The Farrington Park Ladies’ Section have taken a break from serious competition in the last two weeks.

Following on from Captain Pauline Young’s successful Captain’s Day, this week the ladies enjoyed the hospitality of FLORA for a Mystery Bowmaker. FLORA stands for “Farrington Ladies Organising Rewilding Activities”, a group of members who are dedicated to bringing more biodiversity to the Duchy course. To date, they have put up bat boxes, planted wildflowers and a copse of trees as well as identifying other areas suitable for native species of plants and fauna.

Trying to encourage more biodiversity does not come cheap, so FLORA held its third annual FLORA Day to raise funds for this year’s projects. The ladies generously supported the cause by buying raffle tickets and garden plants and vegetables from the plant stall. There were refreshments of cooling drinks, savoury snacks and cakes kindly donated by members, at the Halfway Hut where players could take a break from the Bowmaker competition to peruse the plants on sale and down a glass or two! At the end of their round, more fun was added by a quiz with some rather challenging questions.

The weather was sunny and warm which added to the enjoyment of the day and the Mystery Bowmaker caused much glee or vexation depending on a player’s point of view. The sixteen teams of three players had to note their Stableford scores on the first hole but it wasn’t until reading the instructions placed on the second or subsequent holes that they worked out whose score to add to their scorecard for the previous hole. Inevitably, a player who had scored well on a hole usually found that her score wasn’t required. “I was thrilled by my birdie on the 12th hole, I scored four points,” said Jackie James. “Then, having climbed up the hill to the 13th hole tee box and read the instructions, I found that I was a non-counting player for the 12th . How frustrating !”

After all the complicated maths had been worked out, the Mystery Bowmaker results were:

First on countback Heather Woodland, Gill Russell and Peggy Edwards with 82 points,

Second on countback Jenny Howarth, Jane Richardson and Sylvia Hudnott with 82 points,

Third on countback June Symonds, Jacqui Gregory and Jackie Willcox with 82 points,

Fourth: Jackie James, Sue Skyrme and Kath Cox with 76 points.

Two-spot birdies spots were scored by Liz Thomas on fifth, Lin Papas and Margaret Seery on 15th.

The FLORA team would like to thank everyone who supported them on the day, by playing golf, baking cakes, donating raffle prizes, or purchasing plants. A total of just over £500 was raised which will go towards the purchase of more plants and trees to continue to beautify the Duchy course.

Jane Ball