Attendance:
Algy Grimes (AG), Jonathan Lean (JL), Bill Walker (BW), Richard Coventry (RC), Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT), Tony Lloyd (TL)
Apologies: Andy Shilton (AS) Tom Simm (TS) and Mike Tipper (MT)
TS had provided AG with some samples of clothing which incorporates the 75th anniversary of the club in 2023. It was agreed that we would like seniors to have an option to have the additional logos embroidered onto new senior section jumpers and polo shirts they purchase for 2023.
Action:
RWT will clarify with TS what will be available and publicise accordingly in the Newsletter. RWT agreed with TS after the meeting that the extra embroidery would be at no additional cost and would be launched to club members on 1st December.
Minutes previous and matters arising
Agreed with no matters arising not on the agenda.
Action Points from the previous meeting:
AG and BW to arrange to meet with Rob Bage – yet to be arranged
DW to continue the process of preparing for the presentation Dinner and to be invited to the next meeting of the committee – completed
DW and RWT to liaise over communication to members and timescales - in hand
JL to liaise with RC over consistency with prizes for competitions for 2023.- in hand
AG to contact Les Bolland about previous practice for the Christmas Fayre prizes and RC to liaise with AG – completed
RWT to contact the clubs interested in playing us – on the agendaj
RWT and AS to liaise about the content and timeline for communications to members about the match programme in 2023 - in hand
AG to liaise with the Club as to whether they would agree to the Seniors’ Section taking responsibility from the Club for the Prostate Project Day as a discrete event within the 2023 calendar – covered within the agenda
Captain’s Report (AG)
The 30th August saw the Bailiff Shield played for. High scores were the order of the day played from the Carthagena white tees in sunny but slightly breezy conditions. Twenty-one of the 81 entrants scored 36 points or more, with the winner, Daryl Hayler, scoring an impressive 42 points. In second place, with 40 points, was Alban Macdonald, and in third place, with 39 points, was club Captain Rob Bage, coming just a week after his victory in the Senior Captain’s Day.
Seniors’ Away Day was held at Rushden Golf Club on September 8, the weather was kind to us with only 5 minutes of rain and the course was in very good condition given the recent weather. Yes, it was green. Rushden Golf Club looked after us very well with an excellent breakfast and half way house refreshments.
The winner with 38 points was Peter Imray, second on count back Paul Jones and third Robert Isaacson with 36 points. Jonathan Lean, Malcolm Roberts, Robert Anderson and David Price were nearest the pin on the par 3’s. Next year we are going to Burghley Park on 14th September, put it in your diary.
Away to Millbrook, held on September 6th 2022. This was the JOG Seniors first away encounter against The Millbrook GC seniors. The weather forecast was not favourable, and we did have a few seconds of rain as we walked to the first tee. However, from then on the weather relented and provided ideal golfing conditions. To speed up play we had a 2-tee start, 4 groups off the 1st and the second 4 groups off the 10th. Most of our team found the course quite a challenge. Not unexpectedly JOG only managed 2 wins to 6 losses.
Next up was the away match at South Beds on 14th September. With a 12 noon start the weather was dry and sunny. The course was in good condition with lots of grass on the fairways. Again, a two tee start meant everyone was back in the clubhouse in a timely manner. Overall JOG won 4.5 – 3.5.
Gog Magog away followed on 1 th September, 2 games in 2 days, It is always a great welcome from the Elders at the Gog’s, and with coffee and introductions done, it was time for the main event. The weather was a lot cooler of late but provided good golfing conditions. The overall score was 6-2 to the elders.
On 20th September we held a past Seniors’ Captains lunch which is hoped will become an annual date in the Seniors diary. Many Senior Section Captains have enjoyed lunch in the Burgoyne Suite since the section was launched in 1977, some 45 years ago, but never before have so many gathered around one table.
Those attending were; current Seniors Captain Algy Grimes, Colin Poole, Brian Bullen, Bill Walker, Jim Kerr, Fred Williams, Richard Coventry, Alan Fowler, William Skelding and guest, Club Captain Rob Bage.
Yet another away match on 2nd September we arrived at Harpenden Common on a very pleasant September morning and with good memories of our 7-1 win over them back in May. Following a 3 tee start we came in losing 5.5 – 3.5.
Our last home match of the season, and my last as Captain, saw us welcome Bedford & County. It was an overcast start to the day, with the clouds allowing the occasional glimpse of the sun and eventually a small shower of rain towards the end of the match. Playing off the yellow tees on the John O’Gaunt course, the fairways were in super condition, although the greens had been treated during the few days prior to the match and took a bit of getting used to. We managed a 4-4 draw overall.
