Chapter Eighteen - The Surveyors Club

Summary

No book about Peacocks would be complete without reference to the Surveyors 1921 Club. This club has had close associations with the firm since its formation in 1921, when the founder members were A. W. Foll, N. B. Foster, E. E. Geeves, H. L. Peacock, W. M. Peacock, H. E. Perks (who was elected as the first president) and J. C. E. Robinson.

‘The Club was really founded on the Midland Railway, midnight train, from London, after a Valuers’ Meeting. The Seven Founders, led by H. E. Perks and whipped in by E. E. Geeves, decided to form a Club to provide an informal Bedford discussion group. The primary object being the elucidation of the then Agricultural Holdings Act 1920, later the 1923 Act. The first meeting was held at the Auctioneers’ Institute in Russell Square, London on 15th July 1921, followed by the first dinner at the Russell Hotel.’

As noted above, the decision to form the Surveyors 1921 Club arose from a desire to understand new legislation that followed the First World War, in particular the Agriculture Act 1920. The club then developed to provide opportunities for regular meetings and discussions of professional interest, coupled with meetings of a more social nature. The club has, and still retains, a strong emphasis on encouragement of younger members by enabling them to meet and gain knowledge from the older or more experienced members.

Membership of the club is still largely restricted to Chartered Surveyors and younger persons in the course of training, though a percentage of the membership is now drawn from allied professions. The broad range of members is taken from surveyors in private practice, in corporate employment, from local government, and from the Valuation Office Agency, together with a number of solicitors and architects. Membership, steady at round sixty members for many years, grew steadily to over 120 by 1971, and peaked at over 140 by 1995. The current membership is around ninety. Membership is kept ‘live’ by a rule demanding a minimum level of attendance each year.

The requirement for all Chartered Surveyors to undertake continued professional development has enabled the club to offer members a useful bonus by arranging meetings on topics that qualify for that purpose.