In attendance: Tony Lloyd (TL), Algy Grimes (AG) Richard Westergreen – Thorne (RWT)
Barry Donovan (BD) Dave Wood (DW) David Barlow (DB) Nigel
Underwood (NU)
Apologies: Jonathan Lean (JL),
Minutes previous
Agreed
Matters arising not covered elsewhere on the agenda
None
Captain's report (TL)
Our inter-club matches, which began way back in
March, ended on Sept 19 with a thumping victory against Bedford and County.
More news, no doubt in Algy’s report.
For me it has been a very rewarding experience. It
has been an immense honour to captain the teams and I like to think that we
didn’t do too badly overall!
I would like to thank Algy and Alban for their
incredible work behind the scenes and all the organisers and participants for
their efforts throughout the year.
Treasurer's report (BD)
The financials position as at 13/10 is a bank
balance of £13.6k up from £9.k last month. This includes £3700 deposits for the
2026 Tour.
New processes are working well with the Main club.
A full review will be undertaken before the year end.
The 2026 Tour has been booked at the
Nottinghamshire on 20/22 May 2026. 26 are signed up and all but one has paid their
deposits.
Bank Account. Further attempts to resolve the
Online App issues with the Bank Account – still unresolved. Serious attempt to
review new Bank options will follow.
From a personal point of view I will be undergoing
knee surgery in October – confirmed as 27/10/25.This will impact my
availability for awhile. Shouldn’t impact things too much but I may need some help for
the Christmas Fayre.
Budget 2026. I will start this process over the
coming 2-3 weeks. Algy has confirmed that Match fees and food costs remain
unchanged – excellent news.
Any new events, costs or Revenues – please let me
know
The use of SumUp machines for raffles was
discussed.
Vice Captain's report (DB)
Nothing to report this month.
IPC report (RWT)
Nothing to report.
Secretary’s report (RWT)
A brief report this time with the calendar and AGM separate agenda items
for the meeting.
Four new members to report since the last meeting. Three new to the club
and one existing club member who asked me to circulate his note about setting
up a '9 holer' group. I hope that he gets some interest as it would be good to
have that option for members. I will keep in touch with him and report back.
Thanks to Algy for attending the recent club New Member Induction
Meeting and helping to make those who attended feel welcome. Two of the
new members to join us this month are a direct result of that induction
session.
As the calendar and AGM agenda items suggest I need to turn my attention
to the 2026 season and start getting the various lists and information up
together to circulate to members, committee and other clubs. Suggestions
welcome.
Finally, many thanks to Tony for finishing off and then sending the
Newsletter to members over the past couple of weeks.
Competition Secretary's report (NU)
Quite a busy time since our last meeting, with 3
competitions on consecutive Tuesdays. All have been completed without any major
issues, although numbers withdrawing have increased markedly for these three
competitions.
The “Autumn Swing” began with the Gordon Percival
hidden teams incorporating the Martin Ives individual trophy. This was won by
Lawrence Atherton with 41 points from Tony Lloyd on 39 and David Howley (also
39, countback). The hidden teams resulted, for the first time in memory, in a
tie on 104 points with Terry Domagala, Graham Berry and Philip Gow matched by
Oz Osman, Fred Williams and Richard Young. There being no way to apply countback,
the decision was taken to declare the trophy shared, both teams receiving vouchers.
We need to decide whether that is to be applied
should the situation occur again. One option would be to give the prize to the
team with the highest individual score but is that in the spirit of a team
competition?
Action Point: As it was very unlikely to happen very often it was agreed that if
there was a tie again in future then the trophy would be shared as it was for
2025.
The second leg was the Autumn Singles Stableford,
won by your humble correspondent with 38 points on JoG, on countback from
Stephen Mathers and Tony Munn on 37. Of 96 entrants, only 4 bettered 36 points
in ideal conditions. Divisional prizes went to Andy Brown, Terry Domagala and
Ken Brewer. It should be noted that these divisional prizes are generating lots
of positive feedback.
Tuesday saw the “three clubs and a putter”
competition on the Carthagena, the field for which was almost double last
year’s. Winner was Ian Simpson,37 pts on c/b from Bob Anderson, with Michael
Bonwick 3rd on 35 pts. There was a serious hold up caused by sending too many
matches off the 9th. In future I suggest no more than 11 starts from
the 9th, with 14 from the first and the field capped at 72 or 75.
I mentioned withdrawals earlier. In the week before
the Gordon Percival there were eight withdrawals. By an absolute fluke of
arithmetic (and Ken Wareham’s late entry
the numbers worked perfectly. There were 10 withdrawals in the week
before the stableford, less critical obviously, from the total entry number
angle. Up to Monday 15.00 hours there had been 11 withdrawals from 3 clubs and
a putter, partly covered by 4 late entries. I am not for a moment suggesting
any are for non-valid reasons, but 2 or 3 has been the norm and this is a
marked spike. No obvious reason, just how things are I suppose.
I am continuing to monitor slow play (slightly
better in these 2 comps).
