PAVENHAM PARK GOLF CLUB

Minutes of Ladies Annual General Meeting

on Tuesday 2nd March 2021 - via Zoom

Present

Committee Members

Clare Williams– Lady Captain

Kath Caiger– Past Captain
Jackie Hammer – Treasurer
Jane Cameron – Competitions Secretary
Alison Loxley – Match Secretary
Linda Darbon – County Representative
June Russell – Website Manager
Heather Stephenson – Press Officer

Members

Anne Beckett, Sandra Birch, Suzie Bishop, Jane Bonner, Sue Bullerwell,
Julie Davies, Tina Farman, Jean Farmbrough, Denise Fleure, Judy Greevy,
Ann Griffiths, Jackie Hughes, Elva Lewis, Chris Lawrie, Sue Long,
Cynthia Pike, Anne Puzey, Louise Roberts, Di Spinks, Cath Tranfield,
Gwen Walpole, Doreen Watson, Merlyn Webb, Heather Wildsmith.

1. Lady Captain’s Welcome

The new Lady Captain, Clare Williams, welcomed everyone to the meeting

2. Apologies for Absence

Anne Keep, Morag Stewart.

3. Minutes of the AGM held on Tuesday 2nd March 2020

The minutes were approved by the members – there were no objections

4. Matters Arising from 2020 minutes

Further to a request from a Lady Member for the Club to review the Ladies Stroke
Indices, Kath has had various meetings with Zac during the year. He has suggested
that the Ladies Section perhaps appoint a working party of interested ladies over the
coming year to analyse current stroke indices and submit a proposal of any changes
they may wish to make for the management’s consideration.

This matter will be discussed at the next Committee meeting.

5. Past Lady Captain’s Report (Kath Caiger)

Welcome everyone and a special welcome to Clare, our new lady captain.
Well, this is something that we've never had to do before- not really a huge surprise
bearing in mind what 2020 threw at us.

My year started with the Captain's Drive In back in March, a truly successful day
raising £1500 for the Captain's charity – Bedford Hospital & Friends.
Pink Ribbon comp went according to plan again raising good money for Breast
Cancer.

But then Coronavirus hit the world and our lives were put on hold. On 23 rd March the
golf course was shut.

During this period the ladies’ section was pro-active, June added a page to our
website, titled it 'Ladies in Lockdown' and photos flooded in of our activities during
this period.
We learnt how to use Zoom and set up weekly quizzes where over 20 households
participated, taking it in turns to host each week. We learnt a lot, some of it useful
some not but most importantly we laughed and stayed in touch with each other. We
even had a few Bingo sessions hosted by Ian Bishop – thank you Ian.
Clare and I re-arranged diary entries in the hope that lockdown wouldn’t be forever
and we even organised the Shield dates for 2021- all in all making good use of our
time!
Sandy made and sold face masks and Jan face creams, both donating funds to the
captain’s charity. Thank you to both of you.
By the end of this lockdown and with all your kind donations from the quizzes we
raised a staggering £1273 for our charity. This also includes money raised from
Graeme Lewis's Back to Golf Comp – thank you to Graeme for organising.

Then July came and we returned to PP.

Linda & Anne kindly organised a Lockdown Trophy comp.
We then started to cram in every comp we could. Record numbers of ladies played
and most weeks we enjoyed cake and coffee, socially distanced outside after our
games.
This continued through August & September. Each week we ticked off trophies,
stablefords, medals and the summer knockouts. We even arranged friendly matches
both home and away. In September I have special memories of an action-packed
week – ladies club champs, ladies captain day and invitation day, all within 7 days of
each other. All of these events had to be tweaked to comply with Covid but I felt so
lucky that they could even happen.
October brought us Captain v Vice Captain, successfully played on a Tuesday,
another first! An Away Day where 28 ladies travelled to a muddy Delepre to enjoy a
day’s golf on another course.

