Some of the 2009 West Vets Prizewinners - Click to enlarge
The 2009 West Vets AGM was held at Cowglen Golf Club today and West Vets Captain chaired the meeting. She welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies were noted of the members who were unable to attend
The minutes of the 2008 were taken as read and were proposed and seconded
Financial Report 2009
Sheila Shaw (Treasurer) then gave a very detailed account of the finances and thanke Jan MacNab of Lochwinnoch and Ranfurly Castle for auditing the accounts.
Captains Report --- Helen Faulds
I thought for almost the first time in my life I would look at my horoscope this morning and unbelievably do you know what it said? No, well I’ll tell you, it said that I should stay out the limelight, say or do nothing controversial and have a very quiet day--so here’s hoping!!!
Membership We have 178 members 22 on the waiting list and to date 2 resignations. One of the resignations is from Wendy Cameron who has contributed such a lot to both the West Vets and the Scottish Vets. She captained the Scottish Vets (successfully) in 1991 and was also President in 2001. We are sorry she has left but she felt it was only fair to let someone in from the waiting list.
We had mixed weather for our competitions this year, which would also be the best adjective to describe my golf.
The Spring Meeting at Sandyhills was the qualifier for the Championship and although the forecast was horrendous and the course was wet underfoot there was no rain on the day. Unfortunately I think the forecast affected our numbers and of the 80 entered only 51 played. My thanks to Moira McCartney who organised the draw and manned the desk dealing with call offs etc.
Helen Faulds was the leading qualifier with a scratch 83.
Summer Meeting was held at Douglas Park. Disappointing turnout of just 30 ladies. The Heather Anderson trophy (Best Scratch) was won by Alex Glennie with a 79.
Autumn meeting was at Erskine on not a particularly great day--grey skies and rain on and off. 37 ladies took part. Carol Fell, who is definitely trying to make this trophy her own, won the May Craddock Trophy for the second year running with a nett 74.
Matches
Our first match this year was the singles against Midlands at Dunblane G C and believe it or not we had a glorious day on a lovely course. Throw in great hospitality and the fact the team drew 31/2—31/2 it was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Unfortunately as it was a draw Midlands who had won the previous year, retained the Mid-West trophy.
The East v West singles match was held at Gullane no 1 on a very windy but bright day. East won by 7 matches to 2- although many of the games went to the 18th. East therefore retained the Elise Duncan Trophy. Thank you to the East vets for looking after us so well and for a super meal after the competition.
Thanks to Marion Stewart and Mo Neilson for stepping in to play at the last minute. I am determined we are going to win this fixture next year so all low handicappers take note and put the date –Wednesday 23rd June 2010 in your diary.
Our third and final match of the year was the foursomes match v East and we hosted this at Troon.
The result was a draw 21/2 – 21/2 and this time as we were the holders we retained the ASP Trophy. This team is definitely the most successful in recent years. Well done.
Thank you to all the ladies who played in the teams this year whether winners or not.
I would also like to record my thanks to Sandyhills, Douglas Park, Erskine, Troon Portland and Renfrew for courtesy of their courses and use of their clubhouses. We are extremely fortunate at the moment that we are still given courtesy by most clubs in the West of Scotland.
Championship
Oh dear where do I start? I don’t know if many of you will remember that particular week in May when we had monsoon weather and Scotland nearly floated away.
We were, as usual, at Renfrew GC, and on the first day, on the Tuesday morning managed to get the first round played in a light drizzle but had to abandon the semi-finals in the afternoon after 4 holes as the greens and indeed, the course disappeared under water.
We marked our balls, came back the next morning, walked out behind the men who were playing their medal. One lady who shall remain nameless realised halfway down the first fairway that she was pushing her caddy car minus the battery!! She did wonder why her trolley was feeling a bit heavy. Anyway we managed to get the games finished, before once again the weather deteriorated and play was impossible. As we were now at the finals stage we arranged dates that suited the 4 players and the golf club and eventually completed the Finals in June.
The Championship finalists were Helen Faulds and Linda McDougall which Helen won and The Bronze Championship was contested by Ann Donnelly and Maureen Rennie
Maureen, with a great display of putting, coming out on top.
Thanks to all the players for staying with it in very trying circumstances and to the caddies who were invaluable in those conditions. Thanks also to the referees (That was myself and Fiona) and the spectators (too many or was it too few to be mentioned) and finally to Renfrew who give us courtesy of their course every year to hold our championships.
Congratulations to all of our Vets who have played in Senior and not so Senior competitions in Scotland and elsewhere this past year.
Alex Glennie was a reserve for Scottish Vets and the Senior Home International teams. Alex was 4th in the Scottish Seniors Strokeplay and lost in the semi finals of the matchplay to the eventual winner, Heather Anderson. She also reached the semi finals of Ayrshire County Championships. And just to keep her busy she will be Ayrshire County Captain for next 2 years.
