CATCH CLUB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23690, 23 December 1938, Page 7

CATCH CLUB

London has many unusual clubs, but one of the smallest and most exclusive is the Noblemen’s and Gentlemen’s Catch Club, in which a death and a resignation have just caused a couple of vacancies in its limited membership of 20. Earls, barons, baronets and others meet regularly in a West End restaurant to sing glees, part songs and “ catches,” as they and their predecessors have done ever since the club was founded as long ago as 1761. Exclusiveness has always been as important as vocal prowess, and a system of fines for non-attendance and other faults has also made wealth a desirable qualification. The Earls of Sandwich, March and Eglinton were among the original founders, and three Kings have been among its members In fact, one of them, King George IV, when Prince of Wales, was expelled for irregular attendance, although he was later readmitted after payment of a heavy fine on promising to mend his ways. Many of the club’s most curious rules have been amended; they included a rake-off for club funds from any legacy received by a member; and it was provided that “ in cases of marriage. though the benefits arising therefrom may be, and often are, invaluable, yet by an act of great indulgence the society permits any member, even upon this occasion, to compound for the sum of £lO 10s, though his acquisition may be equal to millions.”