EAST LOTHIAN LADIES’ COUNTY GOLF ASSOCIATION
President: Mrs C MacLeod Vice President: Mrs J Buchanan
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on 6th November 2014
at The North Berwick Golf Club
1 Present:
60 lady members were in attendance.
2 Apologies:
59 apologies were received.
3 Welcome:
The Captain, Dawn Young, welcomed the members to the 2014 AGM of the Association, commenting that the turnout was better than last year. She thanked the North Berwick Golf Club for allowing us to hold the meeting in their clubhouse and also for accommodating the Association on numerous occasions
4 Minutes of the Previous AGM
The minutes of the AGM held on 7 November 2013 were approved by Susan Penman and seconded by Janette Buchanan.
5 Matters Arising:
The Captain pointed out that there had been a typographical error in the membership figure quoted – it should have read 215, not 125.
6 Junior Report:
Mary Lou started her report by saying that 2014 had surpassed 2013 and she was very proud of every girl’s achievement be it reducing her handicap or achieving the first handicap.
Although the junior meetings had not been particularly well supported, Mary Lou reported that scoring had been very good. Joanne Free is the 2014 Junior Girl Champion.
Joanne Free, Lauren Lee, Charlotte Munro and Clara Young represented East Lothian in the Cuthbertson Cup at Broomieknowe GC. Our first opponents were Midlothian and the girls had an emphatic 4-0 win (S and C beat Fife 4-0 in the other morning match). The afternoon final saw some excellent golf played by all the girls – Clara won 6 and 4 (including a hole in one); Charlotte won 3 and 2; Joanne won 3 and 2 and in the final match Lauren won 2 and 1, clinching the Trophy for ELLCGA.
An all-Musselburgh final in the Connachan Quaich saw Sophie Bain beat Lauren Lee 4 and 3.
Personal achievements –
Ruth Kowbel – reduced her handicap from 32 to 27 and had a superb nett 74 in the Autumn Meeting.
Joanne Free – As well as EL Girls Champion, Scottish Junior Champion of Champions, capped for Scotland in the Girls Home Internationals. Joanne has reduced her handicap to 4 and played in the County team.
Catherine Milne – has cut her handicap from 16 to 12.
Annabel Hosie – has cut her handicap from 22 to 10 and been awarded a [lace in the Scottish Golf Academy as well as playing for Dunbar Ladies Senior squad.
Lauren Lee – is Musselburgh Ladies Club champion and is playing off 9. Lauren was also selected to played in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Ladies Open at Archerfield and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Charlotte Munro – played in the County team.
Shannon Young – is part of the junior team at Dunbar, has won the handicap knockout as well as reducing her handicap from 13 to 11. Shannon also won the Morrison Trophy because of her excellent nett 69 at the Spring Meeting.
Clara Young – Clara, after a busy summer playing in top flight championships is now studying at the University of Missouri. In a message to the meeting she said she had already played in five tournaments across the States, playing well as an individual and as a team member. She thanked everyone in the County who help to take the junior forward – she knew just how much she had benefitted from their involvement.
Mary Lou concluded her report by thanking County officials, the girls and their parents for all the support over the last two years.
7 Treasurer’s Report:
When the Captain called on the Treasurer to give her report, Dawn drew the membership’s attention to the new set of accounts which they should now have. The reason for issuing the new accounts was because in the original version some items had not been allocated correctly, giving a slightly distorted picture of expenditure
Gwen reported that this year’s deficit was due to many factors – higher team expenses because we qualified for the County Finals at Hilton Park GC; we also hosted the inter-county Jamboree resulting in extra expenses; there were various one-off expenses; other expenses have increased but income from subscriptions has not.
The bank balances are still very healthy because of good management in a period when prices are rising.
The Accounts were adopted by Ros Thoresen and seconded by Carole Ross.
8 Captain’s Report:
“Following on from last year, my second year in office has been just as busy if not more so!
