PRESENT

                   Robby Boyce (Seniors Captain) – Chairman

                   John Wood (Seniors Secretary/Treasurer)

and   thirty-six   Members of the Senior Section

 

APOLOGIES

 

Apologies from: Derek Mitcham who had been recovering in hospital for the last eight weeks following a stroke and heart problems, Nev Scott who was isolating prior to an eye operation, Martin Cornelius,  Rob Ford and several of the players from the morning’s competition who had succumbed to the horrendous weather and gone home to dry out and warm up.

 

OPENING REMARKS

 

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and requested a moment’s silence in memory of members, members’ wives and former members who had died in the year since the previous A.G.M.  

 

 

PRESENTATION OF ANNUAL AWARDS

 

 

Order of merit:               1^st     David Holmes          145 Points

49 Players                     2^nd             Maurice Smith         136 Points    

                                3rd    Clive Lewis             115 Points    

                                4^th     David Croft            114 Points    

                                5^TH     Neil Day               109 Points    

                                6^th     Nigel Clarke           105 Points

 

Eclectic Div. A                =1^st    Clive Lewis             59 net

30 Players                     =1^st    Rob Ford              59 net                                                         =1^st    David Holmes          59 net

                                =4^th    Paul Finley             60 net

                                =4^th    Peter Oldham          60 net

 

Eclectic Div. B                        =1^st    Fred Fox              63 net

24 Players                     =1^st    Mick Simmonds        63 net

                                =3^rd    Chris Lawton           64 net                                                         =3^rd    Robert Gawne          64 net

                                =5^th    Mike Turner           65 net

 

 

 

 

MINUTES OF THE 2019 A.G.M.

 

The Minutes of the 2019 A.G.M. had been displayed for the required period. There being no matters arising they were accepted unanimously by the meeting as a true record on the proposal of Peter Kennelly and seconded by Ray Harrison.

 

It had not been possible to hold an AGM during 2020 due to the prevalence of the Covid 19 Virus. Reports from both the Captain, Fred Fox, and the Secretary had been published on the Senior Section of the Club Website.

 

SENIORS CAPTAIN’S REPORT

 

Robbie presented the following report:

 

Gentlemen,

          It was an honour to be asked to be Blankney’s 2021 Senior’s Captain and I would like to thank Ivor Samways for being my Vice-Captain and for his support throughout the year.

I would also like to publicly thank our secretary (John Wood) for all his efforts in running, so smoothly, all things Seniors. We completed all our competitions despite the odd lockdown and for arranging a full and extensive fixture list for 2021.

Entries for all the Club Competitions and the Qualifiers were excellent, attracting an average of 70+ players, although the two Medal qualifiers and the Gilliatt Driver (Senior’s Club Championship) attracted slightly less!

My Captain’s day was held for the second year on the day (Monday) directly following the Club’s & Ladies Captain’s weekend. This is a double edged sword; it allows us to use the facilities the club house & green keeping staff had put in place for the captain’s weekend and therefore prevents duplication of effort on their part. But this did affect the numbers who took part, 54 in total, much down on previous year when the event was held in September! As next year’s event will happen this way again, I ask all to plan their weekend accordingly and hopefully we will have a better turnout next year. That said; the event did raise £197 towards my charity, so many thanks to all who contributed. 

 46 members took part in the Away Day at Kenwick Park GC in August, we had a very enjoyable day, my thanks to Ian Smith for organising that event and my congratulations to the individual winner Mel Jays and the winning pair of the Club Captain Kev O'Rourke & Al Grieves.   

This year Senior’s Open attracted 128 players from all over the country with Blankney players giving a good account of themselves, although the overall winner came from my previous club of Brampton Park.

We played 20 of our arranged 24 Inter Club matches, losing the 2 against Belton Park & South Kyme and Stoke Rochford at home, due to Covid restrictions. I had a nucleus of 35 members who willing to turn out and support the Club.   For most of the matches we were able to field full 16 players (i.e. 8 pairs), without too much chasing but my thanks goes to the odd individual who stood in at the last minute and to the ones who I asked to play against Belton Woods only to be stood down due to Belton being only able to field 12 players and Ivor for stepping in again when we lost a player to Covid!  All the matches were played in good spirit and enjoyed by all.  The match results for the season were: Played 20 Won 6 – Halved 0 – Lost 14. Not a bad outcome, with some brilliant results against Woodhall Spa, Sleaford and Stoke Rochford, away, in particular, so it’s thanks to all who turned out for a successful season.

I trust all our seasoned Senior Golfers and the number of new members, who joined us from various other golf clubs during the year, enjoyed all these events.

