You
are on the "Christine's Blog" page
(click
on the golf balls above for more pages)
| Read
My Blog |
 |
 |
- Keep
up to date with the latest ladies golf clothing from www.ladygolfer.uk.com
- News
from ladies golfing in the UK
- My
diary as Lady Captain of Tewkesbury Park Golf Club
|
| July
2010 |
The
month started off well with an excellent win for the ladies when they
played the Seniors on 1st of the month. This
is a very hotly contested match as you can imagine but we (I say that
loosely as I was away on holiday in Kefalonia for the week and my
Vice Captain was in charge) beat the men 6 - 4. Everyone,
I am reliably informed, enjoyed themselves........especially the ladies!!
|
 |
The
Vets Salver was held on 7th and again we enjoyed
the spell of warm dry weather. Pam Bond won the trophy
with 40 pts. A good day was enjoyed by all. |
|
My
cat Lucy is now
"Mole Watcher Extraordinaire". Because
of the dry weather conditions I have been watering my small
garden and now a mole has taken up residence. Lucy
spends hours staring at the mole's diggings!! |
| |
|
|
| June
2010 |
The
month of June began sadly with the funeral of Tommy Gardner who was
an Honorary Member of Tewkesbury Park. Tommy
had been an active member of Tewkesbury Park for over 35 years and
played a big part in coaching the Juniors. Tommy had a big passion
for Tewkesbury Park Golf Club and we will miss him.
|
On
2 June Tewkesbury Park were host to the South West
Schools Championships held over 36 holes. The
girls and boys played in near perfect conditions with no wind
and the sun shining brightly. Pictured in the group right is
Sue Rawles, National Referee who officiated that day. One
incident in which Sue was asked for advice was when a ball landed
in play next to an "out of Bounds" white marker post. The
player was advised that even though the marker post impeded
his swing, he was not allowed to remove the post without penalty
and had to play the ball as it lies without receiving a free
drop, unless of course he wished to take a penalty drop. Did
you know that?
Pictured L- R Katie Thompson (Hants) Megan Illingworth (Somerset)
Sue Rawles and Michaela Chivers (Somerset) |
|
|
|
Katie
Thompson tees off from the 3rd hole par 5 with the view of Tewkesbury
Abbey in the distance. |
|
|
 |
Michelle
proudly holds her baby, Oliver Christopher Hooke, on the day
of his Christening at Forthampton Church on 6th June. Oliver
took the whole service in his stride and did not flinch when
he was christened at the font with the holy water.
Oliver is the spitting image of Martin, his father, but I
am not sure Martin would look as cute as his son in the hat!!
Michelle is taking time off from playing golf for the moment
but we hope to see her back on our fairways soon.
|
 |
Karen
Laughlin won Tewkesbury Park's Club Championship
on 9th June with me as runner-up. Luckily
the heavy thundery rain did not materialise and we managed
to play the 36 holes without incident. (L-R Karen holds
the trophy presented to her by Dorothy Nichol on behalf
of Lois Thorpe the donator of the Vase, who sadly died
last year.) Carole Greenup won the Nett Salver
with Denise Clayson in second place.
As a thank you to my Vice Captain Pauline, who is an avid
football supporter and season ticket holder for Cheltenham
Town FC, I thought it appropriate to give her something
to wear whilst watching the World Cup on TV!! |
 |
| |
As
many as 20,000 visitors descended on Throckmorton
Air Field, Evesham on Sunday 13th to enjoy
the many attractions as part of the annual event
in aid of Help for Heroes.
Attractions on the day included aerial displays
and fly pasts, a performance from the West Mercia
and RAF police dogs and handlers, a demonstration
by the army bomb disposal squad, the Royal Marines
display team and numerous police and military vehicles.
In a first for the event, famous faces from fly
on the wall police series Road Wars, Traffic Cops,
Motorway Cops, Police Interceptors and Sky Cops
attended.
A very enjoyable day out.
|
 |
 |
My
son Sgt. Glen Williams, holds his son Ross (aged
6) a budding Policeman, with Mum Catherine and daughter
Hannah (aged 8 going on 18).
Left picture shows me in "Glen's car"
giving a "turning right" hand-signal that
is lost on anyone young - all the hand signals they
seem to know now-a-days are rude !!
I think my Grandson is about to book me! |
|
|
|
| May
2010 |
 |
The
Mixed Bank Holiday Social was a successful day with drawn
mixed pairs playing better ball on the San Lorenzo course. Unfortunately,
we didn't go abroad to play the game but we had San Lorenzo
score cards instead. It was quite strange scoring for a par
3 on a par 4 etc., but good fun!