Then Lockdown 2 hit us, all plans for November went out of the window and dates
were revised again. We continued to keep our fingers crossed and on the 2 nd
December we returned to golf and literally hit the ground running. In addition to this
we had to get our heads around the new World Handicap System.
Turkey Trot, Chicken Chase, 3 Clubs and a putter and our very much wanted
Christmas Open. By this time, I think we were on plan Z for this event but with the
help of Zac PPGC hosted an Open for 80 ladies meeting Covid criteria. 18 tees
were adorned with Christmas decorations, all made by our ladies – thank you. My
team of elves- Ian, Graeme, Gareth & Jim literally did anything and everything they
were asked to and also dressed accordingly! - thank you. The raffle raised a
staggering £474- thanks to Denise & Elva for co-ordinating and I think all in all a truly
successful day and one that I will remember.

Just as we had re-organised the winter league and the next few months of golfing
Lockdown 3 hit us.
Since 4th Jan the golf course has been shut, weekly quizzes have been resumed but
with the vaccine roll out we hopefully have a much brighter outlook ahead.

Although this has not been the golfing year I was expecting I feel as though the
ladies’ section has achieved such a lot and we ought to feel very proud of that.

I have much to be grateful for and have a lot of thank yous to make.
Firstly, to every one of you for sticking with me and supporting all the events in this
very bumpy year. A huge thank you for the gifts that were delivered to me, I will look
forward to spending the vouchers when the shops reopen.
To Zac and his team who have had to adapt everything to meet Covid regs and have
shown brilliant flexibility and best of all humoured me along the way.
To the committee, we've had meeting in gardens, by zoom, but all the time they have
been with me every step of the way. This brings me to a few fond farewells
Jane Cameron – has been competition secretary for the past 3 years. Before
lockdown our comps board were always crammed and so well organised with dates
and sign-up sheets. This was all down to Jane's superb organisation skills. Thank
you Jane for all your commitment.
Suzie Bishop – 4 years on the committee, on a personal front huge thank you for
always being there and supporting me this year. Suzie has always been fully
supportive to the ladies’ section and of course had a hugely successful captaincy
year.
Jackie Hammer – a staggering 7 years as the ladies’ treasurer and a font of
knowledge. Will be greatly missed and will be a hard act to follow. Thank you ladies.
Every year the Captain gives an award for Club person of the year and this year I
would like to present it to June for her brilliant work on the website. She has
uploaded photos, videos, messages, literally anything to help keep a smile on our
faces during this year. She has truly made it into an amazing website. Thank you for
your time and effort June.
We are hoping to have an evening of celebration as soon as we are able so we can
acknowledge all of these ladies mentioned and present the 2020 prizes.
Our charity this year was Bedford Hospital & friends, which as it happens turned out
to be a good choice in this particular year. We have raised over £5000 and I would
really like to thank you all for your kind generosity throughout the year.

So that really sums up 2020. All I need to do is thank one more person – Clare. She
has been by my side and at the end of the telephone for me for the whole year and
together we have worked through our calendar of events. I know she will be a great
captain and with Elva as vice-captain I wish them every success for 2021.

6. Presentation & Adoption of Accounts (Jackie Hammer)

As shown on the Treasury spreadsheet 2020, the final accounts show an excess of
income over expenditure of £158.43.

At the end of December the Ladies Section had £1,957.93 but with known and
estimated forthcoming expenditure of £1,058.00 (Engraving, and 2020 competition
prizes) this then leaves approximately £899.93 available to spend.

The Accounts are yet to be audited but will be submitted after this AGM, pending
now questions or queries.

As you know I will be stepping down as Treasurer this year and will be handing the
reigns over to Merlyn who I know will do a great job.

Thank you to Kath and Claire for all their efforts during a very difficult 2020. No
matter what Covid-19 threw at us they somehow managed to keep the Ladies
Section together and arranged as many Competitions and fun golf as was possible.
I’m sure they are looking forward to less emails going forward.

I would like to wish Claire along with her Vice-Captain Elva and the Committee the
very best going forward and let’s hope for a better 2021 with plenty of golf.

We are very fortunate to have such a great ladies Section here at Pavenham and I
know we will be in good hands with Claire, Elva and past Captain Kath.

