GM & CAPTAIN’S UPDATE
Paul Toomey General Manager
Dear Member,
As we move into the final stretch of the year, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your patience, support, and continued enthusiasm for Aldwickbury Park Golf Club during what has been a challenging season.
This summer brought with it some difficult course conditions - the combination of inconsistent weather patterns and ongoing maintenance work certainly tested both the team and our playing surfaces. I’m pleased to say that the course is now showing strong signs of recovery, and our greens and fairways are improving
Club and Gents
Section Captain 2025
A MESSAGE FROM THE CAPTAIN
And just like that, summer and autumn have come and gone! Our last newsletter went to print mid-June, and at a time when there was much uncertainty about what the summer would bring and a lot of talk about course conditions.
Thankfully, we have had plenty of rainfall since August, and the course has made a remarkable recovery. Hats off to Mike Smith and the course maintenance team for their
week by week thanks to the tireless efforts of our greenkeeping team.
We also appreciate your understanding during the recent renovation works, which inevitably caused some disruption during what is traditionally our busiest period. These projects, while inconvenient in the short term, will deliver long-term benefits to the quality and playability of the course, and we’re already seeing positive results.
Looking ahead, we’re making a concerted effort to improve our communication with members. From now on, we’ll be sharing more regular updates on course conditions, upcoming events, and club news to ensure you’re always informed and can plan your golf and social calendar.
Thank you once again for your ongoing support and commitment to the club. We have a lot to look forward to as we move into the new year, and I’m confident that Aldwickbury Park will continue to go from strength to strength.
Warm regards,
Paul Gareth McNeill
efforts this year, and huge thanks for the monumental effort that they put into the course and the grounds in general.
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CAPTAIN’S UPDATE
It has been a busy time for the section and mixed competitions, and we crowned this year’s competition cycle with our annual Champions Day event. Sadly, the golf competition had to be cancelled as we caught the tail end of Storm Claudia (no complaints about the much-needed rain). Nonetheless, we went ahead with the main event, which was the celebration of the achievements of all those who qualified for the event. Congratulations again to all of you.
Thank you to all of you who represented the club over the course of the year in team and individual leagues and competitions. Great memories made no doubt, regardless of the result.
Speaking of competitions, we have very few left before the new season gets underway in February 2026, so please look out for entry details on HDID.
I hope that you enjoy your year-end golfing activities, and fingers crossed, the weather is reasonable, and we get to play the planned events
CLUB COMPETITIONS UPDATE
As we held so many competitions in the past four months, I will list the results only. We will be printing a yearbook in January, which will include photos of the winners and will be on display in the clubhouse.
Gents
Club Championship 36 holes over two days on 5th and 6th July
• Club Champion Trophy (Best Gross) – Silence Sibanda
• Club Championship Plate (Best Nett) – Matt Warren
High Summer Medal 10th August – Gareth McNeill
Late Summer Pairs Scramble 31st August – James Lawrance and Ryan Neary
Summer League Final 7th September – Kevin Burke, Nigel Lake and Trevor Wells
Autumn Cup 4th October – Mike Childs and Adam Long
Nine Hole Series League winner – Thomas Sansom
Kitchener Trophy 10th October – James Glover
Fox-Hunter Trophy 1st November – James Miller
Daily Mail Foursomes 9th November - Lee Edwards and Bobby Lloyd
Mixed
Swindle Challenge 31st May
• Individual winner – Matt Aston
• Team winners – The Big Swindle
Charity Cup 21st June – Sue Hattam
Aldwickbury Shield 19th July – cancelled due to heavy rainfall
Langshaw Trophy 25th August – Elaine Meagher and Pete Laurence
Captains Day 13th September – Dave Borrett, Ed Laver, Dan Smith and Karl Bonney
Knockout competitions
Scratch Summer Singles – James Lawrance
Gents Summer Singles Division 1 – Ryan Neary
Gents Summer Singles Division 2 – Tendai Mtanda
Pegasus Cup (the winners of Div 1 and Div 2 playoff for this trophy) – Tendai Mtanda
Summer 4BBB –Matt Cross and Josh Mann
Summer Mixed Greensomes – Sheila Bradbury and John Taylor
Family Foursomes – Terry Lawrance and James Lawrance
Upcoming competitions
Turkey Trot – 6th December
Copper Cup – 18th January
Gareth
ALDWICKS CAPTAIN’S UPDATE
Glen Rootman Aldwicks Senior’s Captain
A MESSAGE FROM THE ALDWICKS CAPTAIN
As we approach the end of the year, I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone who has contributed to making it a successful year for our section. I wish each of you a joyous and safe festive season, and I look forward to seeing you all next year.
RECENT COMPETITION RESULTS
Since the last club newsletter, we have hosted several competitions, most of which were honours board events. Many congratulations to all the winners!
