Octogenarian

 Wow, what a month October has been as it draws to an end 

I managed to acquire a ticket for the Everton v Tottenham Hotspurs fixture at the new Hill Dickinson stadium in Bramley Moor Dock in the Liverpool derelict water front regeneration zone. It is certainly an mpressive building witha fabulous viewing area and pitch, but I was underwhelmed by the concorses and facilities for the fans. It all seemed a bit sparse with a lack of the wow factor which the new Tottenham stadium has. It was a good 150 steps up the seats too but I know where the lifts are now for next time!!

Spurs won 3-0 so that made the day enjoyable.

I have had three formal dinners during the month too. One featured John Parrott as the speaker who was particularly good. He explianed in early days he was one week in Vegas at the Nevada open and the next week in Wigan for the North of England championships. it was there that he discovered the two places were twinned as they are the only places in the World you can pay for sex with chips....!!

SWMBO and I have also embarked on a look/see with regard to moving home. We have agreed we do need to although neither of us really do want to. We are rattling around in it and it is becoming more and more costly to do even minor repairs. The problem is that there is no stock on the market at the moment, and any decent stuff, or large bungalows are snapped up quickly. we think we probably have two or three years to find something so hopefully the Labour government will lay off home owners in the November budget and we can find something next year.

There was a sad ending to the month yesterday as we attended the funeral of my dear friend George. George was 93 and had had a terrrific life, almost signing for Liverpool as a16 year old, missed out on a boxing spot in the Olympic Games due to injury and played golf to a very high standard.

George and I played every week for over ten years and he was instrumental in my integration to Wallasey golf club, and he was  my proposer for Captain. He will be sadly missed, and the good turnout at the funeral showed how much people thought of him as a person.

Tonight we are off to a friends 60th birthday with a Halloween theme. I am going as a skeleton and SWMBO will be Cruella Deville. Should be a blast  

George Stephenson

I have had a very difficult year of golf so far. I have had some niggly injuries, some runs of bad luck and an inconsistent swing which is so frustrating as to make me almost give the game up for a while. That last emotion has, however, been balanced by my ability to find some form in a few team competitions.

I have been fortunate to come second in the Wallasey Invitational event and win some money, John Porter, a major player when New Brighton were a formidable rugby team, and I came second in the Old Padeswood senior open where we won money and golf balls,  and my team ,"Shoeless Joe's", managed to win the Wallasey4Wirral charity golf day where we won £100 each,together with wine and meal vouchers in the raffle. A very well done to Neil Bennett and his son who continue to run an excellent day and raised over £6000 for various cancer related charities

All of the above were very welcome, but none so much as the round which allowed me to qualify for the BMW Golf Cup International UK final to be played on the Castle course at St Andrews. I played in the BMW owners golf events for many years until BMW pulled the plug on them, and this is the second year I have been able to try to qualify for the finals as an independent. I had it won with four holes to play at Woburn  last year but grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory. This year at Hillside I was able to keep my composure and finish in second place. That gets me an all inclusive stay at the Old Course Hotel for a long weekend, and I will hope to get a chance to play the Old Course while I am up there.

The only down side is that it clashes with the Twickenham Rugby weekend away which this year includes three rounds at Minehead GC and three nights at a tribute band extravaganza at Butlins!! Another year perhaps!

So why the heading for this particular post? Well, when I first joined Wallasey GC as a soft Southerner who knew nobody, George took me under his wing, and week on week we have played together every Saturday for nearly ten years. George extended similar comradeship to Peter Ellerington and Phil Gedman. George is now 86 and only two weeks ago went round the golf course in 82 shots. To beat your age is a target every golfer aims for. The pro golfers look to do it in their early 60's, good amateurs in their 70's and people like me hope to live until the y are 90 and are still playing golf!!

As a thankyou and a late 85th birthday present, we took George this week to play at Royal Birkdale, rated as the top course in England. It did not disappoint. The welcome was first class and the course was laid out in excellent condition. We played variable golf, but George was so focused that he and I managed to beat Phil and Peter after I had put us into an early lead and they had pegged us back on the back nine. SO, whenever I go through the emotions outlined at the beginning of the article, I just think of George and his single mindedness, never mind that he is giving me 20 years and three shots. He is a legend and I value him as a friend, long may we share the fairways.