Bring and win entry fee cut to £2.00 with 41
entries so far.
Action Point: the senior’s policy for withdrawal is that if notice is given more than
48 hours in advance the entry fee is refunded. Less than 48 hours it is not
refunded but added to the charity pot (with the discretion of the captain to
waive this dependent upon the reason for withdrawal). RWT to circulate this to
members via the Newsletter prior to the Arthur Lucas.
Match Secretary's Report (AG)
Since our last committee meeting, the Seniors’ team
completed their fixtures with a 4 all draw at Harpenden Common and finally a 7
– 1 win at home to Bedford and County.
The running totals finished the season as Won 13,
Drawn 2, Lost 15.
So onwards to next year, I have discussed the cost
of meals at home and there will be no increase, so I propose we keep the match
fees at £24.00 per match. Actual menu is still being worked on.
I will be talking with Alban soon regarding setting
the system up for 2026 so hopefully the Calendar is now fixed for the matches.
Action Point: subsequent to this report the club has intimated that there will be
price rises for the meals for 2026. AG and BD will follow up with the club and
report back to the committee.
Trophy Custodian's Report (DW)
The return of trophies to me for engraving is
progressing well and it is anticipated to have the trophies with the engraver
at the start of November.
I have obtained a larger wooden shield to attach to
the Rex Bullock Shield to enable the attachment of new cartouches in the
future. Wendy Ashworth obtained the shield on line at a cost of £27.50. I have
reimbursed her the full amount. I will arrange for our engraver to build the
combined shield and re-arrange the cartouches, leaving space on the face of the
shield for future additions.
The Baillif Shield is also lacking in space for
future winners to be added, although a few older cartouches could be moved to
the reverse of the shield, under the stand. This shield is the largest of our
shields, so is not suitable for adding an additional even larger shield.
Swap Day – Newmarket Links, 27th October 2025.
All arrangements for the day at both Courses are
complete – all we need now is a fine, dry day to help the occasion go well.
Club Vice-Captain Paul Fletcher has agreed to
perform a ‘meet and greet’ to the Newmarket Group, remarking that he is
honoured to have been asked.
Presentation Evening 2nd December 2025.
Arrangements/timings will remain as previous years.
The Presentation meal menu is now available following some delays in having it
ratified by Club Management.
Invitations have been sent out to our Captain's guests and to the Committee Members. These will be followed by invitations to
Competition winners and runners-up in the Knockout competitions when the finals
have been completed.
I propose to hold a raffle on the evening following
the success of its introduction last year. Raffle prize donations will be most
welcome.
Suspension of Play Protocol
The following policy that has been developed by NU was agreed by the
committee subject to final confirmation by the club:
THE GENERAL CLUB PROCEDURE FOR SUSPENDING ALL PLAY IS BY THE AIR HORN (KLAXON). IF HEARD, PLAY MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY (e.g. due to risk of lightning or other danger) AND PLAYERS MUST SEEK SHELTER AS APPROPRIATE.
· This procedure applies to Senior’s calendar competitions ONLY.
· A Senior’s Competition will start if the designated course is open for play.
· If there is any possibility of extreme weather during a Senior’s Competition, one or more members of the
Seniors Committee will be designated as points of contact. This will be
notified by email before play if the weather forecast suggests it may become relevant.
· If, during the course of a competition, players consider that areas have become unplayable, by reason of, for example,
flooded greens, dangerously strong winds, hail etc. they are
asked to contact the designated committee member/s who will
adjudicate. If necessary, play will be suspended. This will be signified by
ringing of a handbell and/or repeated blasts on a whistle. On hearing this,
balls must be marked in line with general golf rules and players must return to
the clubhouse without delay. Players are asked to inform other groups still
playing, who may not have heard the bell/whistle, of the situation.
· Play may be suspended for up to one hour, during which time information will be provided at least every 20 minutes. If conditions improve, play will resume when safe/possible.
If no improvement has occurred within one hour of suspension, the
competition will be deemed to be over. If 70% or more of entrants have
completed their rounds, results will be declared. If less than 70%,
the competition will be abandoned and entry fees refunded.
Calendar 2026
Action Point: RWT will confirm with Nigel Tarn that the calendar can now be entered
onto the club diary.
AGM 2025
This is due to take place on 3rd Feb.
2026.
A discussion took place regarding the arrangements
for the AGM and the process of nomination, voting and elections to posts on the
committee.
Action Point: RWT to bring draft ‘Notice of Meeting’ and ‘AGM Agenda’ notes to
members to the next meeting for confirmation in time for them to be distributed
to members.
Past Senior Captains' Lunch
The date for 2026 has been confirmed as Weds 14th
October.
AOB
Photographs in the club foyer - DB continues to
follow up
Peter Imray has sent a note to the committee
regarding the distribution of GOTY across both courses and playing formats.
Action Point: TL to invite Peter to a committee meeting to discuss
Dates of Future Meetings
Tues Nov 18th (note change of
date)
Thurs Jan 13 2026
Thurs Feb 3 2026 (AGM)
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