I would like to take you on a whistle stop tour of the seasons’ main events. I will leave it to the prize giving to cover details of the main winners in most of the events.
December - The first event of the season was at the end of 2013. This was the inaugural match of what will be a yearly match which ELLCGA will host every 2nd year. The match was held on 8th Dec over Gullane 1. We fielded a team of 8 and the format was 4somes. It was a cold and windy day but the same for both teams. We were victorious in all 4 matches. The return match for next season is due to be held next Sunday at Lanark GC.
January - The committee had their first meeting of the year on the 12th after a round of golf at Gullane. The SLGA Annual General Meeting also falls in this month, Barbara and I travelled to Perth on the 18th to attend that.
February - The East Divisions Captains meet in this month, Liz and I attended this at Turnhouse GC on the 1st.
Our 2nd event was on Sun 23rd Feb with the annual match v’s Gullane Men for the Percy Vere Trophy. Winter woollies were donned again as the weather was cold and blowing a gale. A team of 10 played 4somes format over No.1 course. We were victorious 4/1. Next year’s match will be held on Sun 22 Feb.
March - The East of Scotland Girls Golfing Association held their pre season meeting at Baberton GC on the 2nd, Mary Lou and myself attended this.
On the Sat 22nd our annual pre season lunch was held at NBGC. The speaker on the day was Cathy Panton-Lewis. 64 ladies including our guest attended on the day and all enjoyed fine food. Cathy’s talk was well received and a raffle on the day raised £335. Thanks to Barbara for arranging this. Next year’s lunch will be held at the Glen GC on Sat 7th March, the organisation of which will be undertaken by our new Vice Captain.
The following day, Sun 23rd, 8 of the squad travelled a few miles along the road to Craigielaw GC to play our annual match v’s Border Ladies. Again the weather was cold and windy but there was some sunshine to take the nip out of the air. The team were victorious on the day winning 2 ½ / 1 ½. Unfortunately, we had to stand our junior team down for the day as Border Ladies could not field a junior team due to illness and injury. Next year’s match will be hosted by Borders Ladies and as of yet they have not been able to advise a venue or date but it is likely to be sometime in March.
There was a Scottish County Captains Forum in Perth on 29th which I attended.
On Sun 30th, the second extra match for the year was played over North Berwick West Links against a team of low handicap men who play over the West Links. The match was designed to be a practice session and an introduction to the course set up for squad players who may play in the Inter County Matches. The format on the day was 4 ball better ball and all participants played from the men’s blue boxes as these were the tees to be used for the Jamboree to be held in June. Unfortunately the men were victorious by winning 3 ½ to 1 ½.
April - As we have already heard, the Cuthbertson Cup was held on the 13th at Broomieknowe GC and our 4 girl team were undefeated on the day and brought the Cuthbertson Cup home to East Lothian. Congratulations again to the team, not only on your victory and superb golf but also for the way you all conducted yourselves on the day. This did not go unnoticed and was commented upon by the other counties officials. In 2015 the Cuthbetson Cup will be held at Glenbervie GC on Sun 12 April.
May - We held our Spring Meeting and Championships at Dunbar GC on 1st, 5th and 6th May. We initially had a good entry for the meeting but due to bad weather on the morning of the strokeplay many ladies called off thus greatly reducing the number of players available for the match play stages. However, we eventually managed to get 16 willing participants for the championship and 6 for the Handicap Quaich. The struggle to get numbers does not take anything away from the winning champion’s achievements and I congratulate both Mary Lou and Seline on their titles. Next year’s Spring Meeting will be held at Longniddry GC on 30 April with Championships on 4th/5th May.
On the 29th the Commonwealth Spoons were held at Haddington GC. We had 5 couples who qualified to go to the finals at Ladybank GC in September. Unfortunately we didn’t bring back the spoons to EL. 2015 Spoons will be held at Kilspindie GC on 28 May with the finals at Bothwell Castle GC on 3 Sept.