I have a number of other people to thank for their support this year

Our Golf Club Chairman, Robbie Selway, the Club Captain Kev O’Rourke and Vice Stu Askew and Lady Captain Keri Clarke in organising the joint competitions between ourselves and the Club and Ladies Section.

I would also like to thank Mike Merrison for his continued maintenance of the Webpages, despite being unable to play for most of the year and to Derek Isaac, for organised the Eclectic and the Order of Merit competitions.

Blankney Golf Club is a great golf course excellently managed by John Hart and his green staff who have worked hard to maintain the course, to (and above) its usual excellent standards, which we have all very much enjoyed.

My thanks to Graham, our now retired professional and Alex for all their support over these past couple of years and I welcome Alex into his new role as the club professional. Also, although now departed, my thanks to Tracey and Sarah and all of their teams, for their efforts on our behalf over the past couple of years. Putting “into play” all the Covid-19 regulations, therefore keeping us safe and allowing us all to enjoy our wonderful game!

My congratulations to this year’s winners of the Senior’s Order of Merit, Dave Holmes and the Eclectic, Div 1 winner Robert Ford and Fred Fox the Div 2 winner. Again thanks to Derek Isaac of his usual excellent organization.

 Finally, I am pleased to report that we raised from the match fee and my captain’s day the princely sum of £620.00 for Blood Cancer UK which was my chosen charity for the year. The letter of thanks and Certificate of Appreciation are displayed on the notice board upstairs, my thanks for all your support.

Robby Boyce Seniors Captain  

 

SECRETARY & TREASURER’S REPORT

 

John Wood gave the following report:

 

“As with 2020, the Golfing  year 2021 suffered from the Covid Virus with the Golf Club locked down, literally, this year until mid-April.

 

In February 2020 we once again held the excellent Valentines Dinner, organised by David Stanley and Nev Scott who informed us that it would be the last time they would be organising the event.  At that time we had an offer from two members to run it in 2021.  Unfortunately, due to the lock-down we were not in a position to stage the event under this new management.  No decision has currently been made as to whether the Valentine’s Dinner will go ahead in 2022.

 

In 2020 we were put into lockdown at the end of March and only let back onto the Course twelve weeks later.  In consultation with Captain Fred and the Club Committee it was decided that all Matches and Opens would be shelved for the year. Thankfully, Captain Fred did get his ‘drive-in’ at the beginning of March although unfortunately he did lose to the Vice-Captain’s team.

 

We rearranged the majority of our Board Competitions, using the ClubV1 booking system for the first time and had a very busy if shortened year.

 

We arranged a full fixture list for 2021 hoping that things would be back to normal with no lockdowns.  Sadly, by October 2020 the Delta strain of the Virus took hold and we were back into lockdown.  We were released finally in mid-April this year.  By then we had already lost our first three Matches and March’s Qualifier.  Hopefully we’ll get to play Belton Park and Stoke Rochford again in 2022.   The Matches had always been our only source of Income with the £1 levy contributing almost £340 in 2019, so with the loss of the fixtures we had to find another revenue stream. 

 

Thankfully, at the 2019 AGM, members had voted to change the fees for the Board Competitions. Doing away with the Whisky Draws and replacing them with an increase in entry fees and a charity draw for half of this increase.  They also voted to increase the entry fees for the Monthly Qualifiers to £2, this together with an influx of new members and those on furlough helped to increase the income.

 

We were able to increase the number of Prizes in both the Competitions and Qualifiers to Five, £150 in Comps and £100 in each of the Qualifiers.  The income from the Competitions is subject to a 15% levy for the House and Social Account. The retained half of the Charity portion of the entry, averaging £31 was transferred into a new virtual ‘Charity Account’. 

All income above £100 in each of the Qualifiers was also transferred into the Charity Account, a total of £272, ranging from £58 in May but only £8 in August’s Medal Qualifier.  These transfers meant that even after adding a donation to help the Junior Section (£50) and making our normal donations to the eight local Charities (£450) the Account carried forward a £3 balance.

 

With the re-start of our matches and this change in Accounting, we were able to allow the Captain to retain the £1 levy for his own Charity appeal (Blood Cancer UK), it is expected that this will continue next Season for Ivor’s Charity of choice.

 

Senior Captain’s Day was held on the Monday immediately following the Club’s Captains’ weekend, this allowed for us to make use of the half-way House setup and helped to make Robby’s day a success.  The Club gave £100 towards refreshment which reduced our commitment down to £195.

