Eng Pyara Singh Lotay has returned to Entebbe Club for the first time in 52 years, marking an emotional homecoming for one of the club’s veteran members and a living link to its colonial era history.
Lotay, an engineer who worked in Uganda during the colonial period, was a registered member of Entebbe Club until 1974 when he went into exile in Canada amid political instability.
Lotay joined the club while living just across the road in Entebbe and developed a deep attachment to golf at what is the oldest course in the region. At the time, the course had nine holes and a small membership. Playing off a handicap of fourteen, he won several club trophies and became a familiar figure at the clubhouse.
On his return, Lotay was received by Entebbe Club trustee Edward Kabuchu alongside members of the management team.
A key moment of the visit was the return of three historic trophies that Lotay had safeguarded for more than five decades. During the early nineteen seventies, members who had won trophies were asked to remove them from the clubhouse for safety. Lotay kept his trophies with him and later carried them into exile, never having the chance to return them until now.
Among the trophies is a plate shaped single match play award, which Lotay recalls winning from a Scottish lady in a match play contest. He also shared memories of the club’s culture, noting that the friendliness he experienced decades ago has been preserved, something he observed again at a lively and crowded nineteenth hole.
The changes at the club stood out to him. What was once a modest nine hole course has grown into a full eighteen hole layout with a refurbished state of the art clubhouse and paved walkways.
Speaking to NBS Sport, Lotay said, “I feel like a 15 to 20 year old man being here this is a place I carry at heart the love for this club is unmatched to me am happy to be back and also return these trophies I used to hang out in this refurbished bar together with my wife and family the course was smaller and we used to be very few members but am happy the club has many members now I am going to make sure my grandchildren who play golf get memberships here and also ask them to promote this club.”
Lotay thanked the club leadership and sponsors for developing what he described as the oldest club in East Africa and expressed pride in seeing its growth and continuity. Kabuchu said Lotay’s return was deeply meaningful for the club, describing the history he carries as valuable and worth preserving. He thanked Lotay for maintaining his connection to Entebbe Club despite being away for 52 years.
The returned trophies will be reinstated in the club’s trophy cabinet, where they will be preserved as part of Entebbe Club’s enduring history.
