Jaeger-LeCoultre Charity Polo Cup at Coworth Park

In the dying embers of the summer sun, just before the leaves on the trees turned towards autumn, Jaeger LeCoultre held their annual charity Polo tournament as an affirmation of their commitment to the game, and an act of benefit to collectors and enthusiasts to enjoy each others company, and the sport on show.



The origins of the sport are believed to be in Persia and had reached northern India by the thirteenth century. The game became valuable for training cavalry, and by the fourteenth century was played from Constantinople to Japan. Known in the south-east Asian continent as the “Game of Kings”, the name “Polo” is said to have been derived from the Tibetan word "Pulu", meaning ball. It was the British in India (in the nineteenth century) that adopted the game and formalized it into the sport that is played today. Over the past centuries before the British picked up the sport, the number of players could vary between four and about a hundred, men and women played at the same time, and the ball varied in size and material; Rudyard Kipling had the ball as a vanquished tribesman’s head in the “Man Who Would be King”!



Polo is the sport of kings and the king of sports. A game that consists of riding full speed after a ball not much larger than a tennis ball, waving a five foot mallet around, and all whilst staying on your horse. It is a sport that requires you own horses, access to a large level playing field, and at least three friends of similar disposition who will play in the team with you. Not surprisingly, it has been adopted by the more colourful characters in society; it is a sport that despite its small following is both newsworthy and notorious. Playboys (and girls), nobility, and royalty both play and spectate.



However, there is a more human and giving side to Polo that revolves around charity work. And it is here that Jaeger LeCoultre has been giving back to the sport that provided the inspiration for its most famous and iconic watch: the Reverso. At the request of an unknown British military officer stationed in India Jaeger LeCoultre (helmed at the time by Cesar De Trey) entrusted the work to a French engineer Alfred Chauvot, to design "a watch capable of sliding into its base and of turning completely on its axis" (for which the patent was applied for). It was the Reverso that bound Jaeger LeCoultre to the sport of polo.



The charity polo dinner this year was held at Coworth Park. It is one of the few privately held polo fields in England, and the only one at a hotel. Recently Coworth Park was re-designed and rebuilt as a hotel as part of the Dorchester Collection. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Coworth Park was originally built by a successful merchant as part of the East India Company. It passed through a number of different owners before being sold to commercial venture. Coworth Park is nestled into woodland and pasture on the edge of Crown Land that is part of the Runnymede Estate (and where Englishmen were freed in the signing of the Magna Carta).





[Coworth Park through the meadows that lead to the main house]



[The English meadows in the Coworth Park grounds]



[The way down to the Polo field from the main house]

Jaeger LeCoultre have used their corporate association with the game and initiated the Charity Polo Cup in aid of the James Wentworth Memorial Trust. The James Wentworth Memorial Trust was set up by his mother after his death at the age of 21. James Wentworth took his own live after an operation on his leg, and during his convalescence. How could a young man, who had everything, and everything to live for, take his own life when it had just begun. The depression and affliction that James Wentworth suffered was not an instance of privilege, but something that can affect any young man (predominantly), irrespective of income, title, or residence.

After dinner, Claire Milford Haven (the mother of James Wentworth) gave an impassioned speech about her son and the grief and despair that resulted from his sudden death. Out of the feelings of loss, and being lost for an answer as to why, Claire decided to form a charitable trust to provide awareness about the instances of depression in young men and women.

And suddenly, in a moment, your life can pivot and change. This message has been edited by amanico on 2010-09-14 13:40:05 This message has been edited by amanico on 2010-09-14 13:41:51 This message has been edited by amanico on 2010-09-18 23:07:18