OB Golf - 2011

The Spring Meeting at Royal Worlington 2011

The day was a full house with 25 OBs attending including 3 new golf society members from the class of '93 - Dan Yeadon, Jeremy Woodrow and Oli Slack.

Tom Langley-Poole won the scratch prize with a fine 74 whist Adam Foster won the Captain's prize with a super net 67 which narrowly beat Stan Lersch on count-back.

Simon Kimber romped home winning the Senior trophy whilst Dan Yeadon won the Junior trophy on debut!

OB Captain Brian Gillett handed out the prizes over lunch before Adam Foster repeated his morning form winning the afternoon foursomes with Simon Bevan.

Halford Hewitt 2011

2011 wasn't the best year for results - Bedford managed to lose in the 1st round of the Hewitt and also in the 1st round of the plate competition.

Despite being ahead in 4 games after 9 holes, we lost 3.5 to 1.5 against Lancing College at Royal Cinque Ports. There were some positives which included a win for George Wilson and Ed Kent which is great for the future. Dan Mules and Simon Blundell got the other half point.

In the Plate we lost 2.5 to 0.5 against Liverpool at Princes with Tom Langley-Poole and Colin Beesley accounting for our half point.

Thanks must also go to the supporters who came along to support the team - Roger Lawson, Hector Patterson, Chris Johnson, Anthony Ormerod & Simon Kimber.

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD DURING LUNCH AT SHERINGHAM GOLF CLUB ON

SATURDAY 17th SEPTEMBER 2011

ATTENDEES: Brian Gillett (Captain), Iain Pratt (Secretary), Simon Bevan, Dan Mules, Robin Maris, Kinar Patel, Simon

Kimber, Piers Constable, Lee Dinmore, Nick Wade, Chris (CJ) Johnson, HRH The Queen.

APOLOGIES: Anthony Ormerod.

The 2011 autumn meeting at Sheringham was memorable on two fronts. Firstly Robin Maris and Simon Bevan raised their bats for two splendid half centuries of autumn meeting appearances. News of this achievement had clearly made it beyond the OB Golf Society such that the Queen felt that she should be present to witness the occasion. Fittingly Maris blew away the younger opposition and stormed to victory in the Medal whilst Bevan romped home in the Senior Cup. Her majesty stayed for the presentation whilst tucking into roast beef and several glasses of claret……..

The AGM was concluded with the Secretary thanking Captain Gillett on behalf of the society and President (absent at wedding) for his 2 years at the helm and a job well done. The Secretary thanked himself via the President’s telegram for another year of hard work before moving on to elections.

Chris ‘CJ’ Johnson was voted in as captain and is reported to be looking forward to pacing putts at the Hewitt. CJ nominated Dan Mules as his vice captain and everyone present approved of that.

A glass was raised to Adam ‘The Sword’ Wilkinson in his latest battle against cancer. Successful treatment resulted in a recent text on Jan 8

th – “Wow, just birdied my first hole in 4 months. Eat that. Halford dream may be back on!! Mind you, almost killed someone with power block on the next!”

Dinmore and Pratt cleared up in the afternoon foursomes leaving Wade, Gillett, Dinmore and Constable to depart for Hunstanton and the epic match above.

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

2011 was a mixed year for the society but the highlight was without doubt at the Grafton Morrish qualifying i nMay where the OB Team finished 2

nd out of the 15 schools attempting to qualify. The record breaking team was Colin Beesley, Adam Wilkinson, Simon Blundell, Tom Langley‐Poole, Brain Gillett and George Wilson. The team progressed to the finals at Hunstanton where a favourable draw saw Bedford handed a bye into round 2, but lost to Cheltenham 2‐1 with Tom Langley‐Poole and Simon Blundell securing our point.

The Halford Hewitt in April saw Bedford drawn against Lancing College at Deal. With George Wilson on debut and Ed Kent back in the team, hopes were high and a record 6 OB supporters attended! George and Ed won their match 2&1 but the team went down 3.5 to 1.5 with Dan Mules & Simon Blundell getting the extra half point. The team fared little better in the Plate competition at Princes losing 2.5 to 0.5 against Liverpool.

The average handicap of the Hewitt team has come down to about 4 in recent years but more help is on the way. A report on the school ISGA tournament read as follows after a match on October 13

th ‐ “Harry Wetton, Jay Far and Josh Taylor won the nail‐biting encounter with Hampton School, last year's finalist, two matches to one. Two games went to the wire and were decided on the 18th, but the performance of the day went to Harry Wetton, who destroyed his scratch opponent scoring six under par after 13 holes, winning his game six & five.” Harry leaves next year and we’ll try and secure his services if the PGA Tour doesn’t!