June - The Summer Meeting was held at Musselburgh GC on 19th. 79 ladies played and there was some excellent scoring on the day. 2015 meeting will be held at Craigielaw GC on 18 June.
The East Division Inter County Matches were held at NB West Links 23 to 25 June. The team members were Lesley Atkins, Liz Dunn-Butler, Joanne Free, Jane Herd, Charlotte Munro, Keren Ward, Mary Lou Watkins and Dawn Young.
Day 1 – we played Stirling & Clackmannanshire. We lost the foursomes 2/1 and won the singles 4/2 giving a 5/4 win for the day. Fife played Midlothian and won5 ½ to 3 ½
Day 2 – we played Fife. We won the foursomes 2 ½ to ½ and won the singles 4/2 giving a 6 ½ /2 ½ win for the day. Stirling and Clackmannanshire played Midlothian and beat them 5/4.
With one day to go we were in pole position having won both our matches, Fife and S&C had both won one each and Midlothian were without a win. If we won or halved our last match no-one else could beat us. We could also still win if we lost but the result would go to a count back on matches won with whichever team won between Fife and S&C.
Day 3 – we played Midlothian. We won the foursomes 2/1 and thankfully won the singles 3 ½ to 2 ½ giving a 5 ½ /3 ½ win for the day.
Therefore we won the tournament and became East Division Team Champions for the first time in 15 years.
From start to finish the tournament was a great success and we received excellent feedback from the other counties involved. I am indebted to all those who helped make it such a success and my thanks go to the Committee and Office bearers, all the volunteer caddies and parking attendants, flower arrangers, NBGC staff from the office, the kitchen and on the course and the spectators who came out to support.
Lastly I would like to thank the team for giving up their time to represent the county. Although it is an honour to be selected we have to consider that we are asking players to take 3 days away from work/study as well as being away from family. Therefore your commitment to the County is greatly appreciated. As well as achieving a fantastic win I would also congratulate you all for your etiquette on and off the course whether in victory or defeat. You made your Captain, Committee and members extremely proud.
The matches will be held at Scotscraig GC 22 to 24 June 2015.
August - The Autumn Meeting was held at Royal Musselburgh GC on the 18th. The numbers for this meeting are generally lower than for the other two meetings but we still had a healthy entry. Stableford scoring on the day was excellent with 2 on 39 and 1 on 41 points! Next year the Autumn Meeting will be held at Castle Park GC on 17 August.
September - Due to our team victory in June, this month saw the team travel to Hilton Park GC for the County Finals on 19th to 21st. I think the course name has been mis-spelled and it should be tons of hills! As well as it being a bit of a climb the fairways were lush giving no run so it played long. The course was in good condition, however, and presented a challenge for all the participants. The team was the same as the June matches apart from one change since Lesley Atkins was in the USA and Lesley Johnston took her place.
Day 1 – we played Renfrewshire. We won the foursomes 2/1 and lost the singles 2 ½ /3 ½ giving a 4 ½ /4 ½ half match for the day. Borders played Angus and lost 6 ½ to 2 ½
Day 2 – we played Angus. We lost the foursomes 3 to 0 and lost the singles 5/1 giving a 8 /1 loss for the day. Borders played Renfrewshire and lost 2 ½ /6 ½ .
Day 3 – we played Borders. We lost the foursomes 2/1 and halved the singles 3/3 giving a 5/4 loss for the day.
All team members gave 100%, with day 1 and day 3 matches having very close finishes. Day 2 was never going to be easy but we were simply up against a very good quality team whose average age was a good bit younger than ours! Although we ended up at the bottom of the points table the story could have been so different if one putt had gone in on both the 1st and last day! It was a great experience for all who played in particular for our younger team members who will hopefully have the opportunity again to go to the finals in their future amateur careers.
