SECRETARY’S NOTES 2020
What a year this has been. We were well prepared for a good year’s golf for the Association with some good venues and looking forward to defending our 4 Counties South Trophy. However none of this happened although most of us did get some golf played from May to October. David is the first Captain not to lose a match but he didn’t win one either. The Highlight (only) of the year was that 44 of us played the Autumn Meeting at Sandy Lodge and it was a delight to get back together and exchange stories. Gerrards Cross players almost made a clean sweep of the prizes with Tony Wallington just beating Gerry McSloy and Austin Cashin got a hole in one.
Next year’s fixtures are all in place after quite a difficult time arranging them. I wasn’t helped by some County Secretaries insisting on having fixtures they had booked before the lockdown and others of us preferring just to roll over this year’s fixtures. Also it was difficult to contact some clubs to sort out dates as their office staff were being furloughed. Anyway it kept me busy.
Amidst all this Stuart resigned as Match Secretary for personal reasons. That was a real blow as he was already doing a good job but David has stepped back into the role even while he is being Captain again. However if any of you would like to step in and shadow David next year it would be a great help. I can send details of the role to help your decision.
David will be sending out the 2021 Subs and Match form by the end of the year. We are still asking for the £20 subscription for 2021 but as I indicated in my mid-season report we will be giving you a £20 credit for your first event to compensate for 2020 inactivity. This gives Doug some extra work especially as he already has a number of credits for some of you. Also please remember to put your name on the form as most of you now pay online and it is difficult to identify an unnamed form without a cheque involved. Someone does this every year!
David will need your help as a match manager this year while covering the role, We do have a number of experienced match managers but could do with a few more. It is a way of getting involved and most have found it easy to do. Please indicate on the form if you want to become one and if you want details of how to do it just let me know and I will send the process information.
You will all have your new Handicap Index which will mean a lot of changes. Please put it on the form that David is sending out for 2021 to ensure we have an up to date record. David as Match Secretary will sort out the playing handicaps for our competitions but we will be expecting the Match Managers to agree them with his counterpart for our matches.It may take a while for it to settle down but as ever we expect that you wll inform on the day of any changes.
We only recruited four new members this year but that is hardly surprising in the circumstances. Many of this year’s Captains will be continuing in 2021 so it is therefore important that the Club Ambassadors and other members do their best to get their Captain to join the Association, Also if any of the new members and other members require clothing Tony Jeffries will be only too happy to supply. They make nice Christmas presents if like me you don’t know what to buy/receive.
The website is all up to date and here is a reminder of some of the attributes:
- The matches will show who has been selected and once active who is playing.
- Click on the Postcode to see the location and the website and contact for each club is only a click away.
- The tabs at the top of the home page will take you to this and past newsletters as well as clothing details.
- You can get the email and phone numbers for everyone by adding /memberdownloads to the home page logon. I do it this way to protect the information.
As we did not have our AGM this year Doug has prepared draft Accounts for the new financial year ending on 31 Dec 2020. These are shown under 2020 Draft Accounts in this newsletter. The comparison is difficult as these cover a 16 month period but you can see we are still in a healthy position. Doug will give a financial report at the AGM probably at Sonning but we have decided to continue subsidising the more prestigious venues as we did last year at Woburn.
Finally I have to inform you that I will be moving to Devizes early next year. I will continue as your Secretary but my attendance at matches will be more limited due to the distance, unless I can get Board and lodgings!
So have a very good socially distanced Christmas and look forward to a more normal 2021 when we are able.
Peter Short
Secretary