The Story of Our Taplow Home… but first a poem in the style of Alfred Lord Tennyson.
On Monday, 21 September, a quiet pen stroke on a legal document secured a vibrant future for local sport on Institute Road in Taplow. By signing a new thirty-year lease extension, the Phoenix and Claires Court Sports Club ensured that our shared sports grounds remain protected and thriving all the way through to 2060. For club, school, and community rugby players, this milestone represents far more than a lease; it marks the continuation of a seventy-year story rooted in local vision, joint enterprise, and a passion for sport.
Long before rugby boots first trod this turf, the ground itself held a special place in local history. Back in 1956, before formal Green Belt policies existed to shield our countryside, civic-minded residents formed the Taplow and Hitcham Recreation Grounds Association to purchase strategic parcels of land as a permanent buffer against encroaching urban sprawl [2]. Around that time, part of the plot off Institute Road was leased to Flexello Castors and Wheels Ltd. Founded in London in the mid-1930s and later established on the Slough Trading Estate, Flexello grew to become Europe’s largest castor manufacturer. The company established its social and sports club on the site, cementing its presence so firmly that generations of local families still warmly refer to the land as the Flexello ground. The site even contributed directly to Britain’s modern infrastructure when, in 1959 and 1960, the county council temporarily extracted gravel from the grounds to help construct the nearby M4 motorway.
Claires Court School’s connection with the ground began in 1962 under the kind patronage of the Menko family, owners of Flexello. Siegbert Menko’s son, Ricky, was one of the nineteen founding pupils of the school, together with brothers Hugh and James, sons of the founding Partners, David and Josephine.
That personal family friendship opened the gates for the school’s early pupils to use the Flexello fields for games and athletics. It marked the start of a twenty-two-year journey for Claires Court toward anchoring a permanent, dedicated sports campus on the site.
Meanwhile, Phoenix RFC was charting its own course. In 1967, the rugby club was headquartered at The George Hotel in Burnham High Street, regularly fielding two senior teams. Yet despite their enthusiasm and growth, they lacked a permanent home. In 1970, Phoenix launched an ambitious search for a ground of their own—a quest that would span fourteen long years.
The breakthrough came in 1984, coinciding with Phoenix RFC’s twenty-first anniversary year. Bringing together Claires Court’s twenty-two years on the ground and Phoenix’s fourteen years of searching, both organisations recognised that a school and a sports club could achieve far more together than apart. They joined forces to secure a joint lease for the Taplow site and incorporated a combined legal entity, The Phoenix and Claires Court Sports Club Ltd, colloquially known as PACCS.
The founding co-workers included Geoff Mould, Ron and Alan Jones, Simon Porter, Alistair Crawford, brother Hugh and I, by now grown-ups. Shortly after securing the lease, we set about constructing a proper sports pavilion and clubhouse. I had the privilege of serving as project manager, working shoulder to shoulder with Ron Jones, whose tireless energy and drive as a master builder, brought the building out of the ground.
That 1984 agreement established a brilliant operational rhythm that has served us ever since. During midweek school hours and term time, Claires Court has full run of the grounds for PE, games sessions, athletics, and cross-country. In the evenings and across the weekend, Phoenix RFC takes over for midweek training, tag rugby, and full weekend fixtures across senior, junior, and mini divisions. It remains a masterclass in resource sharing, giving school pupils dedicated, high-quality pitches while giving a grassroots rugby club a stable, subsidized clubhouse and playing fields.
As sport has evolved, so too have the facilities, with continuous investments through the years, most recently from the RFU-supported club funding pot. This has enabled us to extended the main clubhouse to enhance the social bar area and expand changing rooms to accommodate both male and female players. With the rapid rise of girls’ school sports and women’s rugby, these upgrades ensure our grounds remain modern, inclusive, and welcoming for every young athlete who steps onto the field for both male and female players. A PTA-funded AstroTurf cricket wicket (a lifesaver for dewy Saturday morning starts!), has become an asset for early Saturday morning school matches, when heavy dew can leave traditional grass wickets damp, slow, and low.
Looking out across the pitches today, it is inspiring to think that a strategic green space saved by local residents in the 1950s, shaped by industrial recreation and motorway gravel will now carry the club, from veterans to minis and all ages between. It is a testament to what can be achieved when educational vision and grassroots community sport run forward together.
(Photo: Representatives from Claires Court, Phoenix RFC, and the Taplow & Hitcham Recreation Grounds Association gather at Institute Road to mark the signing of the 30-year lease extension through to 2060.)
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