On 26th September away to Leighton Buzzard, this was our last match of the 2022 golfing season and I had delegated the task of leading the team to Vice Captain Jonathan Lean. After such a long hot summer it was rather a shock that the day dawned with a chill in the air and drizzle. The course had recovered from the ravages of summer sun and was green throughout. However, it resulted in a whitewash loss for JOG.
On 4th October we played the Annual 3 Clubs and a Putter competition, The Seniors proved once again that you don’t need a full set of clubs to record a good score. Out of 66 entrants in the Stableford competition, 19 players scored 36 points or more. The day was also marked by two holes-in-one, by Andrew Bowen on the Carthagena 2nd and John Church on the 11th. The winner, with 41 points, was Philip Armstrong, who achieved his win with driver, seven iron and gap wedge.
Golf Sub-committee – latest meeting was held on 10th October.
It was reported that IG now shows all tee bookings for competitions, societies etc so that members can follow course availability via the IG App.
Match fees with other clubs will in future be invoiced to other clubs and not to be reciprocal as now. Concerns were raised in the meeting about the extra burden of work and risk of errors this change would cause if implemented for 2023. 12 of the 13 clubs we play are reciprocal and this creates a simplified system.
Action:
AG to follow up. Our position is that we strongly favour the reciprocal system but are very willing to make it easier for the accounts department to administer if that were to be helpful.
Mike Tipper is organising a Charity Committee and the date for the first meeting of the committee was discussed and AG and JL hope to be able to attend. The Prostate Day was not discussed but will be part of the discussions which include the proposed Club Charity Weekend.
To be able to enter Club boarded competitions, players will need to have submitted at least 3 cards in the previous (rolling) 12 months.
The club is looking at having all Strokeplay competitions played as 3 balls on the 2-ball course of the day from 2024.
Captain’s Christmas Fayre is on the 10th December and there was some debate over meat prizes with it being 14 days before Christmas. Match fee £8.00
The Swap Day was also discussed at the Golf Committee Meeting and AG is following up and report back at the next committee meeting any feedback from the General Committee.
Action:
It was agreed that, with a couple of minor amendments, the new Swap Day proposal formulated by AG should be presented to the General Committee.
Vice Captain’s Report (JL)
JL briefly outlined his contact with members since the last meeting.
Treasurer's Report (RC)
The system for collecting income and making payments with the club is generally working well although there are still occasional issues.
RC outlined the current financial position of the seniors, and a discussion took place as to the amounts that will be provided to subsidise the Christmas Fayre and Presentation Dinner. RC will liaise with DW about engraving of trophies and AG offered the name of an engraver if DW wished to look elsewhere.
Secretary’s Report (RWT)
Membership has continued to grow since the club released some extra 5-day memberships and two new seniors who have just joined the club have been added since we last met. Both hope to play rounds with us and attend role up which is a good start. We also had an established member of the club wishing to join but his 60th birthday is not until 2023 and so he has to be on hold until January. Another club member signed up to play in our Autumn Stapleford and I have written to him to make him welcome. No response to date.
We can pick up the induction of new members elsewhere on the agenda.
We were in the high 180’s for membership when this year started, and we dropped the membership fee, and we are now at just under 230. I will need to go through the club membership list to check on leavers over the winter months when new subscriptions are made. Whilst the move away from a subscription and the growing club membership has brought in new members, of whom quite a few play in our events, we are still able to cater for all who want to play, albeit with one tee starts for the most popular events, and the roll up has proved to be an excellent way to get people into our activities and meet fellow seniors.
I have been liaising with Dave Wood regarding the arrangements for the Annual Dinner and the publicity for it via the Newsletter and all seems well in hand at the moment.
I am disappointed that we have not been able to confirm the calendar for 2023 due to the Dunstable Downs and Swap Day concerns and this is covered in a separate item on the agenda. I have already had requests for a sight of next year’s calendar from people planning holidays and I want to publish it to seniors well before Christmas. If we can do this it will also help Andy with setting up the matches, recruiting organisers and alerting members to the date to help them plan what they want to play in, etc.
The AGM will soon be upon us, and this is a separate agenda item. I now need to start planning for the AGM as we must get the notice of meeting and nominations out to members before Christmas.
Competition Secretary’s Report (JL)
Since the last meeting we have had the following competitions.
The Bailiff Shield was on Tuesday 30th August. We had a full field of 81 having a 2-tee start. It was won by Daryl Hayler with 42 points. Second was Alban Macdonald with 40 points and third was Rob Bage with 39 points, edging out 4 others on countback.
