Captain’s Corner, September 2023

Captain’s Corner: In case you missed it in Richard’s newsletter, here are Captain Jonathan’s thoughts on how his year is going so far

The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind so I thought that I would take a few minutes to let you all know how things are going.

I am now just over halfway through my term of office, and I can honestly say that I am enjoying it more than I expected to. Yes, it involves playing a lot of golf and I rarely play just because I want to. Mostly I play because it is expected but this does not make it any less enjoyable.

I was on the committee helping to organize the 75th Anniversary celebrations which culminated in the fun evening on 24th June. What a great evening it was which started off with a spectacular flying display and continued with dodgems, fairground games and a hog roast. Live music on the patio rounded things off beautifully.

I have also been serving on the Club Charity Committee. This committee was set up to coordinate the activities of the Club, Ladies, Juniors and Seniors fundraising efforts in order to maximise the amount raised and to ensure that various activities were not duplicated. Part of this effort was the 54-hole challenge which I have reported on before. Just to update you, my Just Giving page has so far raised £1496 in donations plus £347 in tax rebate. Enormous thanks to all who have so generously donated.

There are still exciting opportunities to participate in the overall fundraising campaign. In particular I would like to highlight the ongoing two raffles with a prize of 1 year’s membership fee in one raffle and a car parking space for 1 year in the other. £20 per ticket for the membership raffle and £10 per ticket for the car parking space. A small price to pay for valuable prizes.

I was also among the club members who helped out hosting the recent England Boys County Finals week. I tried not to get too depressed with the distance and accuracy that these young lads were able to achieve. What dedication they showed also with several of them, even after 2 rounds of golf in the day, still went down to the practice ground. Perhaps this is where I am going wrong!

A quick word about the Seniors Committee. As you know, there will be a shuffling of positions at our AGM. These positions will be made public when the nominations are announced. However, I think that it is always healthy to have new blood with new ideas and fresh enthusiasm on any committee. We are also constantly on the lookout for people who are willing to assist in organizing or running events without having to be on the committee itself. Jobs such as roll-up organisers, competitions trophies, Christmas Fayre and Annual Dinner arrangements, Member and Guest Day, etc. are all opportunities for more of you to get involved and lighten the load of the committee. If any of you would like to help out or indeed have aspirations to serve on the main committee, please just have a quiet word with any of the existing committee members.

September is a busy month for golf activities, October is a bit quieter and then we are into the ‘end of term’ fun events. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in these events.

Kind regards to you all.

Jonathan