What a great day this was, beautiful sunshine with some 130 golfers enjoying themselves, taking part in a team event of three players per team with the best two stableford scores counting. It does not get better than this. This is the first competition in my year that I was not allowed to take part in the golf itself, instead, in the good company of Liz Martinez-Gray and your Junior Captain Ronnie Stowell, had to suffer (read had a marvelous time) on the 10th tee helping everyone who came past enjoy their halfway stage drink and a nibble. It was also a pleasure to see all our competitors joining in the Charity Chipping Competition, chipping the plastic balls into a plastic bucket. From the displays of chipping that day I think we could all knock a few strokes off our rounds if we practiced this a bit more!

The results of the competition saw the first prize of the day going to Bill (Lay by) Palmer, Danny (the Young) Remy and Sid (the Swindle) Conway with a very creditable score of 89 points. In second place were Ken (I like right handed courses) Clarke, Lee (soon to be Captain) McCready and Danny (the Tiz) Tizzard with 83 points closely followed by Tony Vale, Peter Huckle and Steve McDermont on 82 points.

Nearest the Pin for the Men's Section on the 8th was Terry (Straight as an Arrow) Payne and the novelty Nearest the Marker Post on the 6th was Mick (Mr Steady & Reliable) Silvester. Terry (Straight as an Arrow) Payne followed up on the 18th with another fine effort by claiming the straightest drive - which I believe was actually on the line (not much argument there!).

It was good to see our younger contingent give a good account of themselves and certainly the "Men from Delmonte" were the best dressed by far on the day. Josh, Billy and Mark - they were melting in their all black matching kit, but made all the girls melt on the day as well and are a credit to our club with their dress and their golfing ability. Some beautiful cut glass prizes were presented to all the winners who richly deserved their rewards.

A delicious light lunch was arranged for all those who wanted it on their return to the clubhouse and to round off a very successful and enjoyable day, we were thoroughly entertained by Kirk and his Steel Band, which brought some sunshine into the bar at the end of a very long day.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our club members for all their support at this event it was a real pleasure to see so many of you enjoying the fun and games - it makes all the hard work worthwhile. The event as always was made that much simpler through the support received from Peter and Steve in the Proshop - and well done Andy Broz (I - check nobody - can never spell your name) for developing the leader board software, which makes it much more fun for everyone. Most importantly I would like to say a special thank you to my fellow captains for all their hard work in the weeks before the event and indeed on the day itself - we certainly had a lot fun on the 10th. It has been a pleasure to working with all the Captains this season. Whenever there was a slight lull we were all kept fully entertained by the newest member of our club Holly Gray, who I have to say was not the best driver of a golf buggy I have ever seen, but was certainly a delight to have with us.

The generosity of our club was in great evidence again when we raised nearly £300 during the day between the raffle, The Captains Bucket and an impromptu collection in the bar by Jim Tyler. Thank you all again for all your support and your efforts on a day we as Captains will remember for some time to come.

Barry Butler
Club Captain