May Hughes played in the Scottish v Irish Vets Match at Cruden Bay (more of which later) May has also been Captain of Lanarkshire this year in their Centenary year.
Helen Faulds was 12th in Scottish Seniors strokeplay and lost in 2nd round of Matchplay, reserve for the Senior’s Home Internationals and played for Scottish Vets in the Jamboree at Bath. She was also a semi finalist in Dunbartonshire and Argyll County Championships and won the Club Championships at Bearsden, Douglas Park and Elie and Earlsferry.
The 2 Helens-Helen Robertson and Helen Faulds representing Douglas Park were runners up in the Scottish Foursomes Strokeplay at Forfar. I may say there was only a mere 84 year’s difference in the combined age of the winners and us---the winners being the Briggs sisters.
Anna Telfer qualified in 6th place from Scottish Seniors Strokeplay Championships and lost in semi final of 2nd flight to the eventual winner Kathleen Sutherland.
She won the Scratch prize at the Counties Open Meeting at Dullater and Anna also led her Milngavie team to victory in the 1st division of the Greenlees.
Janice Paterson did extremely well in the Irish Open Strokeplay making the cut for the last day and finishing in a very creditable 13th place in very difficult weather conditions. Janice also won the inaugural Riccarton Salver for Senior ladies at the Riccarton Rosebowl.
Marion Stewart finished 2nd handicap in the Fife Open Centenary Competition.
Jennifer Mack won Haggs Castle Club Championship
Maureen Woodhead won the championship at Gourock and won the British Ladies Civil service Golf Championships to add to the Scottish Ladies Civil Service Title.
Linda McDougall won her club championship at Greenock.
Mo Neilson and Elspeth Hanlon won the Renfrewshire Centenary Shotgun Stableford at Pollock GC.
And congratulations to Trish Brown who not only has just taken over as captain of Renfrewshire but also will have a busy year as the wife of the Captain of the R&A
Finally, congratulations go to Carol Fell who was made an Honorary Member of Renfrewshire Ladies' County at last nights AGM
I hope I’ve not missed anyone out who should have been mentioned but if I have please feel free to let me know and it will be recorded in the minutes.
However, I think this impressive list of achievements prove there’s life in the old dogs yet.
This would be an appropriate time to record our congratulations to the Scottish Senior Team who won the Home Internationals at Newport for the first time. They did so in style by winning all 3 matches against England, Ireland and Wales. Well done—a fantastic win.
As most of you will know our website is looked after by Carol Fell and she does a super job. At the Greenlees lunch last week Fiona thanked Carol for the amount of effort and time she puts into the Greenlees section on the West of Scotland Website and I would like to say ditto for the West vets site. It is always up to date and full of interesting news. If you haven’t looked at the video of Carol and Jennifer Mack dancing together then you have missed something very special!! The website address is on our fixture card. And if you get the chance have a look at the East vets website set up this year by the East vice Captain Noreen Fenton. Noreen has a wonderful way with words and her reports are very funny and well worth reading.
Scottish Vets Matches Report
As I already mentioned May Hughes played in the Vets match against the Irish and she then gave her report --------
Cruden Bay, which was bathed in sunshine with a very stiff North Sea breeze was the venue for the annual friendly match with the Irish for the Mary McKenna Trophy.
The trophy has been in existence since 2000 and the five previous matches were won by Scotland so there was no added pressure to keep the run going. At times it was difficult to concentrate on the task in hand as the scenery along this coast line is impressive and well worth the trip north.
But concentrate we did and our team of Fiona Hunter, Heather Anderson, Kathleen Sutherland, Fiona De Vries, Lorna Bennett, Jill Harrison, Mary Smith and yours truly managed a slight lead of 2.5 to 1.5 in the first day foursomes.
After a very pleasant evening dinner and entertainment with tall stories being told, (although I think the Irish stories were much taller than ours) Captain Lynne ensured we didn’t partake of too many drinks and packed us off to bed before midnight.
The match resumed on Sunday and we took 5 of the eight singles to retain the trophy. This fixture is both friendly and competitive and played with lots of good humour. The trip across the Irish Sea in 2010 to Portmarnock is eagerly awaited and I hope we have some west vets in the team.
Vet’s Jamboree at Bath –August 2009
The team selected was:Heather Anderson (Alyth), Lorna Bennett (Ladybank), Helen Faulds (Douglas Park),Fiona Hunter (Baberton), Mary Smith (Tain),Kathleen Sutherland (Montrose),Moira Thomson (North Berwick),Fiona de Vries (St Rule)
The Jamboree was held at Bath GC in early August and I know this seems to be a favourite theme of mine but once again the weather played a huge part in this competition. In fact Bath was very appropriate -- someone forgot to pull the plug out!!!!
