In advance of the 2014 AGM on 6 November 2014 at North Berwick Golf
Club 7.30pm, please find below the minutes of the 2013 AGM.
EAST LOTHIAN LADIES COUNTY GOLF ASSOCIATION
President: Mrs C MacLeod Vice President: Mrs J Buchanan
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 7th November 2013 at The North Berwick Golf Club
1 Present:
50 lady members were in attendance.
2 Apologies:
45 apologies were received.
3 Welcome:
The Captain, Dawn Young, welcomed the members to the 2013 AGM of the Association and thanked The North Berwick Golf club for allowing the use of the Clubhouse and thanks were also extended to the caterers – James and Lisa Davies - for providing such a lovely buffet.
4 Minutes of the Previous AGM:
The minutes of the AGM held on 7 November 2012 were approved by Mary Lou Watkins and seconded by Maureen Sharpe.
5 Matters Arising:
There were no matters arising.
6 Junior Report:
The Junior Secretary, Mary Lou Watkins said that it had been a most successful year for East Lothian’s junior golfers and she thanked parents and Committee members for their support during what had been a busy year in her life.
Not long after the previous AGM we were approached by the SLGA to invest in the use of the Development Centre programme and six girls were offered and accepted places – Ruth Kowbel, Shannon Young, Caitlin Wright, Hannah Bentley, Sophie Bain and Catherine Milne. Sadly this programme, based at the Braids Golf Centre, while enjoyed by some was not enjoyed by all. As a result this facility will not be offered in 2014. However, we as a county will continue to invest in the girls with coaching which will suit individual needs.
Seven girls took part in the Spring Meeting and Championship at Longniddry GC on a day with high winds and at times, heavy rain. Clara Young returned an excellent scratch 76 to be crowned Girls Champion. Charlotte Munro was the lowest nett score with 74 and she won the Morrison Quaich.
In the Cuthbertson Cup at Pitfirrane GC we were represented by Lauren Lee, Sophie Bain, Joanne Free and Charlotte Munro. The weather was again challenging but they beat a very young Fife team in the morning to set up a final against Midlothian. Midlothian won a closely contested final 3 – 1.
The Summer Meeting at Gifford GC was held in very windy conditions, yet Joanne Free returned a superb nett 73.
Sadly the Autumn Meeting did not take place because of horrendous weather conditions which meant that play was just not possible at Dunbar GC.
Catherine Milne beat Lauren Lee in the final of the Connachan Quaich.
Sophie Bain, Shannon Young and Catherine Milne were nominated for the selection process for the Scottish Golf Academy. Two of them decided not to proceed with the process and the third girl was not chosen.
Achievements –
Joanne Free – East of Scotland Champion, Runner-up in East of Scotland Girls Order of Merit, Scratch and Handicap Order of Merit Champion in the Stephen Gallacher Foundation events, participated in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Ladies’ Open, qualified for the Scottish Girls’ u18 matchplay winning her first round match, 4th place in Scottish Junior Champion of Champions.
Charlotte Munro – East of Scotland Girls Order of Merit winner, Gullane Ladies GC Junior Champion, qualified for Scottish Girls’ u18 matchplay, finished 27th out of 72 in SLGA u21s event.
Lauren Lee – 3rd in the SLGA Medal Finals, runner-up in Ladies Championship at The Musselburgh Golf Club, 6th in Stephen Gallacher Order of Merit, winner of East Of Scotland Girls Autumn Meeting.
Ruth Kowbel – obtained her first CONGU handicap and has come down to 33 from 40 this season, Girls Centenary Trophy winner at North Berwick children’s course.
Sophie Bain – Ladies Champion at The Musselburgh Golf Club.
Nandini Nagra – Gullane Junior Open Champion, Kilspindie Junior Captain.
Catherine Milne – July Cup Champion, Malcolm Cup winner and Scratch Cup winner at North Berwick children’s course, Hutchison Trophy winner at North Berwick GC.
Shannon Young – East Lothian Junior Golf League Handicap Champion, 4th in Rotary Club Young Golfer of the Year.
Lesley Atkins – joint 4th in Irish Women’s Open Strokeplay Championships, capped for Scotland in Home Internationals, ELLCGA County Team member. Lesley is now studying in Florida where she is thoroughly enjoying the challenges of the American education system and looks forward to retaining her links with both Gullane Ladies and East Lothian Ladies.
