Another year with further visits to fairways new and old and for which I once again have the pleasure to summarise.

The Spring Meeting was held at Harewood Downs on 24 April and we enjoyed dry, humid weather. The Jack Ryman Cup was won by David Morgan with 37 points.  At the subsequent Annual General Meeting Peter Jones  was elected our new captain and David James his vice-captain along with your correspondent as Secretary, David Morgan as Treasurer with John Astrop the retiring captain comprising the Committee.

Our next meeting was at the captain's home course, Chartridge Park and Ollie James was in good form to take the John Bond Cup  with 38 points which saw his handicap reduced from 6 to 4. Conditions were dry and breezy.

Next up was the President's Meeting at Bramley and it turned out to be the hottest day of the year to that point - weather obviously to the liking of  David Littlechild who won with 39 points.

Our captain had elected to take us up to the Lake District for his Outing and we enjoyed generally good weather. On the first day we ventured for a pairs Stableford onto the picturesque and very hilly Kendal course which had many interesting, and some quirky, holes for our delight. It was warm with unbroken sunshine. David Littlechild and Alan Wood won with 82 points. The 'main event', the Captain's Salver, was held the next day at Grange over Sands, a complete contrast with many inviting, fairly flat holes leading to some excellent scoring. It was again warm with sunny periods. Undaunted by a reduction in his handicap for his success at the previous meeting David Littlechild was again triumphant with 41 points. So he suffered a 4 point reduction in his handicap in two outings but as he started with at an extremely problematic, not to say mysteriously acquired, 18 I doubt if this perturbed him unduly …. The final day saw us take on the magnificently scenic Windermere course and although the weather deteriorated to a drizzle it did not spoil our enjoyment, nor the aforementioned Mr. Littlechild who was part of the winning team along with Nicola Phillips, Martin Bender and John Astrop who amassed 190 points. The whole event went off exceptionally well despite a change of hotel between days – both were excellent and the views were tremendous. It is amazing how busy this part of the world is even in late September with foreign tourists very much to the fore.

And so to our final event, the Invitation Meeting in November at the excellent, but today very wet, West Hill course. As usual in stableford pairs the scoring was good and Peter Jones & Martin Bender took the Peter Tilley Trophy with 42 points.

So concluded another interesting year with plenty of variety of scene. Our captain deserves much credit for his dedication in arranging venues, prizes and, of course, his comprehensive Outing arrangements. It was fitting that he also got his name on the winner's sheet at the final meeting.

I wish to thank him for his great efforts and close collaboration with me. Also I am indebted, as always, to our Treasurer David Morgan who does very much more than 'balance the books' and makes my job so much easier. I must also mention our website 'guru' Geoff Fowler for maintaining and updating our website. This is a treasure trove of information, statistics, photos and historical record. You may find it interesting to spend half an hour browsing and it is, of course, somewhere to check on the forthcoming meetings not to mention the Rules (yes we do have some) and your current handicap status should you have been lucky enough to win a singles event during the previous 12 months. We are otherwise merciful as winners of team, pairs and aggregate events are not penalised!

The 2014 aggregate trophies were monopolised by just two members who both had marvellous seasons and so our congratulations go to Ollie James winning the Liberty & Watkins and to David Littlechild who won all the rest! (namely the Guildford, Spicer, Conlon & Tolley trophies)
Finally I extend a warm welcome to our incoming captain, David James who takes office at the Annual General Meeting in April. I am sure you will join me in wishing him all the every best in his captaincy and hope he is blessed with clement weather.

Richard Johns
Hon. Secretary

1st  March 2015

 

 

 

 

Secretary's Report 2014
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