Seniors Section Officers 2020

Seniors Captain 2020 Bill Walker

Vice Captain 2020 Algy Grimes

Immediate Past Captain 2020 Dave Gauge

Honorary Treasurer Les Bolland

Honorary Secretary Richard Westergreen-Thorne 

Competition Secretary Jonathan Lean

Golf returns to John O’Gaunt, May 13th 2020

All smiles: Seniors Captain Bill Walker captures the moment golfers returned to John O’Gaunt following the Coronavirus lockdown

Here Algy Grimes, Seniors Section Vice Captain, reports on the first day back

Well here we are back on the course after about eight weeks away in Lockdown, what a lovely sunny day to start. On arrival at the car park I was surprised to see quite a few cars, but the main area in front of the clubhouse was quite empty.

After getting my clubs and trolley together and changing my shoes I walked towards the Pro-shop to register for the John O’Gaunt course, before I got there I was greeted by the course marshal, none other than our Senior Section Captain Bill Walker. He had obviously been riding around the course a lot because he was getting more fuel in his buggy to enable him to carry on his duties.

In the Pro-shop there was a nice welcome from Lee and Sue, who were both very happy to be back. Sue was busy arranging a lot of new stock for sale.  If anyone needs a new shirt because they have changed size during the lockdown, then I am sure you will find something to suit.

Then it was off to the first tee, in front of the new conservatory, but no audience in it to put you off. It was slightly daunting, after this time, to see the ball on the tee peg and thinking I hope I can still hit it. I thought it was a good first shot, only to find it very close to one of the trees on the left of the fairway, a chip out to the fairway and then the third shot found the bunker to the left of the green, playing match play I lost that hole.

It was great to see the course in such lovely condition, a testament to all the work by Nigel and his team. It took me a couple of greens to get used to the pace, but unusually for me I was pleased my putting wasn’t too bad, each hole has a foam sleeve in it to make it easy to retrieve your ball.

The ten minute gap between tee times meant it was really like millionaires golf, no hold-ups in front and nobody in sight behind, it was a very enjoyable round, how nice it would have been to finish in the bar as we used to. Let’s hope those days return later in the year. Most importantly everyone was kept safe and social distancing was never an issue. Stay safe.

Algy Grimes

Vice Captain Senior Section

Seniors Section Committee Meeting Tuesday 5th May 2020

Seniors Committee Meeting

Tuesday 5th May 2020

Outline of discussion

Attendees:

Captain​​​​Bill Walker (Chair)​​​(BW)

Vice Captain​​​​Algy Grimes​​​​(AG)

Immediate Past Captain​​Dave Gauge​​​​(DG)

Hon Sec/Match Sec​​Richard Westergreen – Thorne​(RWT)

Competitions Sec​​Jonathan Lean​​​​(JL)

Hon Treasurer​​Les Bolland​​​​(LB)

Club Vice Captain​​Paul Fletcher (for item 1)​​(PF)

Apologies – None

Club Vice Captain Paul Fletcher (PF)

PF was welcomed to the meeting and outlined some of the work and planning that is taking place to enable the club to reopen safely when the government allows us to do so. It is clear from government and Golf England pronouncements that access to the courses, for the foreseeable future, will be for singletons and pairs by booked tee times with 10 mins gaps.

PF confirmed that the tee booking system will remain in place only as long as necessary. 

The current plan is to have Marshals on the courses when they reopen to ensure that overcrowding does not take place and members of the committee offered to act as Course Marshals if required.

The matter of a two tee start was raised and discussed. 

The Committee thanked Paul for his attendance and noted that the committee expressed its appreciation that club were engaging and consulting with the Senior Section about the return to playing golf and other matters in general.

Captains Report

BW covered the following areas within his report:

Seniors Section profile within the Club including the fact that he was a member of the new Golf and Social Committee of the club and that he saw this as a very welcome development.

Golf & Social Committee meeting 28 April 2020

The main thrust of the Committee meeting was to decide how the reintroduction of golf could be managed in order to allow play while keeping members safe. 

A general statement to the members (as details may change dependent on Government advice nearer the time) has been given to members via the weekly newsletter.  

Proposal for 2 Tee starts for home Interclub matches - see above

The report was discussed and its recommendations agreed.