Clara Young – runner-up in Scottish Ladies’ Championship, capped for Scotland in European and Home Internationals, ELLCGA County Team member, ELLCGA Senior and Junior Champion, East Lothian Girls Champion, awarded East Lothian Young Sportsperson of the Year.
As well as winning glittering prizes, our girls have shed a combined 38 shots from their handicaps this year – a fabulous achievement.
Mary Lou concluded by saying she was extremely proud of all the achievements and extended thanks to the girls themselves and their parents for all their support.
7 Treasurer’s Report:
The Treasurer, Gwen Stewart reported that the County finances were in a very healthy state despite one off expenses such as the decanter presented to Luffness New GC after the Spring Meeting and also the fact that the Inter-County matches were at Glenbervie necessitating accommodation for the team and officials. Prudent financial management along with a share of the Sophie Gifford Trust Fund has ensured that our bank balance has risen considerably since last year.
Membership continues to be steady, around 125.
The Treasurer’s Report was adopted retrospectively by Carol Murray and seconded by Jenny Ray.
8 Captain’s Report:
The Captain, Dawn Young, said that her first year in office had been a busy one – the website and use of emails had been developed, Conditions of Competition had been introduced at all events and it was planned to release a contacts list for the forthcoming season.
Following our decision to permit the use of DMDs in County events, the SLGA followed suit, allowing DMDs to be used in their competitions but the Captain stressed that players should make themselves familiar with rules regarding DMD use before teeing off.
Various SLGA and Divisional meetings were attended by County officials in the last 12 months. These are necessary for the future yearly organisation of running national and divisional events as well as junior golf development. Presently things run relatively smoothly but there is always a difficulty attracting people willing to devote some of their time voluntarily to help with such administration. There is a reduced lack of national funding and there are possible changes that might occur in the event of amalgamation between the SLGA and the SGU. Ongoing discussions that have yet to really involve us at County level continue to take place regarding the amalgamation and when the final decisions are made it is hoped that this will benefit aspiring female amateur players junior and senior through funding, coaching and selection to reach their goals and achieve national and international recognition.
Our County team events were a mixture of highs and lows:-
Our first match of the season in February against Gullane GC had to be cancelled on the day due to snow.
We then took a senior and junior team to The Roxburghe in March for our annual match against Borders Ladies. Given the weather we drove through to get there it is surprising the match went ahead, however, as tee times approached the skies cleared and a lovely day followed. The senior team halved their match with a 2/2 result and the junior match was very nearly the same with the first match halving but the second match lost on the last hole to give a final result of 1½ to ½ . A great day was had by all with much laughter and we look forward to hosting the match this year at Craigielaw.
The East Division Inter County Matches were held at Glenbervie GC in June and the team included Lesley Atkins, Jane Herd, Lesley Nicholson, Yasemin Sari, Keren Ward, Hilary Wardell, Mary-Lou Watkins, Clara Young, Reserves - Sue Penman and Joanne Free.
Day 1 (Mon 24) Stirling and Clackmannan v Midlothian 1 - 8
East Lothian v Fife 8 - 1
A fantastic first day’s result had the team fired up and raring to go against Midlothian.
Day 2 (Tues 25) Stirling and Clackmannan v Fife 5 - 4
East Lothian v Midlothian 1 - 8
The team came back down to earth with a bump and took the result hard considering the team played well and most matches were tight and went the distance or near enough. On another day the results could have swung the other way if the odd putt had dropped. All was not lost and the team rallied for the last day.
Day 3 (Wed 25) East Lothian v Stirling and Clackmannan 5 - 4
Fife v Midlothian 4½ - 4½
Playing a County on one of their home courses is never easy and that’s exactly what happened, S&C performed well and we were up against it with the score line 4/4 with the last singles match still on course, but the all important winning point was earned on the 17th green to achieve an overall win.
We ended in second place which is an improvement on recent finishes. This all bodes well for 2014 when we will be on home turf and can get lots of practice in. Thanks go to all the caddies and supporters to the team throughout the tournament.
In an effort to get more match practice two further matches have been arranged – versus Lanarkshire Ladies at Gullane GC and versus NB West Links (low handicap men).
As well as Junior coaching, Martyn Huish ran 2 short game sessions for members with a handicap of ten and under. This was popular and will hopefully be repeated.