The Spring Meeting at Sheringham saw a reunion of the class of 93 – Iain Pratt, Jeremy Woodrow, Oliver Slack and Dan Yeadon met up after 18 years. Captain Gillett managed to play the last 3 holes in about 10 over par for the 2

nd year running, having stood on the 16th tee at 1 over, to hand the scratch prize to Tom Langley Poole. Adam Foster won the captain’s prize with a fine net 67 whilst Simon Kimber took the senior cup with 37 points. Dan Yeadon marked his debut by picking up the junior trophy whilst Oliver Slack also deserves a mention for driving the 18th (or 9th) and making an eagle.

News of the 2011 Mellin performance remains a secret but I don’t think there was much to shout about.

2011 was the year of the draw for our matches against other schools. James Lawson’s team drew 3

‐3 with Oundle in March at Royal Worlington. Andrew Rudkin’s team shared the points against Wellingborough in June and the match against the Schoolboys at Woburn 2 weeks later also ended 3‐3. Anthony Ormerod’s team were unable to beat Highgate at Woburn in August going down 2.5 to 0.5. The final match of the year was against Wrekin College at Woburn in October – again the match was drawn 3.5 to 3.5 with Robin Maris securing a notable 5&4 victory in his match. It was great to see John Prudence (with great hat‐ see photo!) back at an OB event.

May 21st 2011 was the date for the 2

nd Bedford School Foundation Golf Day. The format is a fun, team 4 ball competition with a buffet supper afterwards, the overall aim being to raise additional funds to augment the

school's golf scholarship awards scheme. The weather Gods looked kindly down upon us again and a great afternoon was had by all, with our OBGS president’s team walking away with the overall honours. More

importantly (perhaps!) was that another £3,000 was raised to support golfers at the school. This year's event takes place on Saturday June 16th and is a Shotgun start at 14.30 followed again by an informal dinner, all are welcome: friends, family, children and relatives

‐ entries to nthompson@bedfordschool.org.uk

The 7

th OB Golf Tour went to the West Coast of Scotland playing Troon Darley, Machrihanish, Dundonald, Prestwick, Troon, Turnberry and Irvine. Blessed with a great week of weather,everyone had a great time......apparently!

The second memorable moment reunited formidable Hewitt pairing Piers Constable & Lee Dinmore. Following 8 years apart the two made a weekend of it (unsurprising given Constable’s 540 mile round trip from Bristol to Sheringham.) A mystery contributor sent the following report……

He who chirps last... chirps longest!

Fellow Old Bedfordian golfers may be interested to know it's now back to normality for players involved in a golf, darts and blackjack tour of Woodbridge, Sheringham and Hunstanton.

Impressive wins were recorded by Piers Constable, who took the Eagle Trophy 'golf‐darts combined' event at Woodbridge and the OB's Autumn meeting Junior Trophy at Sheringham, Dan Mules (Autumn Meeting Scratch), Simon Bevan (Autumn Meeting seniors) and Robin Maris, who charged to victory at Sheringham with a very impressive 75 in the Autumn medal.

Of course, cards was always going to be on the table at outgoing captain Brian Gillett's beautiful holiday home in Hunstanton on Saturday night. Reportedly, £100 blind was the most audacious bet of the night ‐ and 'blind' bets (normally reserved for brag) weren't even on the table! Perhaps host Gillett, who is affectionately also known as Brain to his friends, simply wasn't aware of which game he was actually playing? However, this could also have been put down to him suffering from trauma having relinquished his cherished captaincy the previous day to the popular incoming OB's captain 'CJ' Johnson.

Anyhoo... Nick 'I'll go a pound' Wade (also known as Nick the Shank) was clearly unaffected by the late‐night Rioja sesh, storming to a 5up after 7 holes lead in the Hunstanton foursomes the following morning as Brain supported unerringly with the putter. Cocky Brain's chirps towards his opposition, Constable and partner Lee Dinmore, had at one point included 'We are heading for a 10 and 8 write up in the Ousel here!' on their way to reaching the turn in +1 over par.

But it was not long before Constable and Dinmore, who were renewing a 20‐year‐old partnership, re‐discovered their form of yesteryear. The key moment came when some incredibly well‐timed (and insightful) use of the 'chatiron' at the 15th led to the only mistake from the hitherto faultless iron‐play of Nick the Shank ‐ and team 'chirpychirpy‐ cheep‐cheep's' lead was cut to 1up.

Nick the Shank showed his mettle when holing a steely putt for par 3 at the 16th for a dormie 2up advantage before a birdie, par finish into the wind from Constable and Dinmore sealed a most memorable half. Their one

under par total for the final ten holes proving just too much for Wade's and, in particular, Gillett's brain to comprehend.

A brilliantly well organised and entertaining Autumn Meeting was had by all. To those that missed out, please be sure to book in advance for next year!

ANON