Max Miller, Brighton's own Cheeky Chappie, caddied at Brighton and Hove as a youngster and, in order to be sure of work, kipped in a bunker overnight.

On a Saturday night he and some fellow caddies would buy twopence worth of coal, put it in a brazier and set up a bivouac in a bunker. There they would play cards until falling asleep, awaking at first light so as to be by the clubhouse door next morning to ply for hire.

This is one of many delightful snippets revealed by Barry Hughes in his history of the club now available to members at £20.

This is a quality work, finely bound and presented by Stewart Antill and published by Elgin, which is a local firm. There have been previous histories, but as Peter Jagger, the club president and trustee says in his foreword, earlier books failed to give the present generation the insight that is deserved.

Barry Hughes, himself a member of the B and H, has successfully captured all the bits and pieces not contained in previous works to present a fascinating picture of the last 112 years.

Incorporated in the title is the sub-heading "plotting the origins of golf in Sussex" and in this respect Hughes has made an important contribution to the sporting literature of the county.

He displays a very real sense of period and the illustrations, both photographic and hand drawn, add to the right feel.

Hughes writes: "Brighton and Hove Golf Club is the product of the aspirations and actions of a group of like minded Victorians. Individuals and the immediate descendants of families whose energies, talents and determination contributed to one of the most dynamic periods of history. A time of immense innovation, explosive growth and wealth creation. A time that makes the electronic dot.com activities of the 21st Century seem almost pedestrian."

From this opening gambit it is clear that Hughes has a fitting sense of history and by no means overawed with current trends either inside or outside his golf club.

The characters throughout the years, many of whom may be seen to this day in Mel's priceless cartoons over the bar, are reproduced for the delight of the reader happy to step back in time and ponder what sort of people they were.

Who know, perhaps Max Miller modelled some of his outrageous plus-four suits on those dashers and dandies who played on Sunday mornings on Hangleton Down and, at the end of a round, paid the caddy a shilling little knowing or caring that the bag carrier had slept under the stars on the principle that the early bird catches the worm.

Brighton Heart Trust have good reason to thank East Brighton golfers.

A cheque for £2,610 from money raised by club events during the last year was presented by captain Ramsay Hutchison to Andrew Forsyth, cardiac surgeon at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

- John Vinicombe