Helen Faulds, Captain of the Scottish Seniors Team was the guest speaker at our annual Pre-Season Lunch at North Berwick GC which was organised by the Vice Captain, Barbara Biggart. While numbers were slightly down on previous years, those present enjoyed fine food and an excellent speaker. The raffle was successful, netting £315 and thanks are extended to Archerfield Links, Martyn Huish and Alasdair Good for the donation of prizes.
The 5 a-side leagues, overseen by the Vice Captain, continue to be popular, providing scratch matches for the clubs involved. The winners this year were:– Division 1 – Dunbar GC and Division 2 – North Berwick GC. Following the resignation of Royal Musselburgh from the league and two new clubs (Kilspindie GC and Dirleton Castle Ladies GC) joining, a vote of participating clubs meant that no club was demoted this year and the two new clubs will join Division 2.
All County meetings were well supported with Luffness New GC for the Spring Meeting attracting a record number of entries. The weather on the day of the meeting was awful, yet hardly anyone called off. Thankfully there was better weather for the Championships where we witnessed some great golf with Clara Young becoming County Champion.
Longniddry was the host venue for the Scottish Ladies’ (Close) Amateur Championship in May. Several County members participated and our nominated team (Lesley Atkins, Hilary Wardell and Clara Young) for the McNeill Trophy returned the lowest aggregate gross scores for the qualifying round to win the trophy for East Lothian for the first time. Clara fought her way through to the final and although she did not emerge as the victor she won the Beddows Trophy for runner-up as well as a silver medal to keep. Clara was the youngest ever finalist and the final itself attracted a large gallery despite the appalling weather.
Mary Lou Watkins and her partner Hazel Saunders representing Gullane Ladies were 2nd scratch at the Scottish Ladies Foursomes at Kirriemuir and won the Dunfermline Building Society Trophy as they were representing the same club. The Captain and her partner won 1st Handicap but no silverware.
In the LGU Commonwealth Spoons Finals at Fortrose and Rosemarkie GC, Ingrid Elgsaas and Georgene Parsons from Gifford GC topped the leaderboard and brought the Spoons back to East Lothian.
The Captain praised all ladies and girls who had carried the East Lothian flag during the season and invited the members present to admire at the fine array of national trophies which had been won.
Dawn paid tribute to Catriona Matthew MBE who is one of our Honorary Members. Caitriona has had a wonderful season on the tour and is one of the top ten women golfers in the world. She played in her seventh Solheim Cup and fittingly sank the winning putt which brought a first-time win on American soil for the European team. Back in Scotland Caitriona was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Abertay and she won the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Ladies’ Open at Archerfield. Catriona is a wonderful role model for our younger players and we are lucky to have her living in our midst. East Lothian will continue to watch Catriona’s progress and wish her well for the future.
Dawn closed her report by thanking the following people:
Carol McLeod, our President, who has been available for advice and support as well as attending various team events and Janette Buchanan, our vice president, who came and supported us at the County Matches.
Barbara Biggart, who has been a most supportive vice captain, as well as taking on the organisation of the lunch and 5 asides with ease.
Liz McLelland, our Secretary, who has made the administration run very smoothly and always there to help and Gwen Stewart, our Treasurer,who has dealt with the finances and subscriptions superbly.
Mary Lou, our Junior Secretary, who has provided a great season of golf and coaching fixtures for our juniors and also made it fun.
The Committee members who have helped during competitions as well as the following:- Marion Currie and Hazel Bryson-Chalmers for running the Knockout competitions, Elaine Dick who has kept the website up to date and also compiling a history of our organisation in her spare time and thanks too to Janice Reid who has been liaising with East Lothian Alliance to obtain sponsorship for the County team.
9 Draw format for Championship and Handicap Quaich: The Captain explained that the Draw Format for the 2013 Championships had been based on the model shown in the Rules of Golf but historically for ladies’ competitions the LGU model has been used. The Committee would therefore like to adopt the LGU model as from the 2014 Spring Meeting.
10 Election of Office Bearers: As no one was leaving office this year the Captain suggested that the Committee be elected en bloc. This was formally proposed by Susan Penman and seconded by Kitty Crews-Austin. It was passed unanimously.
11 Any Other Competent Business: There being no other business, the meeting closed at 8.10 pm.
12 Vote of Thanks: Mrs Barbara McIntosh thanked the Captain and Committee for all their work during the year and wished the members good golfing in the coming season.
The Prizegiving then took place and the AGM closed at 8.40 pm.
Date of next AGM – Thursday 6 November 2014 at 7.30 pm at North Berwick Golf Club.
