Immediate Past Captain Looking Backwards and Forwards

'Amen Corner at SGC'

I have been an Ex Captain for some five weeks. Although warned by previous Captains it has certainly been a shock to the system. However, nothing will detract from the huge enjoyment and honour of being Captain of Sale Golf Club and Rita and I will always have happy memories of my year in office and the privilege of serving with President Fred, Lady Captain Chris and Lady President Val.

We have all had a great year together.

There are so many people to whom I am indebted for their assistance and support during the year and I recognised this at the AGM. I do not have space to mention them all but I thank them all again nonetheless.

In retrospect, the Club had a mixed year on the course in 2007.

This included notable achievements of winning the Mersey Bowl, the Ladies and Juniors Mersey Shields and the Juniors Mersey League. We could have performed better in the Alliance competitions and the Mersey League but I am sure that this was a minor glitch and will be remedied this coming year. Irrespective of the results, I was proud as Captain to have fronted our teams in the various matches even though regularly playing with and learning from Mike, our Pro, throughout the year did not appear to help my personal contribution.

As Immediate Past Captain, I still have responsibilities as Chairman of Council and Chairman of the Membership Committee and I will now concentrate on these tasks.
The Membership Committee and Marketing will endeavour to achieve the required growth in membership which is essential whilst preserving our Private Members Club status and standards and also increase our income from outside sources. As you all know, we now have no membership joining fee and there are also financial incentives in place for members to introduce others to the Club. We can all contribute to this objective.

Lady Captain and I had a joint charity in our year and Stockdale’s of Sale who care for disabled children and young adults have benefited to the tune of £3200 from this. Our thanks go to you all for this wonderful effort.

One project which I intended to champion over my year as Captain was to improve the appearance of the rear of the 13th Green but I never quite got round to it because other commitments always seemed to get in the way. However, now I have more time perhaps I can. The associated photograph gives an artistic impression (slightly exaggerated I know) of what this area could look like. Can I take this opportunity to suggest that members might like to donate flowering shrubs, old or new, to develop this part of the course? Chris Hulme, our Course Manager, will plant them and perhaps in the years to come we can have our own “Amen Corner”.

Best wishes to all members of SGC for the coming year and, of course, to Captain John, President John, Lady Captain Carol and Lady President Maureen. I hope they have as enjoyable a year as I have had.

Peter Sykes
Immediate Past Captain and Chairman of Council