OSBGS News (January 2014)
2013 has been a year both of much promise and some disappointment for the Golf Society.
On a positive note, St Bees took a ‘squad’ of eighteen to this year’s Halford Hewitt in April; the most the school has ever had in attendance. This is a great achievement given that little over ten years ago the team was struggling to find ten players, with frantic phone calls often taking place in the days leading up to the event.
In addition, the presence of Stuart Hemmings at this year’s tournament meant that St Bees was probably the only one of the 64 schools taking part to have their own PGA qualified golf professional on site.
What’s more the team performed well, winning a first round match for the second year in a row. I am absolutely sure that a strong winning run in this competition lies just around the corner.
At the senior end of the scale, in the over 50s Cyril Gray Golf Tournament, held each year at Worplesdon, our victory over Rossall in 2012 was reversed in this year’s first round. However, the team managed still to be playing on Saturday morning (the benchmark of a good week) in the Plate, where we lost in the third round to the eventual winners, Wrekin.
On another positive note, this year’s Critchley Cup, which was held at Seascale Golf Club on Old St Beghians’ Day, was another memorable event.
It was great to welcome so many new Old St Beghians to the Critchley, not least this year’s winner John Woodhouse. It was also great to welcome back Chris Stewart, Josh Oldham, Adam McNicholas, Ethan Spedding and Ben Wilson. We hope that they continue to enjoy the event and return for many years to come.
It was also good to see no less than eight school pupils ranging from First year pupils right through to Upper Sixth at this year’s event. The quality of the golf on show was extremely encouraging and huge credit must go to Stuart Hemmings for all his hard work.
Despite some good achievements in 2013 there have unfortunately been some significant disappointments. St Bees failed to raise a six man team for the Queen Elizabeth Trophy in September. This is the first time that St Bees has failed to put a team forward to compete at this event. Similarly we also failed to raise a team for the Grafton Morrish Qualifying tournament, in May.
These are two great events in which we have competed for over fifty years. It seems a shame that we can be so strong at the Hewitt yet not compete at the QE or the Grafton.
Critchley Cup 2013:
This year’s Critchley Cup was played at Seascale Golf Club on Old St Beghians’ Day, Saturday 21st of September. This was the first time that the Critchley Cup had been played in Cumbria in five years and we were delighted to welcome so many school pupils and newer Old St Beghians to the event.
The Cup was won by John Woodhouse. John, who left the school in 2002 and lives in St Bees, managed a score of 39 points to ensure that the Critchley stays in St Bees for the first time this millennium!
Congratulations to all the winners and everyone taking part.
Critchley Cup: John Woodhouse
Farquies Fortifier (2nd place): Adrian Peckitt
Dick Harrison Trophy (Over 12 Handicap): Marcus Fairhurst
Ken Case Tankard (Senior Trohy): Andrew Johnston
Bill Fox Cup (Best Gross): Adrian Peckitt
We hope to see even more Old St Beghians join us in 2014 for this fantastic day. Details of next year’s event will be communicated in early 2014.We would be delighted to hear from any Old St Beghian golfers who would be interested in taking part.
Contact: James Doggett at james.doggett@hotmail.co.uk or 07930 510086.