I imagine that a lot of you have already had your vaccines, and I am looking forward
to seeing you all again soon on the course but in the meantime, stay safe and well.

Thank you.

The Accounts were adopted by the members – there were no objections.

7. Match Organiser’s Report (Alison Loxley)

Sadly, due to Covid, no matches were played in 2020.

A decision was made to rearrange the Shield and Friendly Matches (2020) to
maintain the same day and where the matches are to be played (i.e. Home or Away)
for 2021.

The County made the decision this week that Shield Match teams will consist of 5
players from each club rather than 7 and an extension to the calendar for matches to
be played would be made until the end of October.

Entry sheets for these competitions will now be available online rather than the
Ladies noticeboard due to the current Clubhouse restrictions.

8. Competition Secretary’s Report (Jane Cameron)

In normal times, we would have played the 2021 Pink Ribbon Competition this
morning before attending this AGM.

With all that has been happening, it’s hard to remember last Spring, on 3 March last
year our competition season opened up with 8 teams competing in the Pink Ribbon.
Thereafter we got to play the March Stableford before the national lockdown put a
stop to golf.

We got going again in late June and last year’s season was memorable on many
levels.
• Ladies signed up for competition and came out in force, often 35 players or
more
• A Lockdown Trophy featured for the first time, thanks to Linda Darbon and
Anne Beckett
• The Rosebowl and Elderflower trophies were awarded to Sarah Middleton in a
memorable win
• Sue Long and Suzie Bishop took Division 1 and 2 prizes respectively in the
Claret Jug
• Luca Thompson fired us up with sensational scoring in the Club
Championships and Presidents Day events
• Our Lady Captain – Kath Caiger, was also a Winner in the Club
Championships with the lowest nett score.
• Julie Davies was on top form on Lady Captains Day
• Last but not least, at the end of the season, we were delighted to put June
Russell forward for entry to the England Golf Women’s Medal 2021 for
achieving best net aggregate scores in medal play

My thanks to Kath Caiger Lady Captain, for negotiating the dates and times for all of
these.
Looking forward to a new season of golf in 2021. According to reports from our
Pavenham correspondents, the course has been rested and is looking ravishing.
Indeed, putting us in mind of Augusta National and whetting our appetites to get
back to play.
I am signing off as Competition Secretary, my three years serving our Committee
has been an honour and a pleasure.

9. County Representatives Report (Linda Darbon)

The Covid Pandemic caused the cancellation of the majority of the County
Competitions.

The Mixed Pairs Championship did take place being played at Pavenham Park.
The Gross Champions were Pavenham players Jordan White and Luca Thompson,
with the Net Winners being Tracey White and Anne Beckett.

Luca also won the Girls’ County Championships which was held at Beds and County
GC.

The County Presidents Fun Day took place at Dunstable Downs GC and the
Pavenham Park Team of Anne Beckett Linda Darbon Heather Stephenson and
Sandie Birch finished in Second Place.

The County is hoping to hold the majority of their Competitions this coming Year and
all Dates and Entry Forms can be found on the BCLGA County Website. The dates
are also on our own Pavenham Park Ladies web site under the County News
Heading.

Those Ladies who joined the Seniors Section last year and paid their £1 will have
their Membership of this section rolled over to this year. If there are any other Ladies
who did not join this section last year but would like to be included this year, please
let me know after this meeting, and pay me your £1 to join at some point. Anyone
age 50 and over is eligible to join. Check the BCLGA website to see the Matches
and Competitions you can play in.

Our Club May, Tuesday Medal date also includes a separate competition for those
Ladies who have joined the County Seniors Section. The winner going forward to
play in further knock out rounds against the winners from other Clubs.