The winners were Alan Laughlin and Val Wilkinson (left) with
43 pts, 2nd were Marcia Macfarlane and Mike Viall (right) on
41 pts on c/b from Linda and Clive Wilkinson. Thank you to Sara
and Mike for organizing the event |
|
| |
|
|
Tewkesbury
Park held its Ladies Open AmAm on 19th May. There
was a field of 80 with ladies from other clubs competing. The
day was very successful thanks to the weather and the good organisation
by the hotel and our ladies section, especially Pam Burroughs
and Denise Clayson. The winners were L-R Barbara
Eaton (Lilleybrook), Glo Slatter (Tewkesbury Park), Gay Pope
(Cotswold Hills) and Sally Hadley (Cirencester) with 82 points.
I enjoyed the day, our team was not placed but I got an eagle
on the par 4 second hole!! |
 |
| (Picture
taken by photographer Terry Linden who will attend any golfing
event and takes great pictures. View
his website for details) |
 |
|
"The Gloucestershire County season starts with a win for Tewkesbury
Park Team comprising Denise Clayson, Christine Williams and Karen
Laughlin winning the Spring Bowmaker held at Lilley Brook Golf
Club on May 5th.
This
was the opening competition of the County’s 2010 season with
150 ladies, 50 teams of three, enjoying the Spring blossom for which
Lilley Brook is rightly famous.
Second
with a score of 72 points, four shots behind the winners, were Corrinne
Durber, Pat Waring and Ilse Russell from Cotswold Edge, with the
Minchinhampton (New) team, Angela Short, Fiona Wigglesworth and
Sue Heathcote, third on 71. But spare a thought
for the Broadway team of Pat Righton, Chris Moulder and Pam Hooper.
They started in the morning and waited for the presentations knowing
that, with a score of 69, they were in with a shout for the prizes…..
that is, until the final team, the winners, posted their score of
76!"..........
The above is an extract from the Gloucestershire
County Ladies website. I must admit, we thought that after the
first 3 holes in which we had a team total of only 3 points we would
never be in the running. Needless to say, we had an
amazing back nine to come in with the winning score!!
|
L-R: County President Di Honey with Tewkesbury Park Team, Denise
Clayson, Christine Williams and Karen Laughlin |
| April
2010 |
Easter
weekend was full of heavy April showers and on Saturday 3rd our
Mixed Friendly Match away at St Pierre, Chepstow looking like being
washed out. Luckily, it stopped raining and even
though the conditions were very wet underfoot, we enjoyed a great
day with Tewkesbury Park losing 5 - 3. A delicious
evening meal and good company made up for our loss.
|
| Easter
Monday 5th was the traditional day on which we hold our qualifying
round of The Bader Cup with the winners going on to represent our
Club at the regional final. |
 |
The
winners were Alan and Karen Laughlin 39pts (pictured left), 2nd Andy
and Carol Greenup 38 pts., 3rd Martin Wilks and Sue Lockwood 36 pt
c/b and 4th Mike Viall and Sara Foster 36 pts. |
Friday
9th was the day on which I took photographs of all the new
summer stock for my clothing website www.ladygolfer.uk.com.
My model, Glo, was as good as gold as usual and is still waiting
for her reward of a cheque which is still in the post! |
|
Trouble
is, I do the photoshoot at Glo's farmhouse and her two dogs seem to
want to get in the picture all the time. As you can see,
they are rather large and I don't want to annoy them by shushing them
out of the way!
Visit www.ladygolfer.uk.com
for the new range of summer golf clothes from Daily Sports, Glenmuir
and Ping. |
Mon
12th saw the first of the Alliance matches in the Gloucestershire
County League with our A team losing to Cirencester away 4 - 14
and sadly I was one of the losers! Early days yet.
|
On
Sunday 18th Tewkesbury Park hosted the 1st Team match Gloucestershire
County Ladies Match v Worcestershire & Herefordshire Ladies.
Sue Reeve, Captain of Gloucestershire County Ladies, reported afterwards
....... "A simply glorious day for our friendly match against
Worcestershire was matched by the warmth of the hospitality shown
by Tewkesbury Park and especially by their Ladies’ Captain Christine
Williams & Glo Slatter, County Delegate, who, with the support
of the Ladies’ Section, greeted us all with complimentary tea
and coffee. A clash with other tournaments, various injuries and university
studies had all resulted in a severely depleted 1st team. However
I was very proud of my girls who fought tooth and nail in every match
against stronger opposition........" Click
here to read the full report and results posted on the GLCGLA
website.
|
 |
On
the left, the ladies wait patiently to tee off on the 1st.