Vice Captains Report

AG explained how he had used email to pass on our sympathies following two recent deaths and it was agreed that he should continue to use email in the current circumstances.

AG has compiled a members list with phone numbers from the website. It was agreed that, at this point, we would not seek to contact members individually to ascertain their welfare but would continue to use the newsletter to encourage members to contact each other.

Action: AG to organise Senior Captains Day on 25th August in conjunction with BW - if it goes ahead.

 Treasurers Report

The Treasurer reported that the bank account was showing a healthy balance given that members subscriptions had been received but there had been no major expenditure to date. However, this was qualified by the fact that despite the period of Club closure, this would normally be the case at this stage of the season, as those events which normally result in significant expenditure do not occur until later in the season

A discussion took place regarding various options for the money taken this year from joining fees and knockout entries. It was agreed to hold this matter over to the next meeting in August.

Hon Sec Report

Peter as Captain and Gordon as Manager have been very receptive to increasing our profile within the club and a new Senior Section link has been added in the news part of the club website. They have suggested that we populate it with full details of the Senior Section including photographs of officers, etc. It was agreed that RWT to circulate a draft page for the club website for committee members to comment and, once agreed, to be added to the club website.

The newsletter seems to be well received by members judging by the feedback received to date. 

RWT has started the process of setting dates for matches for 2021. 

The provisional swop date with Northampton is on the 2021 draft club calendar and on the calendar RWT is developing for 2021 for matches and competitions.

Competition Secretaries Report

There is of course nothing to report regarding ongoing competitions.  However, JL has been giving some thought to how we could proceed once we are allowed to continue playing and these were discussed. 

They included:

• The type of competitions we can play 

• The type of competitions that the Seniors members would like to participate in could affect the ones that we seek to complete in the time available to us before the end of the year.  It is obvious that the vast majority of members will be extremely rusty and therefore this would seem to suggest that Medal competitions would be less likely to be popular with Stablefordcompetitions more attractive.  I would suggest also that the GOTY be suspended for this year.

• Assuming we are only allowed 2-ball format, the following competitions could be considered to be re-scheduled:-

• All except

• Foursomes knockout

• Four ball better ball

• Ken Robinson Scramble

• Members and Guest Day (unless this could be held as a 2-ball with member playing with their guest)

• Gordon Percival Team Trophy

• 2 Clubs and Putter (although this could be played as a 2-ball but it is one of the least popular competitions)

• Seniors vs Juniors

• Match with the Ladies

• Remaining competitions to be prioritised according to popularity of Stableford vs Medal.

The report was discussed and it was agreed that we will need to ‘wait and see’ regarding next steps for the introduction of competitive golf.

Captain 2020 – 2022

After discussion it was agreed that if, as is very likely, little, if any, competitive golf takes place this year that the Committee will propose to members that BW continues in office for 2021 and AG remains as Vice-Captain until taking over as Captain in 2022. 

It was agreed that it was not likely to require a change in the constitution to roll over the captaincy but would need to be put to the membership as part of the AGM process. 

If BW continues in office for another year then LB agreed to be nominated as Treasurer for a further year.

Dates of future meetings:

4 August 2020

3 November 2020

9 December 2020

19 January 2021

Coronavirus Cointrol Measures- 23rd March 2020

Coronavirus Control Measures - Course Closure (23 Mar 20)

We are living in quite extraordinary times when there are many more important matters than golf. 

Following the Prime Minister’s address to the nation this evening, we are obliged to close the golf courses with immediate effect; this includes the practice facilities, the ProShop and the Clubhouse.

As stated by the Prime Minister, these measures will be reviewed after an initial period of 3 weeks; please continue to monitor e-mails from the Club and regularly check our Facebook page for more information.

Clearly, following on from National and County level decisions, all Club competitions and knockouts have been postponed until 31 May at the earliest – this will be reviewed on an ongoing basis.  Any member who has entered such events will be refunded their entry fee.

These are truly exceptional times.

Look after yourselves, your family and neighbours...this is much more important than a game of golf!

Keep well, keep safe.

Message taken from club website.

