Le Golf

People said this golf business would get easier once the captaincy was handed over, but that does not seem the case to me. I am into a run of nine games in 9 days at the moment, although I have to say the first three were of my own making.

A traditional match featuring teachers from the UK against an assorted team of French gentlemen has been going on for some time, and I was asked to take the number 12 shirt at the weekend. We played at The Vale of Llangollen on Saturday with the England team winning 2-1, then on to Wallasey where the lead was increased to 4-2 before the final singles matches at Warrington, sorry, The Warrington golf club. There, in a tense battle, the French won the day 3 1/2 - 2 1/2 but overall victory was that of England by one point.

My match was particularly tense and unknowingly, key to victory. I was 4 up with 4 to play but only 1 up on the 18th. My laser straight drive took a wicked bounce into a fairway bunker and my recovery only left me in another, 135 yards from the green. In the meantime my partner was way left but safe in two. I hit a worldie hybrid onto the green which put pressure on my opponent who failed to deliver and after a lagged first putt we shook hands and the cup was secure.

It was a great three days and should see me on the plane to France next year tres bien. 

Atlanta Athletic Club

 First day of the tour and we arrived at the Athletic Club, Goodness me what a place. You could fit Wallasey golf club footprint into it maybe several times. The place is hugely busy socially with the golf course ticking over.

The course has played host to the US PGA several times and is a shrine to Bobby Jones. It is that which gave us the introduction. The memorabilia is stunning and it was a delight to play there. Unfortunately the polo shirt price blew my budget so will have to sort that on my return

After a very enjoyable drink with our hosts Ian and Jim we made tracks back to Buckhead and the Irish bar, Fado. I had not been in there since 1996 when SWMBO and I watched Mohammed Ali unveiled as the torch lighter for the Olympic Games in Atlanta. SWMBO and I were both volunteers for the event and this was the first time back since then.

Tomorrow Cookie and I will be visiting the Five Paces Inn which I was last in in 1994 when we played Old Whites at rugby. It really is turrning into a bit  of a homage trip!

Where's Wally?

More about that in a moment, but first,

 2022 is upon us, and it has started with the selection of my successor as Wallasey Golf Club captain. Tony Davies is the gentleman to whom I will hand over in March. The selection process is a two meeting affair. In November 2021 the ex-Captains met without me to put together a shortlist of names for consideration and after some toing and froing we were presented with a shortlist to consider in a meeting before lunch s a few weeks ago.

After the dinner, myself and SWHBO drove to the new Captains home to offer him the gig. Luckily he said yes and he was then announced to the members at a presentation evening the following Monday. All a bit of cloak and dagger but huge fun.

Then, last Friday we had our annual ball. Three times it had been rescheduled and it was renamed The Frost Ball. It went really well, with a good Soul band, excellent food and good company. The only down side was that a few guests contracted COVID subsequent to it, but luckily nobody seems too unwell.

The following Sunday I then trotted off to Anfield with my cousin to see the mighty Bees take on Liverpool in their first league meeting for a long time..Brentford unfortunately were a bit off the pace, and while they had chances to put some pressure on the home side, they won at a canter. The day was not dissimilar to a rugby day, with a few beers before and after and the match really only being the reason to get out.

It's not Wally you looking for but two West London titans having their 15 minutes of fame on the Brentford FC web site, fan zone....

 

Good news to report is that my new golf net has arrived and I will be trying to assemble it tomorrow. The first attempt did not go too well as there seems to be a number of difficult operations which the netting does not allow to work, so i am waiting for the manufacturer to come back to me with some help.

So there we go, half way through January, the weather is glorious and I still have two dinners to look forward to. The weight loss programme will kick in in due course.  

St Andrew @ Wallasey

 Last night Wallasey hosted the annual St Andrews dinner, the third I have attended, with still two to go. I had a lead role in this one as I had to make my last major speech of my Captaincy . There were about 100 people in attendance and the in-house catering team did us proud with traditional Scottish fayre including the haggis which I got the opportunity to stab to death. The address was conducted by Tom Blackstock in his usual exuberant style with bagpipes accompaniment.

