The deal provided for the Council to bear the cost of building the retaining walland providing the ramp and gates and for the Club to pay for preparing and surfacing the old bowling green and car park. It was a happy coincidence that the lowest tender also apportioned the total cost very much in the Club's favour.
Later in 1962 the Club tenants Paterson & Thompson, wanting larger premises, purchased the Lower Brook Street premises occupied by the County Club.
I sense a certain "distance" between the two clubs in the past. The coming together was a little like abolishing the House of Lords and amalgamating it with the Commons, however, it has worked harmoniously.
A list of some 34 members many of whom are still with us were proposed by John Cobbold and seconded by Stanley Pierson.
One of our most senior members with a keen sense of humour enquired whether he could black ball them en bloc, or did he have to do so one by one.
At a time of increasing expenditure these new members were most welcome. They brought with them certain effects which were valued at £200. One piece of furniture was the beautiful round table in the Ante Room. Once a year it is fitted with its radial leaves making it into a most impressive round dining table for the Directors Dinner. When the table was restored by Green & Hatfield a few years ago it was felt too nice a piece of furniture to be covered by a tablecloth in the dining room but should be on display for all to see and enjoy. Certainly worth more than £200 today. £2000 perhaps?
Mr. Tony Sladen served on the Board of the Club as he had done the County Club for many years.
The sixties saw a new mood of management in the affairs of the Club. Nothing succeeds like success and it was the good fortune and opportunism of the Directors which started a momentum which, happily, has been maintained. The increased membership made the small bar, situated in the passageway to the kitchen too cramped.
It was decided to make a larger bar in the Quiet Room directly below the Adam Room where it is now. Great care was exercised in the design of the new room.