Seniors and Ladies Greensomes - Thursday 5th March 2020

Seniors and Ladies Brave The Mad March Weather 

March 5^th saw this year’s first mixed competition between the Ladies and Seniors of John O'Gaunt Golf Club.

After a shotgun start, and despite the freezing damp conditions, 50 mixed pairs played a Greensomes format competition on the Carthagena.  And despite the worsening weather conditions all pairings completed the course.

Then back to the clubhouse, not just to warm up, but to enjoy cakes and savouries supplied by the ladies, with the men providing the liquid refreshments!
 

In first place were Val Day and Ton McEvoy with a superb 39 points, closely followed by Pat Harrington and Derek Young with 38 on countback.  In third position were David Lincoln and Jim McIlwaine also on 38.

(Thanks to Val Cooper for the report and photographs)



Winners Val Day and Tom McAvoy with
Ladies Captain Anita Isaacson and Seniors Captain Bill Walker



Runners-up Pat Harrington and Derek Young



The Competition Cake

Senior Section AGM - Tuesday 4th February 2019

There were 62 members present at the AGM, with over 100 not able to attend. David Gauge welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave his report. Following this he presented the new Captain, Bill Walker, with his captain's sweater and after this Bill returned the favour by presenting David with a gift from the Seniors Members.

David Crosby was presented with a gift by Bill for his services to the section as Hon Sec for the past three years.

The new committee is made up as follows;
Captain - Bill Walker
Vice Captain - Algy Grimes
Hon Sec & Match Sec - Richard Westergreen-Thorne
Competitions Sec - Jonathan Lean
Hon Treasurer - Les Bolland
Immediate Past Captain - David Gauge



Outgoing Captain David Gauge opens the meeting

David presents new Captain Bill Walker with his sweater

New Captain Bill Walker address the meeting

David is presented with his gift from the Seniors

David Crosby is presented with a parting gift for his services as Hon Sec.

History of the John O'Gaunt Golf Club Seniors Section

The John O’Gaunt Seniors’ Section – The Story so Far.

The John O’Gaunt Golf Club was first constituted in 1948, but it was not until 1977 that the Senior Section was first inaugurated. The story began when a small group of retired members came to the conclusion that it would be in everyone’s interest if there was some structure to their somewhat ad hoc arrangement to their weekday meetings to play golf. This intrepid band of stalwarts included a Mr Jimmy Lane who was installed as first Captain in 1977. He was ably supported by: Hector Barratt, Cedric Woodger; Rex Clever; John Spence and John Freeman all of whom can legitimately be acknowledged as the ‘Founding Members’. The records also show that each of them, with the exception of Jimmy Lane, subsequently became Captain of the Section after serving one year as Secretary.

The function of Secretary was far removed from that seen by current holders of this position since there were no rules; subscriptions or trophies to be played for. It was definitely an era of ‘Senior Citizens’ as most of them were 65 and over. In the words of one of them “A genuine group of old crocks”. The numbers at this time were around twenty people.

Inter club fixtures were also very limited in the early years and it was one of the main tasks of the Secretary of the day to test out the prospect of playing other clubs in the area, and of course negotiating a slot with the General Committee for the return match. This task proved to be quite difficult in those more austere years. They were eventually with Harpenden Common which became one of their first fixtures and was very popular with members at that time because the Harpenden course was relatively flat and not that difficult. [author’s note: some things never change].Another popular venue was Berkhamstead where, quote “all the member were Gentlemen”. This status was earned by the Berkhamstead team who waited on their guests during the meal. A further complication was the fact that few clubs at the time had a organised Senior Section and in that sense it could be said where John O’Gaunt Led, others followed. Has time went on and more people retired, the section grew and with it came the need for a more permanent figure in the role of Secretary, a challenge which was take on by John Freeman who served in that capacity for eight years. During this time the membership continued to grow and has contact with other clubs developed the [match] fixture list grew to include: Ramsey, Wellingborough and Ashridge. Gathering a team together was often a problem and it was not uncommon for John to have to press gang non-retired members to make up the numbers. [author’s note: and then some things do change]

Another one of John’s successes at this time was his effort to persuade the General Committee to approve internal Competitions. The first of these was the Annual Medal Trophy which he very generously donated and was first played for in 1979.