Right picture, from righthand, Sue Rawles International referee &
member of TP, moi, Glo Slatter, and Di Honey, President of Gloucs
County Ladies. |
 |
 |
The
5th green looks a picture bathed in the afternoon Spring sunshine.
Sue Reeve, Captain of the Gloucestershire team gives a congratulatory
kiss to Fiona's caddy and husband Steve. The hard work
was done by Fiona Hudman from TP who plays off a handicap of 7 and
who had a marvellous win with a birdie putt on the 18th to beat her
opponent who plays off 4.
|
|
April
15th saw all flights in and out of the UK and several other European
countries being suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland
moved south. This volcano called Eyjafjallajoekull
(I noticed that the newsreaders steered away from pronouncing the
name!!) caused disruption all over the UK and europe. Almost
everyone in our ladies section knew of someone that had been affected
by the 6 day flight ban and there were hair raising stories being
told when finally stranded ladies arrived back in the UK from abroad.
|
|
|
The
Spring Meeting on 28th April was my first main event of the year
as Lady Captain. The weather was kind and there was
a good turnout by the ladies.
Maria Burton (on the right) won The Thomas Cup in the morning with
a best nett score of 71. Best gross was Glo Slatter with 85 points.
The runner up to the The Thomas Cup was Val Wilkinson (left) who came
first in the Bronze division with a nett 72. This was a good achievement
considering she has only just joined the Club and attained her handicap. |
|
| March
2010 |
Tewkesbury
Park's first qualifier of the season was the March Hare, won
by Fiona Hudman with 37 points which brought her handicap down
to an exact 7.
The trophy of a bronze statue of a hare was donated by Fiona
for the competition when it first started last year. Fiona thought
of the competition when she first saw a white hare on the golf
course. We haven't seen the white hare for
a year but we have several other hares on the course which are
quite tame. (See under October for a sunbathing hare!)
So Horace the hare, as he has been named, is going home!
|
 |
| |
|
|
| The
Business Ladies enjoying their evening meal at the local
Indian restaurant in Tewkesbury. They
are looking forward to this summer's Business Ladies Friendly
matches. |
|
|
|
|
A
match was held on Monday 8th with FE golf students from Hartpury
College. The pairings were of a lady and a lad playing
better ball matchplay against another similar pairing. The
boys were charming and they didn't seem to mind playing with
a lady who was of similar age to their mother or granny! We
hope we will see some of the lads turn professional in the future. They
certainly have good appetites for Pizzas which were laid on
by the Ladies Section after the game!
|
Tewkesbury
Park beat The Wiltshire on 5th March Away in the second round
of the Mail on Sunday National Golf Classic competition.
On
28th March we played our third round match against Cotswold
Hills at home. Click
here to find out the result. |
|
| February
2010 |
At
last we have been able to get out onto the golf course which is in
remarkable condition considering the weather the UK experienced in
January.
For the start of the month the ladies had a matchplay competition
called "Blondes versus Brunettes". The
blonde team was one short and Mike Unwin our Pro donned a visor with
blonde wig and played against Denise Clayson. Unfortunately
even though Denise had equalisation shots and courtesy shots "Michaela"
won for the blondes who won overall!!
(Click
here if you would like to buy a visor / wig!)
On 6th February we played our first round in the Mail on Sunday competition. Click
here to find out the result.
|
 |
| Our
fund raising Coffee Morning (see below) was held on Wednesday 10th
with the proceeds going towards my Lady Captain's charity, Friends
of Tewkesbury Hospital. We raised over £445
which is excellent considering that we are only a small ladies section. |
 |
Jean
Marshall and Pat Cowley pose as "Calendar Girls"....
not sure if the buns are big enough....
you had to see the film!!
I am modelling a candy bra made from sweets which someone brought
in for the bric-a-brac stall.
I think the bra made its way to our Pro Shop as did a book on the
Karma Sutra the previous year! |
|
 |
The
Tombola stall has some customers whilst the coffee flows freely!
