Ken Lawrence Memorial Trophy November 11th 2021. Report from Mike Healey

The Ken Lawrence Memorial Trophy was added to our fixture list years ago following Ken's demise, firstly, in memory of a longstanding Captain and legend in the senior section. Secondly, it is always placed in the November calendar in conjunction with our section's Poppy Day Appeal and our contribution to the Royal British Legion. Club Vice-Captain, Don Wraight has advertised this year's event for some while now and a variety of posters have adorned the clubhouse. Today extra posters appeared on the first tee so that other club members might also want to contribute to the cause. Don then proceeded to the first tee with a camera and became David Bailey in order to record the Seniors as a group, early drives and the presentation at the end of the day. Today it was an honour and pleasure to take part in the competition. No fewer than 48 seniors placed their tallies on the board and 12 fourballs set out to do battle. Apart from some light drizzle around 10.00am the weather conditions were benign and although the surface is still a little sticky, players were finding the extra distance in reaching the greens. It didn't matter what the individual scores were at 11.00am - a siren went off and the entire course stood still for the scheduled two minutes in memory. Apart from the Seniors who knew what to expect, it was also commendable that younger playing members followed suit and honoured the tradition. The troops returned to the clubhouse and the entry fee had been set at £5.00, to be returned with completed cards. The generosity of the Seniors knows no bounds, as most members threw £10.00 into the collection. Seniors apart, added contributions were being taken by Andy in reception and the box will remain there until Tuesday of next week but suffice it to say that over £400.00 was donated by the Senior section alone on the day. Steve Monk (Hon Treasurer) will release a final figure sometime next week and the sum total will be presented by the Senior Captain, Barry Dare in the future to the British Legion. What about a result? No fewer than 3 cards returned showed 36 points, which were commendable but not good enough on the day. Richard Collier returned a very good 39 points, only to find himself in Runners Up position. Today's winner was Alan Barnsdale with 40 points and following a short speech, Barry presented Alan with the Ken Lawrence Memorial Trophy and first and only prize of a bottle of Penderyn Legend. A good day had by our members and a brilliant response from the Seniors in their Poppy Day generosity Don Wraight, Club Vice Captain supplied lots of photos of the day and they can be seen below. Thanks Don