Golf at St Bees

The St Beghian Society, The OSB Golfing Society and St Bees School.

 

At the OSB Committee Meeting in June 2024, the St Beghian Society received a request for assistance from the President of the Old St Beghian Golfing Society (OSBGS) as, following the closure of the school, the OSBGS had struggled to attract new younger golfers and hence funds had diminished significantly. The reduction in funding was now making it difficult for the OSBGS to attend some flagship competitions, such as the Halford Hewitt invitation event. The St Beghian Society therefore agreed that the Society should donate £5k to the OSBGS, to ensure that the club was able to continue in general but also to keep up their attendance, and hence their place, at the prestigious tournaments, such as the Halford Hewitt.

St Bees School is one of only a few schools to possess a golf course as part of its assets. Prior to the 2015 closure it not only owned its own golf course, but also boasted an on-site putting green and the services of an in-house golf professional. At the time, the sport enjoyed a high profile in the school, however, since the re-opening in 2018, golf has languished, until fairly recently.

The St Bees golf course is currently owned by the St Bees School Charitable Trust Ltd but is run on a day-to-day basis and maintained by the village golf club (St Bees Golf Club) and in return, the course is available for use by the school, if required.
 
We are delighted to hear that golf is now beginning to thrive once again at St Bees School, with the input of the Lead Teacher of PE, Brad Simpson.

Brad reports that:
“St Bees School use the golf course as a part of their after school activities programme in the summer term. This is open to any student and allows them to get their first experience on a golf course. They also use the course during senior PE lessons during the summer term. As a result, some students are being assessed in golf as a part of their IGCSE PE qualification and academic studies. We have also arranged with the St Bees Golf club to allow free casual use memberships for the students. Our school prefects are the only ones at present to take up this offer, but there will be plenty more sign-ups in the summer term. In addition, the school uses the golf course for activities week at the end of each academic year and it is a significant part of the international programme for our Chinese visitors when they come to St Bees School.”

We sincerely hope that the re-kindled interest in Golf at St Bees School will result in students at the school excelling in the sport and eventually joining the OSB Golfing Society on leaving school.

If any other existing OSB members are keen to learn more about joining the OSBGS, please do get in touch with either the President or Secretary of the Golfing Society – details may be found at the end of the Golfing Society report.

 

 

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The St Beghian Society    
St Bees School,    St Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.

         Tel: (01946) 828093      Email: osb@stbeesschool.co.uk      Web: www.st-beghian-society.co.uk