Welcome to our series, Club of the Month, where we highlight one of our amazing clubs and share their news, views, and plans for the season. If you would like to nominate you favourite club, or would like to be featured, email media@hpa-polo.co.uk for more info.
December’s Club of the Month
Silver Leys Polo Club
Can you tell us about the history of the club?
Silver Leys has a wonderful history stemming from Sir John Barker, Sir Walter Gilbey, and Tresham Gilbey at the turn of the 20th century, around 1892. Sir John Barker owned Barker’s Department Store on Kensington High Street. If you come out of The Ivy and look up at the building opposite, you can still see ‘Barkers’ written on the pillars on each end of the roof of that block. According to Horace Laffaye’s The Evolution of Polo, in the early 1900s “Sir John Barker was the first breeder to select mares that had made a reputation on the polo ground and bred good ponies from them.” Interestingly the HPA website shows an article referring to the auction of those ponies in 1915.
The original pitch was donated by Sir Walter Gilbey to the town of Bishop’s Stortford, for mainly equestrian and other “sporting activities.” Now, that Silver Leys site is the home of the successful Bishop’s Stortford Rugby team, competing in National League One, and it is still the heart of the town’s sporting pride. Located close by, was Sir John Barker’s Grange Stud, which is now known as Grange Paddocks, a sophisticated community sports facility. The current polo grounds are only a stone’s throw away from this birthplace, in Bury Green.
What’s been happening in 2023, and what are the plans for 2024 at Silver Leys?
This season we experimented with different concepts in order to diversify and have as much fun at the club as possible. For the 2024 season we know we want to concentrate on being a welcoming community asset that caters for fun for the whole family and makes polo as accessible as possible.
We are working on projects such as a petting farm and dog shows, whilst partnering with charities like Caudwell Youth, a youth mentoring program. Our polo school, Hertfordshire Polo Academy, fully embraced being a Pony Club Centre and hopes to continue to provide a framework to help develop as much talent as possible.
Alongside this we are hoping to invest significantly into the facilities to provide more extensive corporate functions which have proven to be extremely popular. This will give extra space for some other brilliant entertainment like our Yellowstone Themed Barn Dance Weekend.
Even with all this, the costs of running the club are monumental and we know we need to continue to improve the pitches and provide the best facility possible for all of our polo members. This is a big focus for us as I am sure it is most clubs.
What can we expect for the arena season?
The arena season is very much a time for people to improve at Silver Leys. The arena provides the most fantastic framework to isolate parts of a player’s game and work at them whilst retaining the ecological dynamics of playing a version of the sport. It is a much more accessible version of the game meaning you could build up your hours in the saddle more readily too.
The arena season is also a time for the schools and universities to we teach to continue to grow and flourish with regular sessions in this more intimate environment which is perfect for complete beginners to the sport. From a spectator’s perspective, while cold, the arena has the benefit of parents, family and friends being able to get closer to the action.
What’s the best thing about Silver Leys? The members!
How many ponies and players are based at Silver Leys?
Depending on the day there are between 150-200 horses kept on site. Silver Leys has roughly 80 members across the different membership types, from Pony Club to full HPA members.
What does a typical day look like at Silver Leys?
There is not really a typical day, but each week has typical things. For example, on a Tuesday you will see ponies exercising in the morning, it tends to be the day when vets and farriers check the welfare and shoes of the horses on site, followed by a local school coming for a lesson. The place really then booms from around 4pm when the Tuesday night jumping starts in the arena – this usually has around 70-80 entries! At the same time chukkas run on pitch 2, which is one of the more popular pitches so we have quite a few chukkas that night. Afterwards the equestrians and polo players meet in the club house for some grub and live music.
What’s your advice for someone looking to take up polo?
Every level of polo is fun and offers something special, to share what is such an amazing team sport with an animal is almost indescribable. I would say decide what your budget is then work out where you want to be, the HPA coaches should be there to support you in setting yourself an achievable goal and then go for it!
