Gentlemen
Seasons’ greetings to all. I hope you all had a good golfing year, or like me, you at least enjoyed the Society’s legendary company and banter.
With the end of 2008 fast approaching, it’s timely to produce this SPGS Newsletter for updates as below, but to importantly take this opportunity to thank a few key people and our sponsors whose contribution have ensured another successful year for its members.
Happy reading!
The Knockout
The final was contested by Vice Captain Roy Gallichan and our overseas Vilamoura winner Shane Whitwell. Roy was victorious on the day winning 4 and 3. Well done mate!
Alexander Forbes Order of Merit
The October Order of Merit was kindly sponsored by Style Windows and was played at Les Mielles. It was a strokeplay competition and was won by Max Delph with a net 32 and runner-up was Jon Welsh also with a net 32 but falling on countback.
The November Order of Merit was kindly sponsored by Normans. It was played at Les Mielles on the North and was a stableford competition. It was won by Gary Bayley with 21 points on countback from Colin Streets and Brian de ste Croix..
The overall winner of the Order of Merit was Gary Bayley with a grand total of 103 points. The runner-up was Jon Welsh with 96 points.
Well done, a very popular winner.
The Birdie King was Jason Quenault with 9 and the runner-up was Captain Cabot with 8.
15th Anniversary dinner
The end of season dinner was held at the Pomme d’Or hotel on the 15th November. We would have liked a bigger attendance but those that made the effort had a great night. Prizes were awarded to the successful golfers of the year and Graham A’Court was a popular winner of the Clubman of the Year award. Captain Cabot was in great form and kept us riveted in our seats. Thanks were extended to all our Sponsors and congratulations offered to those who received prizes.
The Graham A’Court sponsored Christmas competition
This competition was held at The Royal, on 5th December and one word summed it up, Fab-u-lous! Fifty Six people took part, and at first when the wind and rain was hitting us on the first tee I wondered whether we’d get round. Gradually the weather improved and it turned into a nice day even though the scores didn’t show it.
Tommy Noel once again showed that he likes playing in the wind by winning for the second time in three years with 33 points on countback from Mark Taylor and Dave Le Monnier. Well done Tommy!
Roy Gallichan (Vice captain) did a stirling job standing in for the day as the captain. Roy even managed to pen a Quiz, which was based on the history of St Peters Golf Society. I think myself and many others were quietly confident this was the only quiz we’d ever beat Dan in! Well done Roy!
I would like to thank Keith Bailey who had more than a passing resemblance to Michael Fitzgerald for taking over as fines master for the day. As usual the banter was fierce and he managed to gross over one thousand pounds for charity from the members. The Prostate Cancer Society is this years worthy recipient of these monies. All 56 members should be proud to have raised this generous amount, especially Keith, without whom we couldn’t do it and the charity wouldn’t have benefited so greatly!.
Not knowing when to stop, a coach arrived to take us into town and this is where things became cloudy….I have heard there were two guys drinking champagne in the Grand Hotel at 5 o’clock the following morning, HARDCORE! What I do know is that I was in bed long before then.
Another successful and enjoyable day - well done lads!
SPECIAL THANKS
As the year draws to a close I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank a few key people whose contribution have ensured another successful year for its members. Special thanks go to Jason Quenault and Jon Welsh for all their organisation, hard work, time and efforts without which, SPGS wouldn’t be what it is today. Special thanks must also be extended to Dan Hare, who has done wonders for the Society with the introduction and maintenance of the SPGS website, ensuring that as many of our members are informed of events (and gossip!) timely, in addition to taking over as handicap secretary from Howard Taylor. A special thanks must also go to Terry Ward, who gives up his time to successfully manage the Society’s financial affairs! Likewise, a special note of thanks to our Captain, Alan Cabot for all the work he’s put in to making our 15th anniversary year one to be proud of and definitely one to remember. Last but not least, a special thank you to all our generous sponsors without whom we couldn’t host so many successful competitions and events. So on behalf of the Committee and its Members a BIG THANK YOU to you all!
Finally, I’d like to wish you and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and look forward to seeing you all in 2009 and thank you in advance for your continued support of the Society.
Happy golfing!
Mark Duckett
Secretary