Welcome to my final Lady Captain update. How quickly has the year gone over?

Our Calcutta final was won by Joanne Cowan who was challenged all the way by Audrey Croft, our record-breaking finalist. Anne Carter and Chrissie Elliott won the Ladies pairs and Candi Gunson partnered Michael Rutter to win the mixed knockout. Congratulations to all our finalists.

Sadly, Pink Day was postponed due to the weather so has been rearranged for 21^st October. Fingers crossed for a dry day. This fun day raises funds for Breast Cancer Research.

Our AGMs are next week when I will handover to Barbara Franklin, your new Lady Captain. I would like to wish Barbara all the best for her Captain’s year, I hope she has a fabulous time.

Thank you for all your friendship and fun this year, it has been much appreciated and a truly wonderful experience.

Louise

The season is progressing very quickly. Our Shield teams have had a great season. The First team came second in the First Division, our highest placing for 9 years. Our second team won the third division, that is promotion two years in a row!! The Third team are sitting joint second and we eagerly await the final results from other clubs to confirm our exact position.

The Club Championship was won by Judith Moore. Jude was challenged by Joanne Jacobs in an exciting match. The heavens absolutely opened in the afternoon with the match ending on a flooded 9^th green (hole 27). The Bronze Championship was won by Natalie Heath for the second year in a row. Barbara Franklin made Nat work hard for her victory.

We have held two Opens, our first weekend Open was a huge success with many ladies appreciating the opportunity to play an Open at the City at a weekend. Our last Open is in September.

20 of our Past Captains met for lunch after competing for the Past Captain’s Cup. We were also joined by several non-playing Past Captains for lunch. The Vice Captain selection meeting took place after. Congratulations to Sharon White who has accepted the honour to be our next Vice Captain. This will be confirmed at the Club AGM in October.

The annual national Women and Girls Golf week culminated in a Women on Par 9 hole competition. Also, each day from 1-7^th August ,we posted a short piece on all 3 social media platforms following the topics suggested by EG (careers, volunteers, role models, beginners, competition, health and well-being). Hopefully this will continue to raise the profile of women in golf.

The knockout finals day is on 18^th September. This year will be very special as we have one of our elder ladies competing. Lots of luck Audrey.

Louise

The competition season has started in earnest. So far, we have had a great mix of Stableford, Strokeplay and pairs competitions. Our knockouts have also started so it’s all go and excitement!

Our Northumberland County Ladies Golf Association Shield matches are now underway.  You can follow our progress in Divisions 1, 3 and 5 here: https://nlcga.co.uk/competitions/shield/division.php?division=1&season=2022  We have a lot of competition for team places and our highest handicap is 10 in the first team. Our second and third teams are consequently strong so I am confident we will compete well. On 14^th April the first team entertained Gosforth GC resulting in a strong win 5.5 – 2.5. Hexham pulled out all the stops and won 6-2 on 20^th April. Great team spirits and best efforts made for two tricky matches. The second team lost away at Goswick 4-3 but had a fantastic win at Hexham the following week 5-2. Both teams are in action again this week which will mark the halfway points for both teams in their league matches.

The Ladies were challenged to a match against the Junior section on Tuesday 19^th April. The juniors won 2-1 and the match was enjoyed by everyone. City hosted the County Smith Herbert Trophy competition on Sunday 1^st May (Junior/adult pairs) so a super opportunity to showcase the course and clubhouse. Three of our women entered this, each pairing up with a junior girl. Great to see such young talent and enthusiasm for women’s golf in Northumberland.

Our Year 2 Get into golfers ‘graduated’ at the end of April. We held a scramble and social to celebrate. Hopefully, many of them will become full members of our section. We also have 2 new lady members who are already enjoying ‘City life’

A new County honours board is being prepared. We have tried to capture all City Ladies successes since 1925 and look forward to seeing them celebrated in the clubhouse.

Our section will be 100 years old in 2025. City Ladies Centenary celebration planning has started with the creation of a ‘Centenary committee’. We have some exciting plans to work up in the next couple of years.

We look forward to hosting the County Vets Bronze meeting on 17^th May. Angie Heads is the County Vets Vice Captain this year so we are proud to be involved with this.

Congratulations to the winners of winter competition prizes especially Helen Kipling who won the Winter Eclectic. Thank you to the comps team for running all the winter events, we were so lucky not to have to cancel any of them.

The summer season is now upon us, so I wish you all the best of luck in all the competitions you enter be they home or away.

The first order of the new kit has arrived and been embroidered A second order is being created so if you would still like to order something, please let me know.

The Captain’s Dinner Dance was a super evening. The kitchen delivered an excellent meal, and the band kept the dancefloor full all night. Thanks to everyone who came along and partied with Neil and me.

County Shield matches start this month, so we wish everyone representing the City the very best of luck and thank you for playing for us.

Current year 2 Get Into Golfers will ‘graduate’ at the end of April. We are organising a graduation scramble and a social on Sunday 24^th April. Well done to everyone, we hope you have enjoyed your experience and look forward to watching you grow as golfers in our section.

City ladies continue to support local charities. We have recently donated toiletries, work appropriate clothing and are currently collecting food items for Easter distribution.

April will feature the launch of the Captain’s Reverse Raffle in aid of The Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. There are some great prizes to be won.

Our first County Shield matches start in April. Congratulations to those selected to play and lots of luck to all our teams. I hope we all have a very successful season.

Louise