The 3 Clubs and a Putter was held on 4th October with 66 entrants. It was won by Philip Armstrong (again!) with 41 points. Second was John Church with 40 points and third was Chris Saunders also with 40 points. A remarkable 19 players achieved 36 points or better.
The Gordon Percival takes place on 1 th October. There are 87 in the secret team competition with one spare who is just playing in the Martin Ives.
Remaining competitions are Autumn Singles Stableford on 18 th October and Annual Stableford on the rearranged date of 26 th October. We also have the Arthur Lucas Bring and Win and the Christmas Fayre plus the match against the Juniors and the Match with the Ladies to arrange. I have set up entry lists for these matches but numbers will generally depend on the number of Juniors and Ladies available.
I have liaised with Tony Lloyd and together we have put all 2023 competitions on the system.
Christmas Fayre arrangements were discussed and, as the field is limited to 75 due to the Shotgun start, there is likely to be more applications than places. It was agreed that an entry list will be opened for up to 100 members and a ballot will take place to select those who are able to participate. As the Fayre is subsidised from competition entry fees throughout the year it was agreed that the ballot would be based upon the number of entries by individuals into GOTY competitions. Priority entry will be given to those members with a minimum of 3 GOTY entries.
Arthur Lucas Bring and Win £3
It was confirmed that the entry fee is £3 because there are no prizes for the first three in this event.
Match Secretary’s Report (AS)
AS in on holiday and so there was no report. All matches for the year have been completed.
Annual Dinner and Trophies
Dave Wood (DW) attended the meeting and discussed the arrangements for the dinner. This discussion included confirmation of who is invited to attend as guests and which competition winners and knockout finalists are also invited to attend before opening out to other members.
It was agreed to take the two-course option for the meal which is £25 per head and to subsidise this for members and their guests to bring the price per head to £20 each. With an earlier start of 6.15 for 6.45 and a two-course menu it is hoped that this will ensure an earlier finish time to the dinner and presentations than last year.
DW has the trophies and engraving in hand and was thanked for his hard work.
Calendar 2023 and matches with other clubs and Swap Days
RWT updated the meeting on the current position with Dunstable Downs for 2023 and circulated a list of possible other clubs and options open to us. It looks unlikely that Dunstable Downs will agree to 16 a side which leaves three options. Agree to their proposal to go to 12 a side, agree to their proposal for 2023 only to give us time to look elsewhere, stick to our decision on 16 a side and look elsewhere.
Of the other clubs that are possible to approach it was agreed that RWT should contact Northampton in the first instance, try to arrange something with them and keep the committee updated.
Until the fixture issue is resolved the calendar for 2023 cannot be published.
AG reported that the Swap Day remained on the club calendar for 2023 – see note in Captains report.
New Member Liaison Role
It was agreed that welcoming and inducting new members was an important function of the seniors. It was further agreed that the appointment of a person to lead on this would enable us to enhance what we currently do and help keep in touch with new members to the club and to the section over the first months that they join.
It was further agreed that such a role would be ex officio and that it would be advertised in the Newsletter in coming weeks and any current members interested would be invited to discuss the role with the committee.
AGM
RWT distributed copies of the 2021 AGM Notice to Members and Agenda for the AGM held in February 2022. It was agreed that similar arrangements will take place for the 2022 AGM to be held in February 2023 and that the Notice of meeting will be distributed in December 2022 with the closing date for nominations for officers to be in January 2023.
RC informed the meeting that he will be standing down as Treasurer at the AGM and the meeting discussed appointing a new Treasurer. RWT will publicise the vacancy in the Newsletter over coming weeks.
Roll up
A discussion took place about the time that groups are sent out in the roll up, particularly the last group.
It was agreed that we do not want the timings for the last group to be sent out creeping forward and the roll up organisers have been informed of concerns that have been recently raised. However, it was agreed that no other further action was necessary at the present moment.
AOB:
Courtesy Membership
Discussion took place as to whether we should insert a Courtesy Member clause into the Constitution to allow the committee discretion to invite a small number of under 60’s to participate in seniors events.
Action:
BW to draft a possible clause for the committee to consider at its next meeting.
Club 75th Anniversary
AG and JL are representing the seniors at a forthcoming meeting to discuss the arrangements for the clubs 75th Anniversary celebrations in 2023.
Hole in One
With two recent holes in one in seniors competitions there was an issue on the day with use of the Captains Card to contribute to the cost of the drinks that were purchased. The matter has now been resolved.
Charity Weekend
As mentioned above MT is forming a committee to look at the various aspects of this. The committee are keen for the seniors to be involved and will be represented at the initial meeting of the committee.
Date and time of next meeting
8th November
19th Jan - major agenda item is the AGM.
