social membership
letting others do the work. Managing director of a private equity firm, father of two children under the age of four and with a wife who is a busy A & E doctor at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, this Board Director has already surveyed some members of the Cub to find out what they really want from their Clubhouse restaurant.
“ I did a small survey of several nonplaying members before we appointed Mosimann’ s, asking the members what they were looking for in the Clubhouse catering. I was surprised by the answers and the consistency of the answers. I expected, being slightly cynical about this, that everyone would say,‘ Oh we want to have lunch for £ 30’ and that’ s it. Surprisingly, pricing was further down the list. The first thing the members said they wanted was table service. That was the overwhelming, number one response.“ Although price was an element, members wanted consistency of decent food more. The price point was more along the lines of‘ Can we go there for lunch at £ 50- £ 60 per head including half a bottle of half decent wine per person?’ That was one of the things that drove our relationship with Mosimann’ s.
“ The majority of replies were surprisingly similar. And this from a slightly diverse focus group – not the ones who are at the Club every weekend with an Aston Martin parked outside – but some of our more local members.”
So with the team from Mosimann’ s already making changes to the Clubhouse dining, Simon is turning his attention to the problem of integration.“ It is marvellous that we have high-end sponsors like Cartier and Land Rover and that they are now complemented by having Mosimann’ s, but we do need to make the social members feel part of it too,” says Simon.
“ I thought about Garsington Opera in Oxfordshire,” he explained.“ They host four operas a year; one of which is sponsored exclusively by a group of patrons( of which Simon is one), who have all donated a minimum of £ 1,500. So I wondered if we could do something similar at Guards? Some of our smaller tournaments are not sponsored and we have 1,000 social members.
“ Of course, if everyone gave £ 1 we could provide some good prizes for our
Members’ events, such as last summer’ s Royal Box Drinks Reception, are a great way to encourage integration
Simon Mace and Freddie Huxtable, representatives of the social members on the main Guards Polo Club Board of Directors
Lady Carol Caffyn-Parsons, Nirmala Sicka, Phillipa Douglas, David Howell Jones, Gilly King, June Howell Jones, Archana Sicka and Marie Isaac at the annual Guards Polo Club Members’ Dinner at Mosimann’ s in London
42 guards polo club official yearbook 2017