 

Our one annual away day this year, was held for the second year, at Kenwick Park, where we took forty-six seniors. The day went very well and saw Mel Jays (38 points) winning the singles by one point from Club Captain, Kev O’Rourke. Kev got his win in the Pairs when he and partner Al Grieves (70 points) were victorious.  Organiser, Ian Smith has already booked the date for a third year at Kenwick, Friday, 9^th September 2022. 

 

Peter Morley has struggled somewhat during the pandemic to find a Club to organise an exchange day with, he is still looking but no date has been set in next year’s calendar.

 

As is normal the main event from an organisational point of view was the annual Watson Trophy (The Senior Open).  In 2020 the event was run in-house with Terry Bentley getting his name on the honours board.  Thankfully, this year  the Club allowed us to open up the entry to visitors once again.  Despite a slow uptake we eventually received fifty-three entries from near and far, we also received seventy-five entries from Club members, a reversal of the previous years. The field was once again split into three age groups.  The overall winner, Denis Lea from Brampton Park scored 40 points to win with a back nine of 19 points against Dore & Totley’s Tony Flatley’s  18.  Tony won the 55-64 category beating Blankney’s David Manning by one point. In the biggest group (65-74) due to Dennis winning the Watson Trophy overall, John Watson’s 39 points, beat fellow Blankney member Bruce Hayes by three points.  The over 75’s was a clean sweep for Blankney with Stewart McCracken’s 36 points beating Martin Cornelius by one point. After prizes, green fees and the levy we managed to retain £254.

 

We also take responsibility for running the Club’s Over 55s Mixed competition, Embarrassingly, Angela made full use of the new WHS handicapping system and we won with a score of 45 points.

 

In 2019 we introduced a Senior AMAM with twenty-one teams, obviously we couldn’t run it in 2020 but resurrected it for this year.  We tempted twenty-six teams to play, made up of sixty-five visitors and thirty-nine members.  Winners on the day were a Sutton Bridge Team who scored 106 points beating a team from four Nottinghamshire Clubs by 2 points. 

 

We included a compulsory meal for this competition which thanks to our Catering department excelling themselves, ensuring that competitors left having had an enjoyable day, a full stomach and promising to return again next year.

 

Both of these Open competitions are entered via the Club’s booking system so apart from monitoring the entries I have no dealings with the actual money coming in or going out.  Therefore no mention is made of these competitions in my accounts. They did however enhance the amount of Levy attributed to the Senior Section.

 

We organised six board competitions during the season. A total number of 410 seniors entered these competitions, which was slightly down on 2020 mainly due to members returning to work as furlough ended.  The income from those competitions including the entries into the Order of Merit and Eclectic was £1727, after the cost  of prizes and the levy to the Club a sum of  £120 remained.

 

For ease the prizes were all in the form of either a voucher or cash,  and we have already Presented the Cups this afternoon.  Following a directive from England Golf we will not be able to give out cash prizes going forward. Winners were as follows:

 

Ken Williams Cup (82 Entries) – David Croft

Stuart Blytham Salver (67) – John Kent       

Newman Charity Shield (63) – Robert Gawne

Gilliatt Driver (54) – Colin Mumby

Senior Stroke Play Champion – David Holmes

Bert Cawsey Cup (56) – Bob Manser

Bert Medhurst (56) – Dave Jubbs

Reg Woolley KO – Paul Coathup  

 

Congratulations to them all.

 

As reported we lost the March Qualifier due to being locked down but were still able to run seven Monthly Qualifiers between April and October, two of which were Medal competitions, the rest being Stablefords.

 

As with the Board Competitions, the Qualifiers were all entered via the ClubV1 System with a random draw for Tee Times, this will continue next season.

 

 

This year’s monthly winners were:

 

April                     Nick Avill     (73 Entries)

May                       Chris Lawton (79 Entries)

June                      John Bryant  (68 Entries) Medal

July                       Eric Feeney (72 Entries)

August                  Clive Lewis    (54 Entries) Medal

September            Gordon Brenchley  (64 Entries)

October                Clive Lewis  (67 Entries)

 

The next item was the Invitation Day, eighteen pairs entered this competition which once again was very enjoyable.  Brett Wooldridge and Iain Woolfson from Pottergate with forty-one points, won on the back nine from two other pairs.

 

It had been suggested that as a large section, we should give something back to the Club and our excellent Course. It was decided that we would on your behalf sponsor the Tee Markers on one hole.  This means that “Seniors” will be on the three yardage signs on the sixth hole.  We did ask the Ladies to come in with us so that the Red Marker had their name on it instead of ours, however they declined this invitation.

 

Other than this £600 we had no extra miscellaneous as no printing costs had been submitted and Phillip Johnson once again published the Directories for free.

