The difficult conditions for Mendip’s Mendacious Bowmaker event meant that the 42 teams found good scores hard to come by. However, there were three teams on 78 points, four clear of the field. On countback in third position were A. Logan, M. Annable and P. Kivi. In second place were Ron Payne, Shaun Rich and Selwyn Rees, but winning were the team of S. Whalen, J. Phillips and Wayne Black.
The first Mid-week Tankard attracted a field of almost fifty players. Divison One was won by James Herniman, with 35 points, followed by Nicholas Walker, with 34 and Harry Phillips, with 32. Division Two was won by Wayne Black, with 36 points with Philip Moores second with 33 and Martin Honeybun third with 31 points after countback.
Division Three saw easily the best score of the day, with Gareth Collier carding 42 points and he was followed by Paul Mansfield, 36 and Paul Rhodes, with 35.
The Mendip Ladies held a qualifying Stableford that attracted a good field of 47 competitors. Further working ladies competed in the Saturday Stableford. The full results were: Winner of Saturday event, Aimee Sawyer with 32 points,
followed by Sarah James, with 30 and Gill Brown, with 29. Division One of the Tuesday event saw a three-way tie and a win, after countback for Elaine Kitchenham with 35 points, beating Linda Brobson and Lynn Cox. Division Two saw two excellent scores of 39 points by Sandie Roper and Cora Pavey, with Sandie winning on countback. Third with 33 points was Mary Ainsworth. Division Three was again settled on countback with Elaine Richardson winning with 33 points, leaving Caroline Laws in second place and Val Dixon third with 31 points.
The Ladies section also held a nine hole competition on Thursday, which was followed by a Rules of Golf quiz. This was well received, especially by some of the newer lady members and concentrated on the basic rules and how to interpret them on the course.
The Ladies’ Yellow Ball Charity Bowmaker event proved challenging for the entrants. Spirits were high, despite a bitterly cold wind and competitors found the format of having to score when playing the yellow ball quite stressful. Winners with 107 points were Chris Williams, Anita Butcher and Linda Brobson, with Mary Ware, Mary Ainsworth and Jan Fukuyama second with 105 points and Nichola Croft, Liz Rose and Ladies Captain, Hilary Rowdon, third with 104.
Mendip’s representatives in the Daily Mail Foursomes event were Karen Richards and Andrea Williams. They played a strong hitting and lower handicap pairing from Saltford, who handled the difficult conditions a little better than the Mendip pairing, who finally had to admit defeat.
Mendip Seniors commenced their match season with a home fixture against Long Ashton. Played in lovely sunshine, albeit a testing cold wind, the season started with a 4–2 defeat. Winners for Mendip were Simon Atkinson and Mike Lill and Andrew Griffiths and Norman Squire. The second match of the season saw Saltford as the visitors and a very competitive contest saw four of the six matches going to the eighteenth. The final result was 3–3, with wins for Seniors Captain Elect, Henry Banks/Martin Lambert, Simon Atkinson/Jim Scott and Seniors Captain, Dave Pilbeam, playing with Steve Creese.
Mendip’s mixed season got underway with a visit to Kingsdown. Most of the Mendip pairings had to give shots to higher handicapped opponents and eventually Mendip lost the match 6½–1½. Club Captain, David Williams and Team Captain, Patricia Rawlins, won their match and Rob and Elaine Richardson gained a half. However, the highlight of the day was Mendip’s Rob Richardson achieving a hole in one and then providing the customary bottle of whisky back in the clubhouse!
Tony Williams