The Story of Ted Rossiter, original member of the club.
Ted Rossiter is as much a fixture of the Deangate clubhouse as the bottle of Creme De Menthe which has been at the bar since day one. In fact Ted was there on that first day, when hundreds of prospective members filled upstairs waiting for a chance to become members of Deangate Ridge Golf Club.
Ted remembers Jackie, the first club secretary taking names and address in order to forward details of the membership by post, such was the demand. In the days before computers and emails that would have involved a lot of stamp licking! He like all the other long standing members, also remembers the queues at 5 in the morning to get a tee time for a competition when the membership approached 900.
Golf was not Ted's first love however; that was football. As a youngster born and bred in Strood, he played for Chatham Town whilst he was an apprentice at the Dockyard. In the third year of his apprenticeship, he also had a trial for Maidstone where he turned down the princely sum of £12 a game (before tax of course) as he had heard another player was being paid £15.
Ted is not the only Rossiter associated with Deangate Ridge and not even the oldest generation to play golf on our hallowed turf. His father (also Ted Rossiter), played golf as did his uncle Don Rossiter who was an ex Arsenal player and also at one time the Mayor of Medway. Don's son, Don Jnr. also played. Yet another branch of the family headed by Les Rossiter, saw Les and his sons Eddie and Les Jnr. walk the fairways of Deangate Ridge.
Ted continued on the lineage with his son Tony joining the Rossiter roll of honour, whilst daughter Kate contributed with young Sheldon and Casey. Not to be outdone, daughter Kerry's sons Wesley and Calum have also joined the ranks of the Rossiter golfing dynasty. At one point in time there were ten members of the Rossiter clan playing at Deangate. This included Micky Springer who can trace his Rossiter roots back to Ted's uncle Ben. A challenge was issued to surrounding clubs to see if anyone could put up a team of ten family members to challenge the Deangate Rossiters and no one could (although there was a rumour that Rochester and Cobham offered to put up a team of ten Colonels)...,
2015 sees the first Rossiter Cup which celebrates the strong connection the Rossiter family has had with Deangate Ridge, since that very first day in 1973 when a young man in his thirties called Ted Rossiter signed up as a member of Deangate Ridge Golf Club.
Long may the Rossiter legacy continue.