 

All of this income and expenditure resulted in a loss on the year of £420, leaving a balance of £1004 in the Members Fund.

 

Going Forward, as requested by the Club Committee, we have moved all of the midweek Board Competitions to a Monday and will during 2022,  attempt to move all Home Matches also to a Monday from 2023.

 

Due to Sandilands, Canwick Park and Boston West, ceasing to exist and Market Rasen not wanting to play against us for some reason, we have recently lost eight matches. In 2021 we added Norwood Park  and for 2022 we have added Spalding.  We are in discussions with Market Rasen in a hope of playing them again but have not added them to the Diary. We will therefore have twenty-six Matches against Local Clubs, thirteen home and away. The Home matches will all start at 08:45 except the Seacroft Match which will be an afternoon fixture preceded by a Brunch.

 

I reiterate all of the thanks that the Captain has made but must give personal special thanks to; Steve McGinty for all of his help, Phill Johnson for our Directories, Mike Merrison for keeping the website updated with the Competition and other details; Club Secretary Diane for printing the cards and for her help in general, the Pro-shop staff for dishing out those cards and for looking after the cash and finally thanks to Bob Spandler for taking his time to audit my books.

 

Of course I must thank retiring Captain Robby, for his service to the Seniors of Blankney.

 

I am looking forward to working with new Captain Ivor, as I have during this year and his Vice Captain Paul Finley.

 

Thank you all

 

John Wood”

 

 

 

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

 

Nominations for the election of officers had been on display for the required period. As no alternative names have been placed before the Section the following were elected:

 

 

Captain

 

Ivor Samways              Proposed      Robby Boyce        seconded          Fred Fox

 

Vice-Captain

 

Paul Finley                 Proposed       Ivor Samways      seconded          Peter Kennelly

                       

Secretary/Treasurer

 

John Wood                  Proposed      Fred Fox             seconded          Mike Merrison

 

 

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

 

There had been no proposals submitted for discussion in the requisite time scale:

 

The Captain asked the Meeting if there was anything they would like to discuss.

 

Nothing was brought forward from the floor however Robby stated that he had two items on which he need approval from the Meeting:

 

No.1   Following the decision by the Estate to return the Accounting Year for the Golf Club back to 1^st March from 2022 and the Club and Ladies Committees decisions to move their AGMs from November 2022 to February 2023 the Captain asked for a show of hands in favour of the Seniors doing likewise. 

 

Proposer: The Captain.  Seconded by:  The Secretary.   Passed unanimously.

 

No.2  That the Order of Merit be split into two categories at 19 handicap.  This was to encourage more of the higher handicappers to enter as they were currently put off by the competition being constantly won by the lower handicappers.  A maximum of twelve scores would count.

 

Proposer: Derek Isaac.     Seconded by: Robby Boyce. Passed unanimously.

 

 

HANDOVER OF CAPTAIN

 

Retiring Captain Robby introduced New Captain Ivor Samways presenting him with his Senior Captain’s Badge and the Neil Blanchard Memorial Gavel and Mallet.

 

Ivor made the following closing remarks:

 

It is with great pleasure that I accept the position of Captain of the Senior Section at Blankney Golf Club for the year 2022. It is a privilege to be considered compatible with the previous occupants of office at Blankney Golf Club.  Thanks to you all for supporting my nomination and subsequent election. It is my resolute intention to fulfil the trust that you have placed in me to execute correctly the requirements of the position. I am determined to represent the section, in the accomplished manner that has been formulated within such a marvellous golf club. Personally, I am rapt and enthralled to be considered worthy of such an esteemed and honourable position.

 

It was a certainty that I would be the last to follow [or even echo or repeat] the acknowledgments that are rightfully due to those people who have contributed to the section in the past year. One of my well used quotes is attributed to Lord Byron or alternatively Louisa May Alcott. I have been unable to identify the actual originator.

 

“I slept and dreamt that life was beauty

I awoke to find that life was duty”.

 

Hence I take this opportunity to draw to your attention the considerable [and unstinting] input from the Captain and Secretary of the Senior Section since the last AGM.  Since then, much of the customary practice has disappeared. They have manoeuvred the section through some difficult and despairingly desolate times. With persistence and assiduousness they have successfully re-established [or even introduced] an outstanding program of competitions and matches. Such would take the admiration’ or indeed be the envy, of any golf club. Hence, it is from the duty of Robby Boyce and John Wood [and all of the other contributors to the functioning of the section] that you have such a wonderful time. Very fortunately, as he is present [as he always is, all the time], I would wish to also commend to you the duty provided by the Club Chairman, Robbie Selway. We are very fortunate to have people of such character and ability in the club.

