1785 Bexhill Harriers established
1880 The first tennis club to be formed in Bexhill had its courts originally on the western side of Devonshire Road, where they were maintained for several years.
1888 Mr. John Webb in his construction of Egerton Park laid out tennis courts and the Tennis Club transferred its headquarters there the next summer.
1889 Bexhill’s first football club is founded and plays at Belle Hill Farm.
1889 Bexhill Cycling Club founded.
1890-99 Former England centre-forward football international Francis William Pawson (Frank Pawson) (1861-1921) becomes a curate at the Parish Church, Bexhill-on-Sea.
1891 Bexhill Swimming Club established
1892 The Sackville Hotel opens. Tennis was played on courts there and it was and it was this club which moved to Dorset Road and became The Bexhill Cricket & Lawn Tennis Club.
1893 First Bexhill regatta held
Bexhill Rowing Club formed
Viscount Cantelupe lays out a private cricket pitch
1894 13th-14th August – Viscount Cantelupe’s XI vs. South Africa cricket match at Manor Ground
1896 July – The Australian Cricket Team lose a three-day match, played on the Manor Grounds, against the Earl De La Warr’s XI
Opening of East Parade Cycle Boulevard
1896 Cycling Boulevard (cycle track) and cycle chalet opened on De La Warr Parade.
1896 Bexhill Cycling Tournament held at the 8th Earl of De La Warr’s Bexhill Manor House
1897 Second Cycling Tournament held on the Manor House cricket ground. Prizes presented by Grand Duke Michael of Russia and his wife Countess de Torby.
1898 Bexhill Cycling Club and Hare and Hounds Athletic Club organise a Cycling Tournament in Egerton Park.
1901 Sidley cricket club established
1902 Cycle track and chalet used to hold Britain’s first motor car race.
1903 Bexhill horse show
1907 Dorothy Levitt finishes second in the Bexhill Speed Trial
1907 First public bowling green opens
1907 Bexhill Tennis Club’s 1st Open Tournament.
Bexhill Chronicle also reports on Bexhill Tennis Club’s “American Tournament” with classes for Ladies Singles, Men’s Singles, Ladies Doubles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles.
International success for Bexhill Tennis Club’s Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles players in the annual Dieppe Open Tennis Tournament.
1909 Bexhill, Sidley and District Athletic Club founded following a craze for long-distance road running
1910 Bexhill’s first purpose-built roller-skating rink opens in Buckhurst Road.
1910 Bexhill Golf Club permits the employment of caddies on a Sunday
1910 Mr Langley Shergold Welch opened a roller skating rink in Buckhurst Road
1911 Death of the Maharajah of Cooch Behar in Bexhill on 18th September: – he was reported as being a “A notable sportsman”.
1911 Bexhill Chronicle report the 4th Annual Tennis Tournament to be staged by Bexhill-on-Sea Lawn Tennis Club. In its match report, the 4th Annual Tennis Tournament had 350 competitors taking part.
1912 Cooden Beach Golf Club established
1912 Bexhill Sea Angling Club established
1913 The first hard tennis court had been laid down in April. For many years ‘park tennis’ everywhere enjoyed a tremendous vogue and produced many good players.
Fred Perry who beat the great Americans of the 1930s at their own game, was a product of the London parks.
1915 Bexhill Harriers dispersed
1919 Memorial for war dead discussion about memorial or a recreational ground
1920 Polegrove recreation ground opens
1924 Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill and District Snooker League established
1925 Highwoods golf course opened
1926 Mayor of Bexhill allows Hastings and St Leonards RFC to play at the Polegrove. In recognition, the club’s name changes to Hastings & Bexhill RFC.
1928 Bexhill Regatta revived after 20 year lapse
1933 Bexhill’s first women’s bowling club is founded.
1936 Baseball played in Bexhill as part of the Football Supporters’ Club fete.
1936 Bexhill Wheelers established.
1936 1st Bexhill Observer open darts competition. Inaugural tournament won by the Devonshire Hotel darts team.
1937 Bexhill Wanderers football club founded.
1937 (March) First boxing contest at the De La Warr Pavilion
1937 By-laws restrict the practice of roller-skating on the seafront promenades
1937 Demonstration of ‘surfing’ at the July Bexhill Regatta
1937 Former Welsh international Aneurin Richards becomes player-coach of Bexhill FC. Lasts only nine weeks.
1937 (August) High Woods bathing pool opens
1937 Cooden Country Club offered excellent tennis facilities with well supported tournaments. Helen Wills Moody played an exhibition game there with Captain Victor Cazalet, whose parents lived in Clavering Walk and were hosts to Mr. Neville Chamberlain soon after he became Premier in 1937.
1938 June 6 – Major Charles Butler Grace, a son of W.G. Grace, dies in a cricket match in Sidley
1938 Duke of Gloucester inspects Sports Centre site and visits Athletic Club camp at Highwoods
1938/9 Petition against the proposed Greyhound Stadium at Glyne Gap
1939 Debates about opening an ice rink in Bexhill, an indoor facility to attract the year-round visitor and to provide an amenity for Bexhill’s younger people.
After WW2, a small group of enthusiasts sailed from Veness Gap, South Cliff. In wooden, clinker-built dinghies.
1942 First indoor bowling competition in the town was held in Egerton Park Pavilion.
1947 Bexhill Sailing club established, based at a beach hut on West Parade
1948 Bexhill Town football club play a charity match against Arsenal FC. This is attended by 3,000 spectators.
1949. Bexhill Sailing Club moved to improved headquarters at Channel View East (now occupied by Bexhill Rowing Social Club). No showers or toilet facilities!
1951 Bexhill-born professional golfer, Max Faulkner (1916-2005), wins the British Open golf tournament
1957. 10th Anniversary of Bexhill Sailing Club. Celebrated with the now very popular Sea Week.
1959 Polegrove Men’s Bowling Club established
1960’s Bexhill Sailing Club – Headquarters outgrown again! Following protracted negotiations with Local Authority, commenced building of new Club house on present site, De La Warr Parade. Funded by loans, grants and Club financial reserves. Much internal work done by members.
1962 Ladies & Men’s team competed in the 1st division of the Sussex County Tennis league. In that the same year a mixed team was entered into and won the Sussex Express & County Herald Cup retaining the trophy after 3 successive wins.
1965. Official opening of new Bexhill Sailing Clubhouse by Keith Musto, 1964 Olympic Silver Medallist.
1969 Cooden Beach Sports and Social Club established
1972 Bexhill rower represents Britain at the Munich Olympic Games
1982 BMX track constructed at Sidley recreation ground
1985 Establishment of official Sail Training within the umbrella of the Bexhill Sailing Club.
1989 An introduction of “watch system”. Bexhill Sailing Club had always been “membership-run”, with all duties undertaken by volunteers. Now all members allocated to “watches”, which integrates new members easily and creates a better club spirit.
2006 A replacement skate ramp is constructed at Galley Hill
2011 ‘Freestyle gymnastics’ gymnasium section of 1066 Gym opens – one of the first of its kind in the UK
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· After the First World War the cycling club became the Bexhill Wheelers.
· Volvo Sailing Championship Club status awarded in recognition of “provision of facilities and training for young people”.
· Lottery funding awarded for purchase of dinghies most suitable for training.
· Early 2000’s, again and the Sailing Club had outgrown its facilities. Further lottery funding plus grants and club reserves enable rejuvenating of changing rooms, showers and toilets, together with extended rescue boat storage and workshop.
· Club continues to flourish, with a positive, forward-looking membership, upholding its first aims and objects, to “…… promote and encourage good seamanship and knowledge and love of the sea……”