Thanks again to all who participated either as a player or volunteer or travelling official. All your efforts were greatly appreciated.
October - On 5 October four of our members played in the East of Scotland Championships at Falkirk Tryst GC. Although the scoring on the day was good no silverware was won.
The tournament will be played at Luffness New GC on 27 September in 2015 and it is hoped that there will be a much bigger entry from EL. Over the last few years, entry numbers have fallen for this tournament. Although it is designed to produce an East of Scotland Champion there are also handicap prizes available. There is no handicap limit for entries and it’s a good opportunity to play another course for a small fee.
The other events that take place over a period of months, namely the Winter Foursomes, Handicap Hole and Hole and the 5 Aside Scratch matches all went ahead without any issues and were ably run by Elaine Dick, Marion Currie and Barbara Biggart. Our thanks go to the three ladies for undertaking these.
As well as all the usual SLGA and East Division meetings we need to attend to ensure the smooth running of the county, we have attended a roadshow meeting about amalgamation which is still at the draft stages and does not appear to be near to any voting for some time. We have also recently been in liaison with the Lothians Association and they are open to ELLCGA working together with them to increase the amount of opportunities for our girls to play at the same time as some of their boy’s events. We may also be able to obtain access to courses who would not normally entertain us for some match practice by playing at the same time as Lothians. This would be on a courtesy basis.
I mentioned in last year’s report that we hoped to issue a members contact list for the season. We have got to the stage where it is hoped to issue this once all the subscriptions are returned. Please make sure that you advise us of any change in telephone numbers or email addresses so we can keep our records up to date and also enable us to keep you informed by email.
I would like to thank the members for allowing me to serve as your Captain. It has been an honour and I hope I have served you well. I have enjoyed my time in office and leave the post wiser in the way the County operates and with many new friends and acquaintances within East Lothian and across the counties.
My best wishes go to Barbara and her committee for the future, I am sure the membership and teams will continue to flourish under your management. Without singling any one person out, thanks to you all for being on hand to assist when required and your unending support throughout the last 2 years.
For 2015, I wish you all good health and a successful golfing season. I for one will be making the most of my retirement by spending much more time playing golf as opposed to talking about it!”
9 Election of Office Bearers: The Committee proposed the following members for election to the committee –
County President - Mrs Carol MacLeod – seconded by Jenni Ray
Vice –President – Mrs Janette Buchanan – seconded by Barbara McIntosh
Captain – Dr Barbara Biggart – seconded by Liz Dunn-Butler
As Dawn pinned the Captain’s brooch on Barbara, The President paid tribute to the way in which Dawn had conducted herself during her Captaincy – not least by leading from the front in the Inter-County matches and lifting East Lothian’s profile.
Before the rest of the elections, Barbara thanked Dawn for all her hard work, organisation and attention to detail as well as looking after her family and running a business.
Vice Captain – Miss Elaine Dick – seconded by Dawn Young
Treasurer – Mrs Gwen Stewart – seconded by Elinor Blair
Secretary – Mrs Liz McLelland – seconded by Diane Huish
Mrs Marion Currie – seconded by Elinor Blair
Miss Janice Reid – seconded by Ros Thoresen
Mrs Janet Fairweather – seconded by Sue Penman
Mrs Fiona Larnach – seconded by Janice Reid
Junior Secretary – Ms Wendy Thummanond – seconded by Mary Lou Watkins.
10 Any Other Competent Business:
The Secretary said that we had been asked to encourage members to complete the handicapping survey and that it would be sent to members by email in the next couple of days.
11 Vote of Thanks:
Mrs Mary Lou Watkins thanked the Captain and Committee for all their work during the year and wished the members good golfing in the coming season.
The business meeting closed at 8.15 pm.
The Prizegiving then took place and the AGM closed at 8.30 pm.
Date of next AGM – Thursday 5 November 2015 at 7.30 pm at the North Berwick Golf Club.