Fiona's Garden Stall is always popular and the potted flowers and
bulbs
heralds in the Spring. |
|
You may be amazed to know that this is the time of year to view and
order the clothing for next Autumn / Winter 2010 & 2011. The
clothes from Daily Sports, Ping and Glenmuir are up to the usual high
standard. If you visit www.ladygolfer.uk.com
I do have some sale bargains left for this winter. Lined
trousers and beautiful fleece tops and knitted sweaters. Just
right for the oncoming Spring months. |
| January
2010 |
|
It
is being called "The Big Freeze" here in the UK
and as I look out of my window over snow covered fields, the
weather is living up to the name!
The golf course is closed but the toboggans are out. We
had 5 inches of snow in Gloucestershire last night and this
evening, Wednesday 6th, we are expecting temperatures to fall
well below zero. It appears that most of
Great Britain has had some snow. I know that in some countries
that is the norm, but for us in the UK being protected by
the Jet Stream around our island, we rarely experience such
widespread snow.
|
|
 |
Catherine Martin made the snowman on the right........love
the hair! |
 |
| .....8th
January and still The Big Freeze continues with temperatures
dropping to around minus 9 degrees at night. I
managed to drive to my golf course at Tewkesbury Park
to take some photographs and the scenery was dazzling.
(See above - 18th hole) |
.....11th
January and we had a snowfall last night so another picture! Our
ladies day was again cancelled yesterday 12th, again because
the course is still snow covered.
Now the fog is coming down and tonight 14th, is our Club
AGM. |
|
| Now,
it's the end of January and the snow has cleared, let's
hope February will bring Spring nearer, the golf courses
open and golfers emerge from their winter hibernation! |
If you want to beat the cold, visit www.ladygolfer.uk.com
for some warm golf clothes - pullovers and lined trousers to
choose from with a selection of winter gloves and caps too.
|
|
| December
2009 |
A
busy month for most households planning the run up to Christmas and
then surviving the Christmas and New Year holiday. Our
Christmas family get together went well but I can't say that about
the appliances in our household. After many exasperating
hours when my Broadband connection went down on 23rd December the
problem was found to be the router. The washing machine
also decided to make a terrible noise on high spin so that was another
little thing to sort out! I also had my own health scare when I was
recalled on 23rd December for more X-rays and scans when I was found
to have a small lump in my breast. Thankfully I was
told that it was not cancerous. I cannot relay the
emotion I felt on receiving that piece of good news!
 |
The
Ladies' Christmas dinner held on 8th December was very enjoyable
I am told. Very good to know, as it is organised
by the Lady Captain (me) and the ladies have high expectations
each year of having a good time.
We had entertainment by Martyn (Pub Singer) and Bruce Marshall
(Scottish Rock Star.) One of the tables is pictured
on the left and it seems that the wine glasses are empty- as
usual! |
| At
the Christmas party we had a game where there were 3 things
in a box and you had to identify the items by feeling them inside
the box with one hand only. There were a few
squeals when the ladies touched the false teeth and a very squidgy
Ann Summers "Stress Willy". Martyn's
leopard printed posing pouch that he wore whilst performing
the Full Monty for an X-Factor Club night (don't ask!) was quite
difficult to guess!! |
|
 |
We
had our Christmas 9 Hole competition on 9th December followed
by Mince Pies and coffee with the dishing out of "Secret
Santa" presents. The prize for best wrapped present went
to Sue Lockwood who ingeniously wrapped her present in the shape
of a handbag. |
|
| November
2009 |
On
Monday 9th the Ladies Section of Tewkesbury Park Golf Club had their
AGM and I am now Lady Captain!
Here I am giving my in-coming speech with Jean Marshall, past Lady
Captain no doubt thinking "Phew, what a relief it is coming to
the end of my term!"
I have a very hard act to follow though, because Jean has been an
excellent Captain and her year has been enjoyed by all the ladies
at our Club. |
|
 |
My
Captain's "Drive In" was on 11th November followed
by an 18 hole stableford "Hidden Pairs" competition.
Afterwards we had Pizza's and coffee and I was delighted
to see such a good turn out of ladies. Linda Marsh said it was
because there was free food on offer!!
The distance of my "drive in" off the par 3 10th tee
was guessed correctly by Jackie James and the proceeds will
go towards my charity "Friends of Tewkesbury Hospital". We
are lucky to have a community hospital in Tewkesbury. |
| |
|
|
If
you are scratching your head wondering what to give your golfing friend
something for Christmas, I have some ideas for you. www.ladygolfer.uk.com
is selling a good range of winter gloves, caps, hats and scarves.
These are very handy accessories to wear on the course
on a cold winter's day and would make good presents at reasonable
prices. Otherwise, why not treat yourself?!!
