The Samuel Ryder Foundation are proud and delighted to announce that Jack Nicklaus the greatest ever golfer has become a patron. Media Officer for The Foundation Patricia Fulton said “ we are honoured to have Jack on board with us. He has played a huge part in the history of The Ryder Cup and was instrumental in the change whereby Great Britain & Ireland became Europe which resulted in the matches becoming more competitive and are now one of the worlds great sporting events”

_It was announced on the 15 December 2011 at a press conference in London given by The World Golf Hall of Fame, Peter Alliss, patron of The Foundation and one of the most respected figures in golf, is to be inducted into The Hall of Fame in The Lifetime Achievement Category. The ceremony will take place on May 7th 2012 at The World Golf Hall of Fame Florida USA.

To help celebrate the history and tradition surrounding the Ryder Cup, The Concession Golf Club recently commissioned renowned artist Bart Forbes to create an oil painting of Samuel Ryder to add to their collection of historical golf artwork that adorns the halls of The Concession Clubhouse.

Forbes has created art for most of America's top magazines including TIME, Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest as well as for a long list of major sporting events including the Kentucky Derby, America's Cup, the Indianapolis 500, Boston Marathon and the Olympic Games as well as numerous PGA tournaments including Pebble Beach, The Players Championship and the Ryder Cup.

“Bart is an absolute dream to work with, as he is a consummate professional,” said Taba Dale,
President of Scottsdale Collection, a company devoted to creating great golf experiences through art acquisition and or memorable golf adventures around the world. “He’s an amazing talent who has
painted just about every sport you can think of, but golf is the sport that he has enjoyed playing. When
looking for an artist, I thought Bart's style of painting would be a perfect complement for the interior of The Concession Golf Club, in that it is very representational and contemporary at the same time.”

The Concession Golf Club was conceived in commemoration of the 1969 Ryder Cup singles
match between Jack Nicklaus and Tony Jacklin, where Nicklaus conceded a putt on the 18th hole to
Jacklin rendering the two teams in a 17-17 tie and allowing The United States to retain the Ryder Cup
having won it in 1967. Nicklaus’ gesture, known as “the concession,” marked the beginning of a lasting
friendship between the two men and inspired one of America’s great golf clubs.

Bruce Cassidy Jr., General Manager of The Concession Golf Club, felt a painting of Ryder was
needed to help complete the clubhouse’s growing art collection. “We feel privileged and delighted to have this magnificent painting of Samuel Ryder added to our wonderful ‘Concession Collection,’” said Cassidy. “We believe that this painting will help honor the man who has become such a prominent figure in the history of golf and one The Concession will be forever linked with.”

Samuel Ryder (1858-1936), a prominent English seed merchant and entrepreneur, sponsored
the first biennial golf championship between the best professional golfers from the United States and
the United Kingdom. That event has since grown to include Europe and is considered by many to be
the most important team competition in golf.

Forbes’ oil on canvas painting prominently features Samuel Ryder holding the original Ryder Cup trophy, a solid gold cup that he donated in 1927. Walter Hagen, the first U.S. team captain and Abe Mitchell, a top British professional golfer, are in the background. Mitchell was also Ryder’s private golf
tutor and the model for the figure that stands atop the Ryder Cup trophy. The building in the
background is Gleneagles, Scotland, the site of the first informal matches played in 1921 and the host
of the 2014 Ryder Cup.

Two hundred and fifty signed and numbered paper and canvas copies of the original painting
are available for purchase with a portion of the proceeds going to the Samuel Ryder Foundation. Paper copies, $400, are approximately 20 x 28 inches (image size 15 x 22 x 12 inches) and the canvas prints, $600, measure 24 x 36 inches.
For additional information about The Concession Golf Club, visit www.theconcession.com or call
941-322-1922.

Ms Taba Dale leading American international art dealer becomes our supporter from the USA.

Ms Dale has been a leading figure in the art world since 1979. Her list of clients include many international companies. Her procurements include works by Picasso, Jackson Pollock and others for her private clients.

In 1998 Ms Dale established The Scottsdale Collection a company specialising in golf art. She has been an official vendor at a number of major golf tournaments in the USA.

Ms Dale was retained by The Concession Golf Club of Bradenton Florida to procure or have a new work created to hang in the club house. She chose Bart Forbes the American artist to paint a new portrait of Samuel Ryder.

Through this Samuel Ryder project, Ms Dale found that she needed to know more about Samuel Ryder. She has confessed that this could become an obsession.

For more information go to Ms Dale's company web site www.scottsdalecollection.com. Whilst there click on Ryder Cup News and see the new portrait of Samuel Ryder .

The two figures behind Samuel are left to right Walter Hagen and Abe Mitchell. The original picture now hangs in The Concession Golf Club, Bradenton Florida.