Then it was up to me to summarise my 18 months in office and I threw a few stories in to add to the entertainment. I was fortunate to recieve a standing ovation at the end of it which was a great surprise and very much appreciated.

We then adjourned to the bar to exchange stories and experiences with the ex-Captains and my personal guests, Jim Mitchell and Paul Spivey. Jim very kindly led the evening with the Selkirk grace  to maintain the Scottish theme 

Golf is now starting to return to normal with no formal events to attend so I can return to playing at the Club when I want to. That said, the weather has been awful with high winds and rain. We lost eight fence panels at home and I have obtained enough wood to replace them, so that will take me a few days. The price of wood was extraordinary and has increased three fold since I last needed to buy some. So at least I now have enough to see us through the next few years as most of the panels which came down were over 20 years old. The ones which remained and survived I had already replaced at some previous time.

The golf club lost the three elegant pine trees by the clubhouse but not any of the scrubby sycamore around which they were circled. So that will be a maintenance job for the greens staff that they were not expecting!

So two St Andrews dinners this week then we are into December and the festive dinner season. Lets hope the latest COVID mutation is kept at bay long enough for everybody to enjoy it. Ho ho ho!

Mixed golf

After an unexpected victory at Llangollan on Friday in the Linksnet competition, I had a fairly average round at Carden Park on Monday. There was a period on the front nine where I just lost my swing and it is a tough enough course at the best of times, so I ended up in mid-table so no prizes on that occassion.

Sandwiched between those two golfing commitments were two dinners at Wallasey golf club. On Saturday I hosted the Captains Prize final weekend which consisted of 9 finals being played with all age groups and genders of the Club taking part.  The Club is producing some very rood Junior girls at the moment and one of them won the Junior knock-out cup in a match which went to the first extra hole. A few other finals went the distance and my Captains prize finished on the 15th green with a record equalling forth title for Dave Gibson.

I have now worked out that I do hold a unique record myself. There have been 4 captains in the history of the Club who have served more than one term.Mr R W 'Pendulum'  Brown was the first captain in 1891 and was again captain in 1982. Mr J Cameron served two years during the First World War and C W Hesketh served between 1939 and 1945.

During the war years the Captains Prize was suspended, and it was not played for when Mr Brown was captain, so I have become the first captain to award two Captains Prize's at the Club.

50 or so people then sat down for a dinner and we were joined by 20 or 30 other club members for the subsequent presentations.

On the following day, Sunday, the Club held it's annual Matrimonial and Mixed competitions. Both titles were fought for very competitively with Mr and Mrs Palmer retaining the Matrimonial after some spectacular golf. Again there was a large turn-out for dinner which allowed me to use a few golf stories I had been saving up.

I make that about 15 speeches delivered so far so will probably exceed 20 for the year given the dinner season is now up and running. Gentlemen, that reminds me.....

 

Cirque de Soliel

The dinner and event season seems to be getting back to normal as this picture of the Liverpool captains at West Lancs Golf Club will testify to.

Fourteen of us sat down to a meal accompanied by the ex-Captains of the Club and 50 or so members. We were treated to first rate dining, a few glasses of wine and the necessary speeches. There is always a nugget in there somewhere, and I have managed to recycle several of the stories I have heard up to now.

A couple of them I used yesterday when we held our Finals Day at Wallasey. There were 9 finals which took place and they encompassed the whole range of the golf club. The finalists in the Junior knock-out were 10 and 11, and Esme Gordon triumphed to add her name to a growing list of young lady players there are at the Club. The other finals embraced the Ladies, Men and Senior Men and all were fought for hard but fairly.

The competitors then sat down to a pre-presentation dinner, with the event concluding with winners photographs on the 18th green. Luckily there were no golf balls being fired in which that was going on.

So good luck to the winners and here's to the Winter competitions which will kick-off in October. 

