Association News

Our President Glenda Yeldham and the members of the Council would like to take this opportunity to send all our members best wishes for the New Year. We hope that 2021 will be a better year for everyone. At least there are positive signs for a more normal year with a vaccine now available and others in the pipeline. We can only wait to see what the year will bring. 

The Council has decided to proceed with the AGM in February, albeit in a restricted way. The usual luncheon at Devonshire Place is not possible this year due to the Coronavirus. As a result, the AGM will be held with one representative from each club being invited to join the current council members together with the members joining the Council in a Zoom AGM planned for Thursday 11th February 2021. 

Glenda Yeldham is planning to step down as President of the Association and Helen Buckingham will be taking on the role subject to approval at the AGM.

Letters have been sent out via email to all the nominated Club Contacts (with a copy being sent to each current Lady Captain for their information) outlining the plans for the AGM and providing details for membership renewals of the Association for 2021. Hopefully you are all been made aware of this and you have or will soon be contacted regarding your membership renewal. 

Fixture cards will be sent out to all members of the Association following the AGM.

We hope that you all have a safe New Year, that you remain in good health and we look forward to seeing many of you during 2021.

We are delighted to announce that a new Treasurer has come forward to join the Council at the AGM in February. Elaine Wesley of Glen Gorse has kindly offered to take on the role and comes with previous experience in a similar function. 

President Glenda Yeldham and all the Council members would like to thank Elaine for volunteering and we hope that the members will support this nomination along with the other new members planning to join at the AGM planned for 11th February 2021.   

The event planned at Kibworth GC on Friday 25th September was moved to Beedles Lake GC as a result of restrictions imposed with catering and social gatherings due to the Coronavirus. Golf is able to be played at all venues however providing a social environment for a group is more challenging. Fortunately, Beedles Lake has a large function room with stunning views over the lake that enables the social element of this fixture to take place.   

24 ladies participated on the day with the following clubs being represented: Birstall, Cosby, Forest Hill, Glen Gorse, Kibworth, The Leicestershire, Lingdale, Longcliffe, Luffenham Heath, Melton Mowbray, Rutland Water and Whetstone.  The representatives from Willesley Park had to reluctantly withdraw. The start sheet is available to view under the match section of the website.  

Three committee members played on the par three course while the participants played on the main course. The par three course is a definite challenge and the scenery is very good too.  

The main competition is played as an AM AM over 9 holes with two scores to count on each hole (but one player from each club to score). Full handicap allowance was allowed due to the testing weather conditions on the day. Unlike last year when ladies played in torrential rain, this year it was cold and there were high winds to contend with. The hot jacket potato with very generous toppings were very welcome as the teams came back to the clubhouse after playing golf. 

The results were mixed and given the conditions this was to be expected. The winners with 40 points were; Rachel Miller and Sandra Roberts of Longcliffe and Pam Hall and Jane Houghton of Rutland Water. The players were congratulated and a small prize was provided to the winning team. 

The Coronavirus restrictions have altered the way that we have been able to host events this year. Unfortunately, we cannot meet and greet ladies in our usual way, or hand out badges or paperwork at this event. Socialising is restricted and we were again unable to make any speeches.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the event with many ladies expressing their appreciation for this event being organised and actually taking place. This will be the last event held in 2020.

We have an interesting calendar of events scheduled for members to participate in during 2021. Please see the fixture list. This will be available in printed format for all members at the AGM in February.

To express your interest to play in one of our matches please add your name to the match availability sheet when you pay your subscription of £2 to renew your membership for 2021. Please see the match pages for more information. This is due on 1st February 2021. Please see your Lady Captain or the Association’s Club Representative for your home club.

Our President Glenda Yeldham, and the committee look forward to seeing you at one of our events during 2021.

With the lockdown and social distancing restrictions imposed during 2020 most of the events planned for the year have had to be cancelled. This includes: both the Spring and Autumn meetings, President's Day, the matches against Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and the County Vets.  

Most of the matches have been rescheduled into 2021 with trophy events being moved into 2022 as the major events for next year had already been scheduled at other clubs.  

Unfortunately the Bridge Driive has also been cancelled due to the pandemic.

This has been very disappointing, however the safety of our members was our priority. 

Our President, Glenda Yeldham and all of the committee members hope that everyone is keeping well and fit at this difficult time 

This year has definitely had more downs than ups as far as our golf is concerned.  At the beginning of the year golf courses were closed due to the torrential rain and now they are all closed because of the lockdown. One good thing, by the time we are allowed to play, the courses should be in excellent condition.

Today should be our Spring Meeting at Luffenham Heath Golf Club when players would have been competing in a 3 ball alliance for the Wendy Johnson Trophy.  Unfortunately due to Coronavirus this has had to be cancelled but we are grateful to Luffenham Heath for agreeing to host this event in April 2022 (as the spring and autumn events for 2021 have already been booked in the diary).

Given the recent beautiful weather that we have experienced, today is a little disappointing being slightly cooler but it is still dry. We are in desperate need of some rain for the gardens and golf courses, which we wouldn’t have anticipated saying a few weeks ago.

We are monitoring the situation for future events having already postponed the match against Nottinghamshire until next year. Again we are very pleased that Longcliffe golf club has agreed to host the match in 2021.

We will keep you all updated with future events via our website, as and when things are firmed up.

We hope at this difficult time you are finding plenty to keep you occupied, perhaps there should be a gardening competition instead as we are sure all of you who have a garden will have spent a lot of time getting it into pristine condition.

The priority for everyone is to stay safe. We send our condolences to anyone who may have been affected by this terrible virus and our thanks to those still working to keep us all going.

In the scheme of things, it would be nice to play golf but this may be a long way off. For now, please just take care and stay safe.