November ended on a sad note for the Ladies Section when a founder
member of Tewkesbury Park Golf Club, Lois Thorpe, who was also made
Honorary Member, died on 29th November after a short illness. Lois
was a lady who was very respected and who, although her golfing days
had passed, made every effort right up to the end, to support and
attend our ladies' events. Lois will be missed by all.
|
| October
2009 |
Stop
Press: I now have a Vice Captain, Pauline Murphy. I
am delighted that Pauline will be my Vice Captain as she has
been a valued member of the committee in the past. Pauline
has been Honorary Secretary and is the County Veterans Representative. I
am sure her experience will help to guide me. Pauline
will be an excellent Lady Captain when her time comes.
I can now concentrate on getting the diary for the Ladies' Section
finalised. It is quite difficult choosing dates for
our main competitions which do not conflict with the other sections
of the club and interspersing them with our own County Alliance, Friendlies
and other Mixed competitions. One thing for sure,
I won't be introducing any new competitions into our calendar, we
really have too many as it is but they have all been a tradition of
our club. |
|
|
I
played recently in the Five Nations' Cup. A mixed
Club competition made up of teams from England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland
and the Rest of the World. Eight players in each team but
not all born and bred in the country they were representing!! Ireland
won this year but a good time was had by all. The
sun was shining but now it is raining. The UK weather is
unpredictable so I hope you have sorted out your Autumn wardrobe.
Layering is the answer and there is a good choice from
www.ladygolfer.uk.com. I
especially like the Daily Sports thin tops which can be worn by themselves
or under a fleece. (Shown here is a turtle neck top in
the popular colour of Cappuncino.) |
 |
Tewkesbury
Park Golf course has been looking wonderful recently in the
warm Autumn sun that we have been lucky to have in Gloucestershire. The
trees are beginning to turn into glorious shades of red and
orange It was a pleasure to play golf on such a
beautiful day. In the picture opposite Tewkesbury
Abbey stands out resplendent against the blue sky. |
It
was so warm that even one of our friendly hares found
time to sunbathe by the wheel of one of the golf buggies!
There are quite a few hares to be found on the golf course
and some are so tame that you can find yourself taking a bunker
shot with a hare staring at you nearby. That
really does concentrate the mind because a bad shot, a dead
hare and I am sure nobody would give you the time of day! |
 |
| |
|
|
Before
I sign off in October, may I wish you a Happy Halloween. I
know the 31st October is not to everyone's liking but I enjoy the
day because it is my Birthday.
Best wishes from the Old Witch!!
A
timely piece of advice ................. !!
|
 |
| September
2009 |
| The
end of the month has just passed and it is time to see if your name
has been posted as a winner. Visit the "Sign
In" page to complete the form to be elgible for the free
monthly prize draw. There are some good prizes coming up so keep viewing.
One being a cookbook called "I'd Rather be Playing Golf"
and the other a hairy visor! You have to see it to believe it.
Its rather fun and would cause some laughter I am sure.
The
new Autumn stock of golfing wear for women is now in and to view
it visit www.ladygolfer.uk.com.
There is a good range of trousers and one style is every Lady Golfer's
dream! A pair of waterproof trousers that can be worn on their own
without the need to pull on over-trousers every time it rains. They
will sell out very quickly.
Daily
Sports have created some great tops too that can be used for layering.
These are excellent and will give you warmth without bulk. Glenmuir
and Ping are also improving their collection of ladies golf clothes
and offer a good range of pullovers and fleeces.
|
There
is a big event for me in November. I will become Lady Captain
at Tewkesbury Park Golf Club which I am looking forward to with trepidation,
if that makes sense! At the moment I am immersed with dates for next
year's diary. However, my biggest concern is that I do not have a
Vice Captain! I will let you know if that is resolved.
I had the opportunity of driving a Porsche (not mine unluckily) and
I had a photo of me posing on the bonnet in the Lady Captain's car
parking space. Do you like the numberplate "Lady
Captain 09 Over the Top"!!!!?? Wish it was mine -
and the car too!
|
 |
 |
Tewkesbury
Park Pro-Am
held - 17th September. Pictured here are Jean Marshall,
Glo Slatter, Tom Pratt (Professional) and Christine Williams.
We all played well and were delighted to be placed third - we were
the only ladies team entered and Tom enjoyed our company - he said!
(Picture taken by photographer Terry Linden who will attend any
golfing event and takes great pictures. View
his website for details)
|
|
|
|