My aim is to try to keep you all informed about County matters, and June kindly puts
any information on our website. There is also a monthly Newsletter that the County
publishes. All Ladies who have paid their Levies are entitled to receive this
Newsletter. If you do not receive it, but would like to, please let me know and I will let
you know what to do to get onto the emailing list.
10. Website Manager’s Report (June Russell)

Well, what a year! – all documented on the website: -

Starting with Captains Drive in, then Lockdown – so we generated a page called
“Life on Lockdown” that everyone contributed to, from Ditties, poems, paintings,
photos of lockdown activities, baking, paintings, mask making and much, much
more. We had Special Birthdays celebrated and fitted in as many of our
competitions as we could. All displayed in glorious colour photos. We also planted
the memorial Shrubs for Dawn Ashby and documented on the website.

Along with some of the Men’s section, we even had our very own “Garden Rescue
Team” who worked very hard in their own time to make the borders around the
Clubhouse look far more appealing – helping Zac & Thompson golf keep everywhere
clean & tidy.

We added items from the R&A, mostly videos, and more recently, as suggested by
Di Spinks, we added the Rules Skool, mainly directed at Juniors, very informative
and funny, but easy for everyone to understand.

All in all, a busy year for the website which I have thoroughly enjoyed doing.
However, let’s hope that this year will be busy for us all on the golf course – which
will hopefully mean the website is used but not to the extent of the last 12 months.

11. Election of Officers

Clare read out the names of the ladies who are standing for office in 2021/2022
along with their proposer and seconder. All were appointed unanimously.

Position Name Proposer Seconder

Vice-captain Elva Lewis Clare Williams Kath Caiger

Treasurer Merlyn Webb Kath Caiger Linda Darbon

Match Organiser Alison Loxley June Russell Suzie Bishop

Competition Morag Stewart Clare Williams Suzie Bishop

Secretary

County Linda Darbon Jackie Hammer Clare Williams

Representative

Website manager June Russell Kath Caiger Linda Darbon

Press Officer Heather Stephenson Jackie Hammer June Russell

12. Any Other Business

A request has been by a lady member to introduce 9-hole Medal/ Stableford

competitions so that those ladies not wishing to play 18 holes can still retain their
handicaps. This proposal will be discussed at the first Committee meeting.

13. Lady Captain’s Closing Remarks (Clare Williams)

Committee, ladies - It is a real honour to be The PPGC Ladies Captain for 2021.
My apprenticeship has been a bit limited by the lockdown but I am confident that with
the support of Elva, Kath our great committee and all the lady members that we will
have a fun packed golfing year without too many postponements.
Kath has carried us all through an unprecedented and hopefully not to be repeated
year. She has kept us all in touch during lockdown through quizzes, bingo and
emails. When golf was allowed Kath did an amazing job fitting in almost all of the
postponed events. More ladies participated in these events than ever before and my
spirits were certainly lifted by meeting up with everyone and enjoying golfing
together. Thanks Kath. You’ll be a hard act to follow.
Thanks too to Elva for agreeing to take up the role of Vice Captain. I know we will
make a great team and hopefully have some laughs along the way. I am also
pleased to welcome Morag and Merlyn on to the committee.
Stephen Devine is the men’s Captain this year & I’m looking forward to working
alongside him. The charity that we have chosen to support is the Bedfordshire
based Charity CHUMS . This was originally set up to provide children with support
after the death of a loved one. It has now expanded to support children with a range
of issues from family suicide, disability, depression and trauma. It also provides
support with the very negative impact that Covid has had on some children’s mental
health. I hope you will agree that this is a very worthy and relevant charity to be
supporting.
As mentioned by Alison, we are hopeful that all the Shield matches will take place
this year involving as many ladies as possible. If you aren’t confident about entering
have a go at one of the Friendly matches taking place over the year. For those not
keen on playing against other clubs I think the calendar has something for everyone
to enjoy.
The list of events that I sent out earlier this year will already need some altering.
Notification of these changes will be sent out to you as soon as possible. I will also
send out a monthly update with forthcoming events.
I feel very positive about being part of the PPGC Ladies. We really are a very
friendly fun bunch. I know I am very keen to get back to golf, to see everyone again
and enjoy a packed calendar of varied events where we can hopefully have an
almost full golfing year and enjoy great camaraderie
Thank you

The meeting closed at 2.50pm