Images of High Elms Golf Festival 2006


This was the week that was!! An inordinate amount of effort went into the arrangements for this festival week of golf at your club. All these efforts I am pleased to say were very worthwhile. Please be patient whilst waiting to view the above images, as we have included as many pictures as we could of the Festival week and they may take a little while to download.

Seniors Event - 28 June
The festival kicked off with the Seniors Event which was a close run thing with Tony Broad the Seniors Captain tieing on 38 points with Brian Humphrys with Brian pipping Tony at the post on count back. There were some 55 players who took part with entries from a number of local clubs, which was indeed pleasing to see.

Ladies Team Event - 29 June
This was followed on the Thursday with the Ladies Team Event, which fielded 11 teams of 3 ladies per team. The team from Langley Park of Rheay Newman, Christina Pensa and Diana Stotesbury were the eventual winners followed up by a tied position for second place by another team from Langley Park and one from Sittingbourne. The team from Basildon came third. To rub salt in the wound Diana Stotesbury and Cheryl Power both from Langley Park gained Nearest the Pin and Longest Drive respectively. Quite a day for Langley Park.

The Mens' Team Event - 30 June
Friday brought the Men's Team Event fielding some 92 players in teams of 4. This was a great day, which saw some really good scores for the best stableford score of any 3 players. The eventual winners were the team including Danny Blackburn, Pete Remy, Paul Simmons and Dave Cruse with a winning score of 112 points. The day went very smoothly as did the previous year due to the fine organisation of Danny Edmunds. The day was rounded off with the added attraction of being able to watch the football on the new plasma TV in the bar, which made for a very social and enjoyable end to the day. The Nearest the Pin was picked up by your captain Barry Butler on the 8th (which was only 12 inches from a financial disaster) and the Longest Drive was won by "thank god that's still on the fairway" - John Gray. We did not have many visitors, but we did have 3 teams from Shirley Park, which were a very welcome addition to our numbers.

Mixed Greensomes Event - 1 July
Saturday the much awaited Greensomes were upon us with 34 couples taking to the course on a very hot day again. This was a very social event made all the better by the introduction of food to welcome the teams back in whilst they waited for results. We saw the return of many old friends with some 15 clubs joining in the event, which was very efficiently run by Lee McCready and Jean Dignum, your Mens and Ladies Vice Captains. The winners this year were our very own Andy Assemakis and Sharon Meikle with a great score of 40 points!! A tremendous effort in such sapping heat conditions. Alan Frost and Christine Watmough were runners up with Jackie and Will Wellington sweeping the board with both Nearest the Pin in 2 on the 2nd and Longest Drive in two on the 9th. The best visitors result was by A & S Khanna from Langley Park.

The Festival Open - 2 July
The finale to our festival of golf was the Open, which again was played in beautiful blazing, but very punishing sunshine. We had some 115 players take part in the end, which was a very successful increase on last year. The field started taking to the course at 7 am and the last group finally went out at 11.15 am, not returning until very late in the afternoon. There were essentially two competitions taking place in the Mens' Section - a strokeplay competition up 14 handicap and stableford for 15 and over. The Ladies' Section was Stableford for all handicaps.

The Ladies first prize went to the awesome Sharon Meikle who added the open to her Greensomes title scooped on Saturday with a score of 35 points. Jackie Wellington was runner up with 33 points. Chris Watmough gained Nearest the Pin with the amazing Jackie Wellington gaining another Longest Drive prize.

The Mens' Section Stableford was very keenly contested with some excellent scores being achieved. There were no less than 4 players in pole position with 40 points. The boys however showed the oldens the way with Oliver Smith, one of our aspiring Juniors, taking first prize in the Stableford with his 40 points on count back. Danny Blackburn was second with his 40 points on count back against Bill Gladding in third place. It seems very cruel but Dean Turner who also came in with 40 points came away with no prize at all - bad luck Dean - but you have won a few swindles lately, which have helped with your pension, so I am sure you will be back to fight another day.

Then there was the fairytale - every competition has one! Dave Burnage wanted to play in the strokeplay competition and cut himself to the 14 maximum handicap allowed from his 15 as he took to the first tee. He had a dream round shooting a net 65 to lift the first prize for the Open Strokeplay Section. Mick Silvester followed him very closely in second place on a net 69 and then in third place was Graham Kitt on a net 70. Well done boys great scores in tough conditions. Mention should also be made of Warren Yon who shot the best Gross score of the day and although your Captain had omitted to purchase the prize for this major effort for the day a suitable prize has now been presented to Warren. Nearest the Pin was a new member Mark Payne on the 16th and Gareth Holvey, another of our very accomplished juniors, gained longest drive on the 9th - watch it boys the youngsters are a coming!! Any way well done everyone for a fantastic turn out and such great performances particularly our young guns.

Raffels, Tombola, Auction and Sponsorship of Holes
Mention should be made of all the donations everybody made for the raffles, tombolas the auction and the substantial contribution from the sponsorship of holes. The numbers are still being collated with final collections and expenses yet to be concluded, but the end result will be of the order £2,500 raised. After expenses this should mean we are able to add circa £1,100 to the Captains' Charity - The Chartwell Unit for Cancer Care in Bromley - and a similar sum can be added to our Club Funds for future activities to the benefit of our members. Thank you all for making the Festival Week a highly successful week. Your Committees could not have achieved this successful conclusion without everybody's help and very generous contributions. A special thank you also to the ground staff for preparing the course so well in such dry and difficult conditions, Peter and Steve in the Proshop for all their help and support during the weeks before and in particular the week itself and the catering staff who fed and watered us along the way - thank you all!

Barry Butler
Club Captain