Scotland made a good start to their defence of the Miller Stirling Trophy when we beat England North 71/2-11/2 on a very wet course. We won the foursomes 3-0 and took 41/2 points in the singles.We made it 2 wins out of 2 by beating England midlands on day 2. Overnight rain had made the greens unplayable until the afternoon and the match was decided on a singles only basis. Scotland won 5-3.
Kathleen Sutherland and I, who weren’t playing in the morning and had been told to take it easy were doing exactly that and we were on the sight seeing bus touring round Bath when we got a call to say we were needed at the golf course because the foursomes had been cancelled and the singles were about to start. I think it was the fastest we have ever moved but made it in time and indeed both won.
And so to day 3 and victory. In winning against England South 51/2-31/2 and maintaining 100% record Scotland retained the Trophy.
The team were well looked after by Captain Lynn Terry, vice Captain Pam Williamson and President Isobel McIntosh. Thanks to Secretary Jean Lambert who made all the arrangements for our stay. I should also mention the owner of the hotel we were staying in, although not a golfer, became very interested in the competition and was so excited when we won, brought out the champagne to toast our success.
Blairgowrie
Good weather, you’ll be pleased to hear. Not such good news was that I was beaten in the first round of the Championship by Lorna Bennett (Midlands). Neither of us played well—I just managed to be that wee bit worse. Lorna went on to win the final in a very good match against Moira Thomson(East).
But the really good news is that Alex Glennie won both the Scratch and Handicap Trophies in the strokeplay competition on Rosemount. She won the Patrick Rosebowl and the Lyon Picture which are both on display here today. Alex had a 76 scratch, 72 nett.Well played Alex.
In the Greensomes on Landsdowne Carol Fell and Helen Faulds were 2nd Scratch with a gross 80 and Susan Young and Jess Blackwood were 3rd handicap with a net 74.8.
Well done to you all.
Scottish Vets Captain Lynne Terry reported on the 2 vets matches this year and said she was delighted to finish her 2 year captaincy with a 100% winning record---a hard act to follow for her successor.
Lynne announced next years competitions are
Irish Match will be played at Portmarnock Links from 17th-19th April. This is the 10th anniversary of the match started by Mary MacKenna and Mary is keen to make an occasion of it by inviting those who played in previous matches to go to Portmarnock next year. More information to follow.
The Vets Jamboree is to be held at Seascale Golf Club, Cumbria from 3rd-5th August.
Tony Moffat Legacy. Tony was a great supporter of Vets golf in Scotland and when she died she very generously left a legacy to the SVLGA of £4000, which she stipulated had to be spent on the jamboree.
3 decisions were made.
1 It was agreed that whilst the winners of the Jamboree win the Miller Stirling Salver, there is no runners up prize and, with the approval of the 3 Divisions in England,a Quaich or similar would be purchased in Tony’s name to be presented to the runners up.
2 Ball markers with the SVLGA logo would be ordered for members to buy and for Scottish teams to give as a gift to their opposition.
3. When the jamboree is in Scotland which is every 4 years, some of the money would go towards helping with running costs.
Past President Dawn Moore proposed a Quaich be purchased for Ladies over 70 as the majority of those playing at Blairgowrie were over 65. The
Past Presidents were happy to donate this for next year.
Championship dates for 2010 (tbc) Sunday 19th, Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st Sept.
Election of Scottish Vets Office Bearers
Jean Lambert was re-elected Secretary.
Lynne Terry handed over the Captain’s badge to Pam Williamson (East) who then announced her vice captain would be Helen Faulds (West).
Fiona and I realised this year that many of the Vets, perhaps especially new vets don’t really have any idea of what is involved at Blairgowrie and indeed how you apply to get there. So we have produced an information sheet which hopefully explains the procedure.
The entry forms are sent to our secretary in March and it is up to the individual to ask for one to be sent to her.
Election of Office Bearers (West Division)
Pat Walker and Sheila Goudie - Click to enlarge
Pat Walker now retires from committee having served her 1 year as Past Captain. Thank you Pat for your wise words and hard work over the past 5 years and also a very big thank you for the 3 Quaichs you very kindly donated last year for the super vets at our 3 competitions. I think the winners of the super vets would say it is far nicer to receive a Quaich than a golf ball.
Captain and Vice Captain remain for another year. And Fiona thank you so much for all your help this year—you have been amazing.
Sheila Goudie had intimated at the start of this year that after 4 years she was happy to retire from the secretary’s position and so we knew we were on the lookout for her successor. Before I say who that is I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sheila for all her hard work on our behalf for the past 4 years. I for one didn’t realise how much there is to do until I had to do it just a tiny part of it. Ruth, you didn’t hear me say that. We really do appreciate all you have done and we wish you all the very best for the future.
