Elie and Earlsferry again.
I
decided to get the bike out after lunch .... it has been a really bonnie
day.... and went up to Elie Estate.
The first surprise was that estate road wasn’t as wet as I’d expected,
and the second? .... Stewart has been busy ;
the rhododendrons along the side of the road have been cut down and
lying at the side of the road ready to be turned to mulch by the Super Shredder: this has given us new views of Kinneuchar Kirk. On the way home
through Elie I remembered
that today we had Drop in Cafe and ‘dropped’ in for a cuppa and a chat and
caught up with all the news. I’ve
forgotten it all.
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| A new view of Kinneuchar KIrk. |
We
are forecast to have a cold night, but it is going to be bright and breezy
tomorrow. I am taking George to ‘The Store’
in Anstruther to do his shopping; after ‘arbour
‘ouse.
