The Ladies section of Orchardleigh Golf Club held their AGM on Tuesday 7th November at the clubhouse, attended by around thirty members.

After the apologies were read out and the minutes of the last meeting were agreed, the Lady Captain, Loes de Kleuver, reported on her year in office. She admitted she had found it a stressful time as she did not consider herself as Captain material, but in fact she did a fine job and some very enjoyable events were organised by her. She decided it was a good sign that none of her committee had resigned during the year!

This was followed by reports from the Treasurer, Handicap Secretary and Competition Secretary as well as the Team Captains of the Alliance (Sue Sweet) and Interclub (Sonia Probert). In the Bristol & District Alliance League, Orchardleigh remain in division five narrowly missing a promotion to the fourth division, whereas the Somerset Interclub League team did not do so well in the top division. They only managed to draw or lose all their matches during the season resulting in a return to division two for 2024. Last year the Orchardleigh Ladies reached the finals of the Roger’s Cup (a county team knock-out competition), but in 2023 they fell at the first hurdle.

Loes went on to introduce Lin Handley as the new Lady Captain and Sue Marshall as her Vice Captain. Other new officers elected onto the committee were:

Sue Sweet as Secretary replacing Sue Marshall.

Christine Arnold remains as Treasurer.

Anne Regler is the new Handicap Secretary

Ann James, taking over as Competitions Secretary.

Carol Jenkin was elected as an extra committee member.

The new Lady Captain thanked Loes for all she had done throughout her year in office and wished her well in her new life abroad. Loes is leaving the club after twenty five years as a very active member who has contributed a lot to the club over the years. She will be very much missed.

After a general discussion the meeting was then closed and the winners of the monthly Medal and Stableford competitions for 2023 were presented with their prizes. They are as follows:

Medal winners: Sonia Probert, Sarah Hynds (3), Loes de Kleuver, Ann James, Christine Arnold, Carol Weightman, Marion Underhill and Pat Jones.

Stableford winners: Sarah Hynds (2), Loes de Kleuver, Ann James, Susan Marshall (4) Pat Pitt (3) Marion Underhill and Sue Chalker.

After the presentation Loes de Kleuver presented Sarah Hynds with a cheque for £178.50 for the Frome charity Purple Elephant which help vulnerable local families. The money was raised by Orchardleigh members and Sarah who is a member of the golf club is a volunteer at the charity.

Sarah Doble