Royalty

After many a false start it now feels like my tenure as Wallasey golf club captain has started. Yesterday my 2020/21 year group were delighted to be invited by our 2013 past captains to the links of Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, Golf Club for our first Salver day. Each year group holds a Salver day and your club captain for that year invites you to attend. Some club captains reach a stage where they can no longer play golf, so on that occasion you miss out but yesterday there were 25 of the 27 clubs represented.

The day started with a very competitive round of golf for said salver, and the winners were Grange Park with 42 points, a very good score considering the wind conditions. The Wallasey effort contained the same two numbers, but in a different order!! 

Attention then turned to the main event of the day, the dinner in the first floor dining room. Although I  have dined at Hoylake before, this was the first visit to the dining room. The Liverpool captain was also very kind in showing my 2013 captain the library and a couple of other rooms tucked away upstairs making the whole experience very enjoyable for everybody.

We are fortunate to be playing at Hillside in a couple of days, and then in the Mockbegger trophy on Sunday so at last I will be able to record my thoughts and achievements in the blog, as I committed to do well over a year ago.

While I had a great time, yesterday was also tinged with sadness when we received the news that long standing member, Roy Bulmer, had sadly lost his fight with cancer and passed away. Roy was in his 90's and until recently had still managed the occasional nine holes around Wallasey.  Roy was one of a number of members who took care of me in my early days as a member, a gesture I have never forgotten. He was also a very competent amateur golfer. He was a seafaring man who would always take his clubs with him so to take advantage of any opportunity to play. One of his greatest achievements was to finish second in the Tasmanian PGA tournament in the day.

He also became the archivist for the golf club and I hope he was able to see the way the club is now using much of his collection of relics to the benefit of the clubhouse and social media sites.

I wrote to him only last week in an effort to update him on club news, I do hope he had an opportunity to read the letter and understand he was in all our thoughts. Rest in peace Roy.

Angels and Deamons

Eagles and Visionaries does not have the same feel to it, but that was effectively how the Liverpool Society of Golf Club Captains have started their 2021 season as far as my year group is concerned. The Eagles are the 2019 year group and they and the Visionaries share a Captain of Captains. He very kindly donated a trophy which we are able to compete for annually if so desired. There were a large number of us who were able to enjoy the company, competitiveness and challenge of group golf. The host club, no names, no pack drill, coped very well as they staggered food and drink arrangements to ensure Covid restrictions were maintained.

I am pleased to report that the Visionaries were victorious which was in no part due to my performance and I think myself and my partner Terry, were the Eagles best players!!

The Wallasey Captaincy activities kick off this week  with the first of the pre-Scratch team challenges against Bromborough. Myself and the IP|C will need to be on our metal to win this fiercely contested friendly match. The Senior major took place yesterday but my round was curtailed by the rain which started to fall as I was conveniently close to the Clubhouse. Molly kindly dried off a few seats for us so we could shelter under the umbrella's. That will now be a thing of the past as we can enjoy being indoors from next Monday. 42 points won the title which was very fine performance in the circumstances.

A lot has changed at the Club as has been documented in earlier blog entries, but also on Monday we have scheduled a day long board meeting to try to position the Club going forward into 2022 and beyond. We have some major capital projects to consider and raising funds to pay for such work will be at the forefront of those discussions.

I then have golf days at Royal Liverpool and Hillside to look forward to as well as the second Scratch match and the Mockbeggar trophy at Leasowe, but more about that and the board meeting next time.

I am now off for my second inoculation, again at Chester race course, after which I might book a staycation somewhere. If you don't like needles, look away now!

Third time lucky?

It felt like a new dawn yesterday as I once more joined my chums on the links of Wallasey golf Club. All the winter work had been completed in isolation which meant more could be completed and the quality was first rate. It is unfortunate that the golf did not live up to the quality of the practise I had put in behind closed doors, but a three club wind may well have had something to do with that.

It was good to enjoy the banter, the weather and the surroundings for four hours or so, and I had a chance to use my new remote control trolley. That went very well apart from Marvin, his adopted name, going it alone down the second fairway when I had left the controller on the bag. Luckily it did not happen on the first hole or he would have ended up in our new boating lake!!

