7The society was formed in 1989 by a group of Abbey Panels employees, some experienced golfers and others who felt that they would like to try the game for the first time and this has always been the basis of our membership the encouragement of new players and the forging of long lasting friendships.

Funds were raised from the members and the first trophy was purchased, this being the Open Championship Trophy, and the first match of the society took place in July at Brandon golf club, Coventry . Interest in the society increased and the Abbey Panels social club was approached and asked to provide a second trophy .They duly obliged and the Stableford Shield was presented to the society in September of that year and has since always been played for during that month and to this day remains one of the societies “majors”.

The following year the number of matches expanded to nine, among them being four full days of golf. We have since maintained the format of nine golf days, playing on various courses throughout the midlands, but now find that just one full day suits the membership better and after experimenting with weekend and midweek games find that Friday afternoons has become the normal society day for us.

1991 saw an expansion in membership with the first honorary members being invited to join the society these being guests of the members who had played with us several times before . The decision was made to join the newly formed EGU Society register and we were given the registration number 0014.

Several new competitions were introduced that year, two goblet style silver cups were provided by the society for a pairs competition in which partners are drawn on the day and has over the years, proved to be a very popular comp throwing up some very unlikely partnerships!! A rabbits trophy was also introduced to be played for on the same day as the Open Championship for players with handicaps of 24+ as well as two shields for a matchplay pairs competition in which you pick your own partners and a matchplay singles trophy, which is a magnificent copper and brass driver head made by one of the Abbey Panels apprentices. The social club also presented us with the Merit Trophy, a bronze statuette , to be played for throughout the year.with the proviso that it would only be open to social club members. This has brought added interest to the last game of the season , several times bringing it to a nailbiting conclusion to find the eventual winner. In 2001 with the closure of the Company and by definition the Social Club it was agreed that all members be eligible for the Merit Trophy

We were also approached in that year by Mr Derek Godfrey who instead of giving £100 to the Walsgrave Hospital baby unit in Coventry as a thank you for the care and attention given to his son Mark, asked us if we could use the money to buy a trophy with and play for it with the object of raising perhaps £100 a year for the baby unit. We did just that and by making it a team event and inviting teams from other societies and factories in the area we raised £600 in the first year and have to this date raised over £20,000 on our Charity trophy days. In 1998 the Maisie Mae trophy was given to us by one of the players from the Grange G.S.an invited team, again in recognition of help given by the baby unit to his daughter. This is awarded on the day to the player with the best individual score. Five years later the Trophy was returned to The Grange G.S. to be played for in their own Charity Day

Our Captains Day trophy was given to us by the Mount Pleasant public house during 1996 and is played for on our full day out at a venue chosen by the current years Captain.

To mark the turn of the century, and as the award base on the trophy had been filled, it was decided to replace the Open Championship Trophy. A replica of the R&A Open Trophy , The Claret Jug , was purchased and as you can imagine is the most coveted of our trophies.

In 2001 a decision was made by our parent company, Loades plc, to cease all manufacturing operations at our home base, the factory in Bayton Road , Exhall, Coventry . This after over 60 years came as a great shock to the membership of the society and the workforce. However after a meeting of the members it was unanimously decided that the society would carry on in its present form as long as possible and with the help of the committee , e-mails , the telephone and the post we have successfully emerged from our first season in the wilderness older and a lot wiser!!!!!!!!

As a mark of the respect and esteem ,not always reciprocated, with which the members held for the company, it was decided to continue with the good name by which the society had become known over the years. The decision to remain as Abbey Panels Golf Society was taken at a meeting of all the members and was passed without one vote against. Amazingly over 20 years after the closure of the company the Society still goes from strength to strength and to this day 40% of our membership are ex Abbey Panels employees and all original members. Further changes have been made over time and by request of the members we now play 12 matches per year and finish our season with a 9 Hole Xmas match followed by a dinner and the presentation of the trophies after which the current Captain hands over to his successor for the following year. There have also been new trophies added, The Turton Trophy after the sad passing of popular member Alan,and The Dave Dyde Trophy donated by his family after he passed away on the eve of his Captaincy. On a more pleasant note The Cassandra Trophy was donated by one of our members to celebrate the opening of his business in Nuneaton of the same name and to mark 25 years of the society we introduced the imaginatively named Anniversary Trophy.