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Ham Polo ClubTo the chairman of

Dear Nicholas, It was with great excitement I discovered non-members were indeed allowed access to Ham Polo Club to watch the action, when I phoned up on Sunday 2nd August this year. I promptly took myself and my daughter (aged 5 years), for car access with our picnic. £10 seemed incredibly reasonable? But would we actually see any action, or would we have to jostle for space among the crowds???

Well, fi rstly, my fears of an elitist only atmosphere were quickly unfounded I am very happy to say, as we drove up and choose our spot, and made friends with the families either side of us and beyond. I encountered four couples (most with children), there for the fi rst time also. And secondly and most strikingly the sheer size of the grassy area and beauty of our natural surroundings took my breath away! I knew then we were in for an absolute treat.

We were totally captivated by the horses, especially when thundering down the fi eld, literally at times, inches from our bended knees and uncovered guacamole tubs, on our picnic blanket. (note to self for next time!)

I giggled at the rules of Polo, courtesy of the hand out, and was surprised there was such a fun element. Also the PA system didn’t work our side of the fi eld, and we had a good laugh with the other families, (we had just met), trying to fi gure out what on earth was happening between the teams?! It was fi nally noticed after two hours, by the powers that be, and we jumped out of our skins when we heard it come to life, behind the line of our parked cars. Odd as it seems watching Polo with no sound, and for the fi rst time – i.e. clueless, was actually good! We had collectively assumed up to that point, only members had those privileges!!

Also, at the breaks between the chukkas we had the absolute pleasure to happen across a very gentlemanly umpire, who patiently let the children pat the horse, and took great care to keep the little ones safe by explaining how to approach a horse and not to stand too close to the back feet. He also seemed to understand that the adults appreciated his open approach also. And I personally, till that moment had never patted a horse in my life, so felt quite proud of myself. I was always frightened of them and an opportunity has never arisen for me to interact with them before. I think his name was Peter McCormack on Bluebell. Please pass on our thanks.

O

My daughter, Juliette, had her fi rst ever riding lesson that week, and I wanted to show her another way of thinking about horses. The big surprise was for myself though, I fell in love with Polo there and then, and amazingly fi ve hours later, (how did the time pass so fast?) I feel compelled to go again.

Thank you to Ham Polo Club, for getting it so right and for a GREAT DAY OUT!

Yours sincerely,

Sylvia Flatau

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Ps. Oh yes, my daughter heard over the, by now functioning PA system, news of a ‘play- area’ around the back, and off she shot across the fi eld, distributing more divots than any chukkas would have achieved, and half an hour later I just about managed to drag her away!!

T H E L O N D O N P O L O C L U B

Track

by Nick Kendall

The track measure0.47 miles

in circumference. Each groom rides the track with

Each set is taken at least

three sets of ponies

in the morning and three sets in the evening.

six times around the track. Thus each day, each groom will ride

101.52 miles a week.

Allowing for a 24 week season that is 2,

miles around the track. Riding six days a week that is

436.48 miles….

or to Greenland,to Kazakhstan or to Iran, to Egypt or to Saudi.

If you rode 2, 436.48 as the crow flies – you could ride to

Newfoundland 16.92

TRIVIA

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