The political environment has taken on a calmer position too. We can almost step back and watch the EU shooting themselves in the foot over the AstraZenica virus. One which they first did not trust, then they changed their minds and now they are claiming a best efforts contract actually means best efforts as long as we are first. It has not made them look very smart where major deals are concerned.

We also now have the delights of watching a Scottish parliamentary election process which has turned from dull and predictable overnight to intriguing and enthralling over night. The two poisson grande of the Scottish political landscape, Salmon and Sturgeon will fight it out all over again on the stump. The Sturgeon is an endangered species so one should be careful as this could be the last one left in Scotland and may soon disappear for good.

Finally I am loving the new Suez crisis. It is amazing what huge impact such a minor incident can have, as clearly nobody did a risk assessment for just this eventuality. Luckily all the merchandise I have ordered for the golf crew is not dependent on ship transport to arrive but when there was mention of a potential toilet roll shortage I cannot begin to imagine what the Birkenhead Tesco was like!!

So more of the same on the golf course tomorrow with predicted winds much lighter and onward towards the next milestone in May. Most of the captaincy events are getting shifted to the middle of June and onwards so I need to get the miles in my legs to cope with that additional workload as well as the alcoholic shock to accompany it.  Fore!   

Rainbow support for NHS

Well, the Captains get together at Wallasey went really rather well. The first part of the day saw the final of the individual knock-out trophy which was won in a tight match by Ian Glover from Ashton-in-Makerfield with Ben Johnson from Gathurst being runner-up. at least I can say I was beaten by the winner!!

The rest of the day was formed of a Stableford competition at the home of Stableford, and one group ran away with the prizes for that. All of pour concerns were centred on the weather, but in true Wirral tradition, the worst of it circumnavigated the course to allow almost every member to finish the round as dry as they started. You would not guess from this photo though!

The Covid restrictions were very well observed, and policed by the staff, so it was a fitting penultimate event in a  funny old season .

The week went a bit down hill for me though as I lost two match play competitions on Thursday and Friday, the Friday event being in the preliminary round of the Senior Winter Knock-out, an event I have still to win.

The 2020 Captains will now move on to Childwall for another group event, and I am looking to play at West Lancs and Hillside before hosting the three or four people who could not make the initial date  back at Wallasey in November. whether the clubhouse will be open will all be down to Boris and his plans for lockdown here in the North West.

In an interesting aside to the President of the United States (PORTUS) contracting the disease, we were amused that the First Lady also has an accrynm, FLOTUS, almost like flotsum. With that at the back of my mind I am now considering whether SWMBO should be renamed as FLOW, First Lady of Wallasey Golf Club. The only problem is that they might start calling me Andy Capp!!

'Royal' Bidston

This week was tinged with sadness by the passing of Marty, but I had golf commitments through the week which had to be honoured and I know he would have wished the same.

Monday started the week off with a matchplay against a team from Portal Golf Club in Cheshire, and, as often happens the Wallasey course inspired them to greatness and we were well beaten on the day. The club is part of the MacDonald hotel group, and they seem to be suffering from the Coronavirus knock-on with limited staff managing the course and the group reassessing their way forward. Let's hope all goes well for them.

The KO was sponsored by Linksbook, a golfing network community being developed by Milestone Events who were the organising Company behind the Virgin Atlantic golf league. That league has also been canned now by Virgin so one hopes that Linksbook will fill the void left by their pull out.

Tuesday saw a change in fortune as I and the immediate past Captain took on our opposite numbers from prenton golf club prior to a scratch match between the two Clubs. It has been a long standing tradition for the captians to lead out the teams, although their result does not count towards the scratch league result. I am pleased to report though that we won our match as did the scratch tem. They have now won two out of two and move on to Caldy golf club tonight.

On Wednesday my year group in the Liverpool Society of golf clubs met at Bidston golf club  and had a very enjoyable day playing their course. The wind kept everybody honest and the large turnout gave us the chance to meet up and chat as well as receive our year group shirts. They were described by FootJoy as athletic fit which amused those of us with the fuller figure. The bar and catering side of things was open so a very enjoyable day was had by all

That was all the golf for the week. I spent Thursday and Friday cutting down trees for number two daughter and then filling a skip.