 

There is a cohort of senior members that have consistently supported the competitions, matches and other important events in the calendar. These people are the strength and stamina of the section. Indeed these people are the life blood of the section. I thought that there were many who were of such character that they could easily fulfil the requirements requisite to represent the Senior Section. We are very fortunate to have people of such talent and ability in the club. One such notable and distinguished member, who has twenty five years plus of golfing experience at Blankney Golf Club is Paul Finley. I am delighted to nominate Paul for Vice Captain of the Seniors Section for 2022 and request your support for his election to the office.

 

Thank you.

 

                                   

Having set a date of 27^th February 2023 for the next Seniors’ AGM the meeting was closed at 15:45

 

 

THE CARL ELLIS CHRISTMAS LUNCH

MONDAY 6th DECEMBER 2021

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A MEAL PLEASE ENTER YOUR NAME ON THE LIST UPSTAIRS.  DINING FROM 1PM IN CLUB HOUSE MUST KNOW BY 1ST DECEMBER

Traditional Roast Turkey, two course Lunch £15.00.

PLEASE PAY FOR MEALS IN THE DINING ROOM

BLANKNEY SENIOR GOLFERS
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
MONDAY 6th DECEMBER 2021 AT APPROX. 3.30 PM
OPENING REMARKS
PRESENTATION OF ANNUAL PRIZES (Eclectic & Order of Merit)
MINUTES OF THE 2019 AGM AND POINTS ARISING
CAPTAIN'S REPORT AND POINTS ARISING
THE SECRETARY'S REPORT (incorporating Finance)
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
CAPTAIN	PROPOSER	SECONDER
1. IVOR SAMWAYS	ROBBY BOYCE	FRED FOX
2
VICE CAPTAIN	PROPOSER	SECONDER
1. PAUL FINLEY	IVOR SAMWAYS	PETER KENNELLY
2
SECRETARY/TREASURER	PROPOSER	SECONDER
1. JOHN WOOD	FRED FOX	MIKE MERRISON
2
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
NO ITEMS HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED FOR DISCUSSION
The Captain may at his discretion allow other items brought up at the AGM to be discussed.
HANDOVER OF THE CAPTAINCY including the presentation of  The Neil Blanchard Memorial Gavel.
CLOSE OF MEETING

Match Report v South Kyme GC 28^th October 21

 

The Senior’s played their final match of the year away to South Kyme GC on the 28^th October 21 on a well presented course which was a fair but challenging.

We have a good rapport with South Kyme Seniors and the match was played in the usual friendly and good humoured manner. I can report everyone enjoyed their day and an outstanding post match meal was enjoyed by all.

The match was one of the closest, coming down to the final match, on the final hole with the final putt deciding the outcome! Although Blankney Seniors put up an excellent account, we eventually succumbed losing the match 4 ½ to 3 ½.

All remaining Covid-19 restrictions were complied with throughout, but this didn’t distract from the day.

I would like to take this opportunity say big thank you to all who represented Blankney Seniors, over the past year.

 Robby Boyce Seniors' Captain.

Match Report v South Kyme GC 28^th October 21

The Senior’s played their final match of the year away to South Kyme GC on the 28^th October 21 on a well presented course which was a fair but challenging.

We have a good repour with South Kyme Seniors and the match was played in the usual friendly and good humoured manner, I can report everyone enjoyed their day and an outstanding post match meal was enjoyed by all.

The match was one of the closest, coming down to the final match, on the final hole with the final putt deciding the outcome! Although Blankney senior’s put up an excellent account, we eventually succumb losing the match 4 ½ to 3 ½.

All remaining Covid-19 restrictions were complied with throughout, but this didn’t distract from the day.

I would like to take this opportunity say big thank you to all who represented Blankney Seniors, over the past year.

 Robby Boyce Senior’s captain.

 

CARL ELLIS CHRISTMAS GREENSOMES – MONDAY 6th DECEMBER

 

The entry list for the Carl Ellis Christmas Greensomes is now live on the Club V1 website, please enter in pairs if possible.

A Traditional, two Courses Christmas Meal plus Tea or Coffee,  will be available at a price of £15 (payable to the Catering staff on the day).  A list will be placed upstairs so that you can indicate that you would like to partake.

 

Seniors’ Annual General Meeting

Following the Presentation of the Prizes for the Greensome, it is hoped (covid restrictions allowing) to hold the AGM in the Clubhouse.

The Notice Of The AGM will be published by Mid-November. Anyone wishing to have anything discussed and Voted On under Any Other Business is asked to let me have their Question in writing (email) by the 15^th November 2021.

 

John Wood

BGC Seniors’ Secretary