Sheila Shaw (Treasurer) and Ruth Henderson (New Secretary) -Click to enlarge
I am delighted to say that Ruth Henderson has agreed to be our new secretary (proposed by Helen Faulds and seconded by Fiona Rogers). When I spoke to a friend of Ruth’s at Williamwood she said we couldn’t have asked a better person to do the job as she is extremely capable and very efficient. I think the West vets will be in very good hands.
Sheila Shaw, our extremely efficient Treasurer has agreed to continue in that post and I, for one am delighted as Sheila is one of those people who just quietly goes about her business keeping our accounts in order.
Moira McCartney retires from committee today. Moira is just brilliant. Apart from the fact she has a great sense of humour she was so willing to take on any job she was asked to do. Thank you Moira.
Maureen Mitchell has got done a great job with the sweaters, selling, buying and keeping records of our stock and she has very kindly agreed to continue next year.
Thanks also to Moira Cameron and Janice Paterson for their support. They have another year before they escape.
We have one place to fill on committee and Jinty Halley (Douglas Park) has agreed to fill the vacancy. Jinty has been proposed by Janice Paterson and Moira McCartney
FIXTURES FOR 2010
Before I tell you courses and dates for next year can I explain that there will be a slight change to the fixture card next year. The committee have decided that we play our qualifying competition for the Championships too early in the season. As you know we play it with the Spring Meeting in April. The courses are not great at that time, the weather is suspect and the players have hardly started their playing season. So bearing this in mind, plus the fact we don’t need to have a champion till the Blairgowrie meeting in late September we propose to play the qualifying round with the Summer Meeting, hopefully in better weather and on better prepared courses.
So we propose that both the Spring and Summer meetings will be pre-entered and the Autumn Meeting will remain a running ballot.
The Championship will again be at Renfrew Golf Club but a month later, in June.
Spring Meeting –Wednesday 21st April –Lanark GC—pre-balloted.
Summer Meeting and Championship Qualifying—Thursday 27th May –Old Ranfurly GC –pre-balloted
Autumn Meeting-Thursday 9th September—Milngavie GC—running ballot.
Obviously we will send out entry forms with the fixture card next year. Spring and Summer competitions will be pre-balloted. When you apply please remember to enclose a SAE and please don’t ask for a specific time as it is very difficult to accommodate everyone.
Matches
Singles v Midlands---Monday 7th June—Douglas Park
Singles v East—Wednesday 23rd June –Troon Portland (tbc)
Foursomes v East –Monday 9th August -Gullane
Still waiting to hear from Troon
Championships at Renfrew GC –Tuesday 1st June
2009 PRIZEWINNERS:
Spring Meeting –Sandyhills
Scratch: Helen Faulds (Douglas Park) 83
Silver
1st: Helen Robertson (Douglas Park) 87-11-76
2nd: Jennifer Graham (Haggs Castle) 90-11-79
3rd: May Hughes (Lanark) 84-5-79
Bronze
1st: Helen Crichton (Ranfurly Castle) 104-27-77
2nd: Morag Thomson (Ranfurly Castle) 100-21-79
Super Vet: Helen Crichton
Summer Meeting – Douglas Park
Scratch: Alex Glennie (Kilmarnock Barassie) 79
(Heather Anderson trophy for best Scratch)
Silver
1st: Mo Neilson (Greenock) 85-9-76
2nd: Fiona Roger (Ranfurly Castle) 89-13-76
3rd: Chris Dingwall (Douglas Park) 93-16-77
Bronze
1st: Anna McDougall ( Old Ranfurly) 103-24-79
2nd: Christine Richmond (Erskine) 100-21-79
Super Vet: Moira Hogg (Old Ranfurly)
Autumn Meeting-Erskine
Scratch: Helen Faulds (Douglas Park) 82
Silver
1st: Carol Fell (Ranfurly Castle) 84-10-74
(May Craddock Trophy for best nett)
2nd : Anne Robinson (Ranfurly Castle) 84-9-75
3rd: Jennifer Mack (Haggs Castle) 82-6-76
Bronze
1st: Gay Braid (Whitecraigs) 103-26-77
2nd: Patricia Brown (Ralston) 100-22-78
Super Vet: Gay Braid (Whitecraigs)
Championships at Renfrew GC
Bronze
Runner up: Ann Donnelly (Whitecraigs)
Winner: Maureen Rennie (Douglas Park) (Salver)
Championship
Runner up: Linda McDougall ((Greenock)
Winner: Helen Faulds (Douglas Park) (Lady McInnes Shaw Cup)
There being No Other Business the Presentation of Trophies and Prizes took place and Maureen Rennie -- the Bronze Champion finished off the meeting with an excellent vote of thanks