At this time, the General Committee also granted permission for the Seniors to hold a Member and Guest day which also included a handsome trophy donated by Phil Whitbread. Another very welcome addition to the trophy collection at this time was donated by the Trustees Savings Bank for the annual match against the Club Juniors. This came about because by now subscriptions had been introduced and the £1 membership fee required the Section to open an account. When John finally handed over to Frank Tilley in 1986, the number of inter club matches had risen to 10 with 8 internal fixtures.

Shortly after Frank’s term of office, the vogue for early retirement began and very quickly the membership had risen from forty to ninety. With membership increasing and the popularity of the Club’s Senior Section becoming more established, the fixture list grew to the point where the club set a ceiling thirteen home matches. By the time Frank gave up the post of Secretary the Section was in desperate need of help and the role of treasurer and Leo Pickett took office.

A further phase in the development of the Senior Section came with the appointment of Gilbert Stewart as Secretary in 1991 and, at his behest, the establishment of a Section Committee which is now appointed and approved annually at the Section Annual general meeting. At the time of writing the membership stands at 170 with the Section being self financing and able to contribute funds to the Juniors’ Section as well as selected charities. The Seniors do not ask the Club for financial aid and contribute significantly to Club income through bar takings as well as supporting the catering facility. The annual Christmas prize-giving dinner which was inaugurated in 1979 is now a major event in the Club diary providing the Section with an opportunity to show its appreciation to the Club management and administrative team for their value support.

In conclusion, it is worth noting the contribution that many of the Seniors have made to the overall running of John O’Gaunt. Jimmy Lane for instance, served on the General Committee and later became President of the Club from 1979 to 1985. Cedric Woodger became Club Captain in 1982.

 

Mr Cedric Woodger Club Captain 1982

 

 

                                                                             Mr Rex Clever Club Captain 1986-87

 Rex Cleaver is of course now well established in the annals of the Club for his work in producing the first Club Brochure in 1989 following his term as captain in 1986. There were many mainstream developments during these evolutionary years of the Club with perhaps the notable being the creation of the Burgoyne suite, which involved a major contribution from Reg. Parrot. Reg. Was Chairman of the House Committee at the time and shouldered significant responsibilities for the controversial project.

Finally, the primary and real success story of the Seniors’ Section is the camaraderie and friendship which has grown up between members and fellow members of other clubs that distinguish it not just as one Section within John O’Gaunt Golf Club  but as a fraternity which works so well for its members and for the general Club as a whole.

Throughout the years the list of trophies for which the Seniors now play has grown to include the following:

Trophy	Format
John Freeman	Annual Medal Trophy
Rex Clever	Championship Trophy
Rex Bullock	Shield
Reg Batson	Aggregate Shield
TSB	Trophy
The Kethro Tray	Captain’s Trophy
Phil. Whitbread	Member and Guest
Gordon Percival	Team Trophy
Donator unknown	Annual Stableford Trophy
Harry Bailiff	Bailiff Shield
Neville Hoole	Trophy
Arthur Lucas	Cup
Bessant/East	Scratch Trophy
Donator Unknown	Foursomes Knockout Trophy
Green/Tilley	Singles Knockout Trophy

Year	Captain	Year	Captain
1977	J Lane	2000	M R T Holmwood
1978	C A Woodger	2001	R M Horley
1979	RF Cleaver	2002	J Allan
1980	J Spencer	2003	E J Crome
1981	J Freeman	2004	P S Morris
1982	R G Bullock	2005	L W T Tharby
1983	F C Snape	2006	C M Poole
1984	A N Pirie	2007	B J Bullen
1985	J Nichols	2008	T F Hazell
1986	W G Wilson	2009	A D Bliss
1987	L Seeley	2010	Dr F D Moyniham
1988	R G Parrott	2011	W E Skelding
1989	W M Hyde	2012	R L Smith
1990	J Hellyer	2013	J Moms
1991	P G East	2014	A A Fowler
1992	J G Ince	2015	R G Coventry
1993	R D Hutchinson	2016	J A Peacock
1994	J G Windsor	2017	F Williams
1995	R Batson	2018	J Kerr
1996	R Emery	2019	D Gauge
1997	Marshall	2020	W Walker
1998	T J Pugh	2021
1999	W H R Howard	2022