I now have six rounds of golf in the next seven days, so stay tuned as fatigue is bound to kick in and that is always good for a story or two!!.



 

The Spring Dinner that went wrong

Last night I should have been hosting the annual Spring Dinner at Wallasey golf club. I would have been kitted out in my red coat as would have been a number of colleague captains from neighbouring clubs. Our new chairman was gracious enough to agree to propose the toast to our guests, and the Royal Liverpool golf club captain would have given the response. It is always a very enjoyable night, and I have no doubt last night would have been equally so. I had even lined up a Doctor Frank Stableford look-alike to attend for photo opportunities before dinner.

Sadly though we are all confined to barracks, and while Have I Got News For You was able to conduct proceedings via Zoom, I suspect trying to run a dinner on the same basis would have proved to be difficult. That said though can you imagine 80 people signing in, their wives or partners serving the same dish to everybody and wine being taken. It could have been revolutionary for the Visionaries.

So we carry on with hopefully everybody still self isolating. The hot weather theat was forecast has not arrived on the Wirral so hopefully people will not mob New Brighton and Hoylake beach. It is in the South of the Country where people must be more careful and look after their neighbours.

Today we also awoke to a new Labour party leader, Sir Kier Starmer. I try not to get political on this blog, and had hoped that the words in his opening speech would allow me to continue that trend. I will support the Government and ask the tricky questions when needed , he said. excellent I thought, only to read today that already he is using the press to highlight serious errors the Government have made over the control of the virus. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and not being part of the decision process does allow you to comment in a way the people in control cannot, but it is so disappointing that he feels he has to wade in now without even waiting until his scheduled meeting later in the week with the PM.

I understand Starmer was the head of the CPS when evidence of Jimmy Saville's misdemeanours were presented to him and Starmer reached the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to proceed. Hindsight again rearing it's head given what happened after Saville died.

How lucky Churchill was during the Second World War that he did not have social media to contend with. How he was able to control or censor fake or bad news to ensure the mood of the Country remained bouyant is something that the current PM has absolutely no chance of doing.

I wonder what the Queen has to say about it all when she addresses the Nation later this evening!

Forbearance

When things are as tough as they are at the moment and people are confined to barracks, it is important to be considerate to each other. Now the initial panic is over, there is no need to stock pile food, road rage should be a thing of the past, given there are hardly any vehicles on the road in our part of the Country, and people can adhere to the 2 metre separation guidelines as there is loads of space in our parks and on our footpaths and coastal borders.

The boys in blue are keeping a watchful eye on  Birkenhead Park walkers and riders so at the moment The Wirral is doing OK.

That is more than can be said for the people who find they are out of work, or the back street entrepreneurs who find their once profitable cottage industries blown away in the blink of an eyelid. It has also hit multinationals and all those companies and organisations who sit in between, certainly in size terms.

Martin Lewis used the definition of forbearance to try to get us all to understand the struggle that business has at the moment, and it is useful to take that on board. My mate and I had paid a lot of money to a golf travel agent to go to Augusta for the Masters golf in April. When the event was postponed and then rescheduled, we asked for our money back. Rightly or wrongly , that was not one of the options they gave us, so rather than fight a battle over what the definition of 'force majeure'  is, we have given them the slack they need and said we will rebook for 2021. They are now fighting battles to repatriate other golfers they have sent on holiday and,  I suspect , their cash flow to ensure they are still in business next year.

We have a milkman and he has been delivering to us for years. I have just paid in advance for the next three weeks to help his cash flow and hopefully see him continue the service he provides to us and to allow him to keep his milko's employed.

I am also philanthropic in a small way towards my ex-rugby club. I'm in it as a business venture, but have today let them know that there will be no further payments due to me in 2020. That may help their cash flow somewhat as they will suddenly have nil income from rugby for 6 weeks and social functions and catering for probably three months. The grass will need to be cut a few times, but major outgoings like rent, rates  and utility  bills  still need to be sourced.

