History of OCH3

OCH3 was founded by Robin Masefield (ex Hong Kong) with the inaugural run held on Sunday 18 November 1984 from Stoneyfield Road, Old Coulsdon, where Robin and his wife Rosemary then lived - hence the name of our hash. Records show that there were 13 runners who all paid the princely sum of fifty pence each and our tradition of a beer and bag of crisps was started.

Runs then followed on alternate Sundays, starting at 10 a.m. Numbers hashing were very modest for the first 18 months or so but Summer of 1986 saw an influx of new members, including present secretary Sally Justice and husband Jimmy, and the later starting time of 11 a.m. so that the pubs would be open for the ON ON.

A draft "set of rules" was produced (whoever heard of a Hash with RULES!) however even today we still follow these initial procedures. To remind you of some of them :

1. Each run will last approximately one hour and is not competitive
2. 2 hares for every trail one hare near the front and one on the rear to ensure nobody gets lost
3. From a check the trail will recommence not more than 100 yards (well we could say 100 metres today) away in clear terrain
4. A good trail will have a variety, some road, some grass, uphill and flat

Fortnightly Monday evening runs were introduced in Summer 1989 in alternate weeks to Sunday runs. The 250th run was held at Lloyd Park Croydon on 6 December 1992.

The 500th and 555th runs were celebrated in the summers of 1997 & 1998 with whole weekends of hashing etc. at Oxted Rugby Football Club at Holland (near Hurst Green), a venue sadly no longer available. Run 700 was on a cold damp day at Keston on 18 March 2001.

Our 888th was held on Sunday 10 October 2004.

Our 1000th event was held 25-26 November 2006 at Sayer's Croft, Surrey.

History of the Hash

Read the story of the hash from the Mother Hash.

The Selangor Club, K.L., the original Hash House