The Artist: Bart Forbes, over his career spanning more than three decades, has created art for most of America's top magazines including TIME, Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest. Bart has created artwork for a long list of major events including the Kentucky Derby, America's Cup, the Indianapolis 500, Boston Marathon and Olympic Games and numerous PGA tournaments including Pebble Beach, The Players Championship and the Ryder Cup.

The future: The Scottsdale Collection are in the early stages of creating very high quality reproductions on both paper and canvas. Enquiries, at www.scottsdalecollection.com then use the Contact Form found on the About Us button

Trustees of the Foundation were delighted to meet patron Peter Alliss before he went on stage in the Alban Arena last Wednesday for his one man show An Evening with Alliss.

The Samuel Ryder Foundation is proud and delighted to announce that Lord Charles Cecil the current High Sheriff of Hertfordshire has taken the position of patron. He joins our other patrons Bernard Gallacher OBE, Peter Alliss, Tony Jacklin CBE, Colin Montgomerie OBE of the UK along with Ben Crenshaw of the USA. All are committed to furthering the aims and objectives of The Foundation.

The Cecil family have lived and been part of Hertfordshire life for over 400 yrs.

The legendary Tony Jacklin, Europe's greatest Ryder cup captain, has become a patron of The Samuel Ryder Foundation. In accepting the invitation to become a patron, Tony said “the Ryder Cup has been a great part of my life, it is an honour to be a patron, I will do everything I possibly can to help The Foundation achieve its aims and objectives”.

The first Ryder Cup was played in 1927, and up until 1985 the Americans won all but 3 matches. Tony's record as captain is :-

1983 Europe lost by 1 point.
1985 Europe won - the first time since 1957
1987 Europe won - the first time on American soil
1989 Match drawn - Europe retained the Ryder Cup.

The officers and trustees of The Samuel Ryder Foundation are thrilled and proud that Tony has accepted this position. Mary Moore, Samuel Ryder's only surviving grandchild and The Foundation's President, said, “Tony Jacklin played a huge pivotal role, in turning Europe's fortunes around.”

The Foundation is proud and delighted to announce that Lord and Lady Verulam have taken the position of patrons. They join our other patrons Bernard Gallacher OBE, Peter Alliss and Colin Montgomerie OBE in the UK along with Ben Crenshaw of the USA. All are committed to furthering the aims and objectives of The Foundation.

Their family has many strong links with St Albans dating back over 350 years. Their Gorhambury estate included the land on which Verulam Golf Club is now situated. Lord Verulam is president of the Club, where Samuel Ryder was a member until his death in 1936.

Lady Verulam also a golfer, is The Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire.

Francis Bacon School is to be re-named the ‘Samuel Ryder Academy’ when it re-opens in September 2012 as an ‘all-through’ school.

The name was chosen because it reflects the desire to make it a school that is very much at the heart of the St Albans community.  Samuel Ryder was completely committed to the city, bringing business and employment to the locality but also getting fully involved in St Albans’ public life. He played a key role in the civic, commercial and community activities of St Albans not least through his time on the council and as Mayor. 

The values of innovation and hard work that he showed in his life will be key values of the new academy too. His creation of the Ryder Cup, and his love of golf, show that he also appreciated the importance of a healthy lifestyle and of extra-curricular interests – which will also be central to the new academy.

Bryan Hanlon from the Samuel Ryder Foundation said:

“The Samuel Ryder Foundation is delighted to be associated with the new Samuel Ryder Academy. Apart from donating one of the world's most prestigious sporting trophies, Samuel should be remembered for his achievements in business, horticulture, public service and philanthropy. For him, St Albans was "the centre of the kingdom.”

Sir John Lawes School (SJL) in Harpenden are the lead sponsors of the new Academy which will become part of the wider Sir John Lawes’ Educational Trust which will sit over the top of both schools monitoring standards and performance. 

Sir John Lawes Headteacher, Claire Robins said:

“Our key objectives over the next couple of years are to create a school that inspires confidence from its whole community and which enables its students to achieve more than they might ever have believed possible.  We want to create a school where students are educated to play an active role in an ever-changing world and where they are given the skills to make a valuable contribution, locally, nationally and globally.”

Francis Bacon Chair of Governors Mary Braham said:

“The Governors of Francis Bacon support the name Samuel Ryder for the new academy enthusiastically. Though most people connect him with Golf he was much more than that as a modern man for St Albans, an entrepreneur, politician and churchman he had vision and community values for the people of St. Albans. He was dedicated to the improvement and the quality of his local community and worked tirelessly to develop that ethos.  These are values the Samuel Ryder Academy will aspire to and promote.”