I have a small part to play at the golf club as a result of the closure of all courses for the time being, so the lockdown provides opportunity. Having just completed the painting project, we now have to redress the room. I have discovered the sofa springs are out of life so that forces me to participate in my favourite lockdown game, buy on e-bay. So far I have brought one new golf club, a pre-war Totopoly game with proper lead horses with four legs (fans of horse racing games will know why this excites me), an extra five horses of the same structure for display purposes, and I am now in prime position to win a Mont Blanc pen for a steal as it is listed in the wrong category!!!

Unfortunately the sale of my mothers old flat has had to be put on hold as a person in the chain is an NHS worker and does not feel she has the bandwidth to handle a house move just yet, but hopefully that will proceed in due course. We shall see.

So time to rehang the curtains plug the TV back in and resume some sort of  normal like, although we have not really missed the TV these last few weeks, I wonder if we might be right in the middle of a permanent life style change. Husbands and wives talking to each other, now there's a side effect I didn't anticipate!

Captain obvious

I started this blog in 1997 and now enter the 14th year of spewing out trivia concerning me,  my family and friends. I started it to try to outline the trials and tribulations of selling a house in London with a view to moving full time to the Wirral. I was still working at the time and the house move, sporting events and work experiences meant I was able to blog more than once a week on average. More recently though the variety in my life has reduced and consequently my blog entries have dropped to below one a week.

I get the feeling that the trend is about to reverse,

Yesterday I was formally announced as the 2020-21 captain-elect for Wallasey Golf Club with a start date as Captain for March. I am finding it hard to put into words how big an honour this is. Wallasey is recognised as a seriuosly good course and is ranked in the top 100 courses in England. It's a senior member club within the  Society of Liverpool Golf Clubs, and as Captain I join that elite band. I immediately get 27 new chums and SWMBO becomes part of the ladies section. My diary less than 24 hours after the announcement is already starting to fill with events and competitions to which I have been invited. It's going to be a busy year.

When I moved to the Wirral, I knew almost nobody except SWMBO's extended family and some of her friends. Their husbands were really my only drinking partners. I took a punt by applying to join Wallasey golf club and they very kindly popped me on the wait list for about 15 months before inviting me to interview. The process I went through to arrive at Wallasey as my preferred destination is documented somewhere in the blog around 2009, but what a great decision it was.

The golf club welcomed me with open arms, no heirs and graces were evident, and there was me expecting a South of England elitist attitude. Many of the members live locally in the Wallasey and New Brighton area and the Club has a comfortable feel to it. It was certainly my rock on which our whole Wirral life was built. I have little doubt it was the main reason I managed to stay and thrive op North, and now that they have given me the ultimate badge of acceptance, I will be able to pay them back for their faith in the coming months and years to come.

 There will be stories and tales to fill the pages of my blog for weeks to come, and ,as one ex-Captain said, 'It's the present which keeps on giving'. Happy Chistmas to me!!

St Andrew

It was  a big weekend for me, just past, as I had been asked by the current Wallasey Golf Club captain to speak at the St Andrews Dinner and propose the toast to him.

The St Andrews dinner is one of the most popular dinners on the circuit. It is attended exclusively by members of the golf club, is a black tie event, and signals the last formal dinner hosted by the 2019 captain. People have lived or died by the speech they have given.

The Spring dinner in April is the main externally focused event. The Captain invites fellow captains from other golf clubs, the Captain of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake) traditionally proposes a toast to Wallasey Golf Club, and a Wallasey member will then tell stories concerning the other invited guests.

The St Andrews is a lot more relaxed, until that is, one has to get up and speak. Many ex-speakers came over to me to offer advise, and I was invited into the pre-match drinks reception, so to speak, where ex-Captains also offered words of comfort.

Nothing prepares you though for the moment when you stand on your feet and the room goes hushed, except the work you have done yourself beforehand.

Now I was not first choice, but the original speaker got his availability wrong. He was courteous enough though to give me a copy of his speech, from which I was able to get an idea of the flow and timing. I wrote down ideas as I thought of them for many weeks prior to the event, and had some brutal editing sessions along the way. That said, the start of the speech only came to me in the car driving to the Club, and several chunks were removed as I sought shelter in the 'little room' during the evening meal.

I am pleased to report that the speech went down pretty well. There was a constant hum of amusement during it with several raucous moments.when I made some pointed remarks about the Club infrastructure. All in all the Captain and past Captains liked it, and many members came up afterwards to congratulate me.

So job done and onto 2020 to see what entertainment is in store at the Hot Pot supper. 

Six Pack

As June comes to an end its time to do some catching up. After a bit if golf with the Virgin Airways golf society at Wallasey, I was able to focus once more on the trip ahead to Striding Edge and Helvellyn.

As a side, however, the Virgin golf team are called the Swingers, an interesting name choice and one which Sir Richard must have the odd chuckle about. If they knew what went on in the sand dunes near the Wallasey course, they would see even more irony in the name.

I digress, so in early June we set off to Camp Dick II, again hosted in Bampton by Seamus and Kate. They was a fair old gathering, although a few less than the assemble at Camp Dick, the original. Yep, this blog has been going over ten years...phew.
Dicks lads all have WaGs in tow now, and people had again travelled from near and far. The main topic of conversation though was the weather!!

We stayed at a B & B in the village, the host of which was the official Winter weather man and climbed Helvellyn every day to do a weather report. It was pretty clear on the Saturday morning then that there was no way that walk was going to happen. It was a huge disappointment as we had been training quite extensively for it. Safety has to come first though, so a brisk few mile hike to Shap Abbey was considered the alternative. It was good fun and built up an appetite for pie and peas, ploughmans lunch and large pots of stew. It was all washed down with three barrels of local craft beer and we all slept well on the back of it!!

 

The next exciting weekend was that just past, which started off with An Old England XI v Oxton CC in a T20 game. Mark Ramprakash was the big name but Devon Malcolm, Dominic Cork and Simon Jones were also in the team.

 

That evening the London branch of the family arrived for Ava's first holy communion the next morning. Lions rugby had to be sacrificed as we were on duty in the church for 09:45. It was then all back to Emma's house for bouncy castle, mega blow up slide, bbq and more beer. I am not sure how London Pride got on the menu but who was I to complain.

 

It also gave us a rare photo opportunity as we had one with the ankle biters en masse!

 

 

 

July starts off with cousin Mike and his wife Val coming up North for Chester races. It will be my fourth day at the course and I have yet to win any money. Lets hope the weather and the luck changes on Saturday.

Blind golf

Last week Wallasey hosted the Ryder Cup for blind golfers from Scotland, England and Wales. The former competed against a combined England and Wales side.

On the proceeding day Wallasey members had the chance to play with and against the blind golfers and to see at first hand how they and their guides maneuvered around the course. There are three categories of blind golf, b1, b2 and b3. The b1 golfers are totally blind and rely 100% on their guide to set them up. They then swing and usually hit the ball pretty well. B2 and b3 category golfers have some vision albeit peripheral or tunnel. They still need help lining up but do have awareness of where the ball is.

I then spent two days spotting balls for these golfers, and met one of the b1 golfers called Barry. Barry was on the books of Coventry City when, in 1976, the team went to an optician to be tested for contact lenses which were becoming popular. That was the first time Barry became aware he was going blind. He still played football for Oxford United but eventually his blindness overtook him and he took up golf.

The golfers I met were all tremendous people who have faced a challenge full on and bettered themselves at their chosen sport. No pun intended but if they could see what they have achieved they would be very proud. Well done Wallasey for playing their part in the event. The Sweaties won 17-7 overall after bossing the first two days.

A Senior moment...or two

I have been suffering Firefox v Google conflicts which have restricted my blogging but I think I have cracked it.....

The last month or so has seen Wallasey golf club Seniors section celebrate 50 years as a sub-section of the Club, which interestingly is also celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.

The Seniors had a Jubilee Stableford competition early in May, and last Friday hosted members of all the clubs we play matches against,  in a better ball fun event. The celebration concluded with a gala black tie dinner at the Club when over 70 people ate,  drank and danced the night away. The Jubilee Cup was presented on the night by the Club captain, Paul Corvers.

Earlier in the week there was a two day Seniors scratch stableford competition which was won with a very creditable 65 points. The Club will now focus on their 125th celebration week in June.

I will now focus on the weekend, as Plymouth Argyle lock horns with AFC Wimbledon at Wembley for the final promotion place from Division 4, as we die hards call it!

Argyle have sold in excess of 31,000 tickets almost twice as many as Wimbledon so the atmosphere should be belting. I was at Wembley the last time Argyle got to the play-offs. That was twenty years ago at the old stadium and Argyle won 1-0. Neil Warnock was manager at the time and Ronnie Mange scored the winning goal. All great fun.

So here's hoping the Green Army can cheer Argyle to victory once again, and I can say, I was there!

Nonagenarian

Happy New Year to all my readers. Many it give you everything you wish of it. SWMBO and I had a pleasantly quiet one. We saw off our final guests of the festive season and then went off to spend our Christmas vouchers. Shirts, shirts and shirts were my choice as, after many years, my favourites are wearing out.

We then hit the Red Fox for a late lunch and got home for Bridge of Spies, Joles
Holland and grand firework courtesy of our neighbours! I found out at my regular Christmas lunch that the son of my mate Bob is a regular in The Shrewsbury Lodge for New Year. What a small world.

The last few months have all been geared to my mother's 90th birthday. It was a rare chance to throw her a 'do' and also to have all four children together. We held it at Wallasey golf club who were excellent in their organisation and execution. The private dining room was ideal for the grand kids to charge round without mathering anybody.

It was a surprise for her and she was initially overwhelmed by it all but soon got into the swing of it.

So with that behind us we can start the clearing up process. Its a bit messy as the family cat hung itself on the decorations on Boxing Day and as SWMBO is such a traditionalist at this time of year, we can't cut it down until Epiphany. Ho,ho ho.

Shed therapy

What a wonderful day it was on the Wirral today, and I was fortunate to have the chance to play golf with Eric Hirst and Simon Birtles. Eric is the oldest ex-captain of Wallasey still playing golf at the age of 82, and  knocks it round off a respectable 19 handicap. His job these last few days has been to manage the whole community of ex-captains in their selection of the new Captain for 2015. This will be announced this evening after which the new incumbent will be in the bar to buy drinks. It's not a cheap experience being golf club captain and this is just the start of a year of lunches, speeches and copious drinking sessions. It needs a man with a strong constitution to cope.

Simon has just returned from five weeks in New Zealand where he visited all four corners of the Country. It was sad to hear of the sorry state in which Christchurch remains. Shops are trading out of portacabins, no progress has been made to either rebuild or demolish the cathedral which was extremely badly damaged during the earthquake almost four years ago, although there is a pop-up cathedral which has temporarily taken its place. People are moving away and it is in danger of being a shadow of its former self. Simon, however, seems to have had a great time, sunbathing in the North island and skiing in the South. Quite a contrast really.

Yesterday I took to the shed. This is the original shed, not the one I built in 2013. I have installed solar powered lighting which seems to be working well, and cleared a large number of unwanted storage jar which I was keeping 'just in case'. I can now see the work bench and most of the floor, so just need a rainy day when I can go through my screw tin which contains all shapes and sizes,  and grade them for use as and when needed. I use hair gel containers for this, but now number two son has moved out, that source is harder to come by.

I am not over keen on this dry January fad to be honest, but I am trying to drink healthy home made juices at the moment as we had a new juicer as a present for Christmas. The orange and ginger shot first thing in the morning is a definite wake up call. This is all part of the pre-holiday tone up programme aimed at trying to return home in March, roughly the same weight as we were on 1st January. Time will tell.

So the year is up and running, no new years resolutions as such this time, just  a good and content time surrounded by friends and family. Here's hoping.