Peter Ashe Pairs – June
Winning pair with 45 points was Glen Rootman and John Russell, who narrowly edged out Bob Bailey and Len Fellowes.
Senior Memorial Championship – July
Congratulations to Tony Hughes, who overcame sweltering conditions, scoring a fine 42 points, beating Robin Bull into second position.
Harpenden Senior Championship - July
Aldwickbury Park seniors team won the ‘Rose Bowl for the Best Team at the Harpenden Senior Championships, and the results show it was a comprehensive home win.
1st: Aldwickbury Park 734pts
2nd: Harpenden Common 759pts
3rd: Harpenden 766pts
Senior Autumn Pairs (Mick Railes) - August
Kevin Trehy and Peter Tonathy narrowly beat Bob Bailey and Sid Sinclair. Congratulations!
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ALDWICKS CAPTAIN’S UPDATE
Senior Singles Autumn (Ian Kerr Memorial)
– October
Congratulations to Carl Lawson, winning for the second consecutive year with a magnificent 42 points, edging out Peter Langrish-Smith by one point.
Burhill Triangular – September
Aldwickbury Park seniors team had another great win down at Burhill, winning the Burhill Triangular Trophy. It was a great team effort with both Burhill and Redbourn teams completely outplayed, and this was our third consecutive Burhill Triangular win!
SENIOR KNOCK OUT EVENTS
Both the singles and pairs knock out events started back in June, and four months later, the results are as follows:
Senior Pairs K/O (Terry Turner)
Steve Lee and John Taylor won the pairs by beating Anthony Sexton and Peter Creighton. Congratulations Steve and John!
Senior Singles K/O (Norman Kershaw)
Alistair HoltThomas edging out Jerry Perritt to win the singles. Congratulations Alistair!
Crameri Cup 2025
Trevor Pyne and Paul Bullock representing the Aldwicks in the Crameri Cup had a great run of success, only just losing out on the 18th hole at Welwyn Garden City in the semi-finals to a strong Mid Team.
Charity Day – October
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who generously donated their time and or money to our Charity Day on 7th October. The final figure collected was a very impressive £7,241.10 on the day, and together with the extremely generous donations of £5,000 each from The Alan Goodenough Charitable Trust and The Joseph and Lillian Sully Foundation, kindly facilitated by Pat Haywood and Peter Timms respectively, we ended up with a fantastic total of £17,241.10!
Just a reminder that all proceeds will go to our charity of choice for 2025, Orchid - Fighting Male Cancer. On behalf of Helen, Gareth, and me, a heartfelt thank you again.
Inter Club Matches
We had a very successful inter club campaign this year, winning 12, drawing 2 and losing 9 matches. We won 5 of our 12 away matches, which was a great achievement. There were some impressive individual match-winning performances, namely by Terry Daly 92.86%, Peter Creighton 82.14% and Allan Fender 75%. Well done.
Also, many thanks to the 5 people who played more than 10 matches – Trevor Pyne (15), Peter Creighton (14), Mike Tozer (13), Jon Clapham (12) and Alistair Holt-Thomas (11). Finally, many thanks to all the match organisers, your help is greatly appreciated!
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ALDWICKS & LADIES CAPTAIN UPDATE
NOTABLE UPCOMING EVENTS
The final three events for the year are now open on HDID:
• December Winter Stableford – Tuesday 2nd December
• Aldwicks Christmas Golf and Lunch – Tuesday 9th December
Besides the golf and lunch, we will take the opportunity to present the trophies to all our winners for 2025.
• Turkey Trot – Tuesday 16th December
REMINDER FOR 2026
• January Winter Stableford – Thursday 8th January
• Flag Competition - Thursday 15th January
Please note that our section’s Annual Meeting will take place directly after the Flags Competition. Look out for more details, which will be circulated closer to the time.
Regards
Glen
Helen Greensmith
Ladies Captain
A MESSAGE FROM THE LADIES CAPTAIN
Hello everyone! Unfortunately, my last newsletter didn’t make it on time, so this is longer than usual!
Winter is approaching, and what a difference in the course! Testing times ahead, coping with the natural elements and course conditions. We know Mike and his team will do their best to keep us playing!
We wish Mike Smith, his new team member (Mike’s son) and Chelsey, his new deputy, every success in their new roles.
I’d personally like to thank Paul for arranging an informative member meeting that many attended on 5th November. It was important to involve members in the decision-making of the future course improvement proposals.
SECTION NEWS
Scratch A Team - Captain Elaine Meagher
Under Elaine’s leadership, Scratch A finished a very credible 3rd in Division 1. Next year, Lucinda will be Captain of the A team as sadly, both Elaine and Linda have decided to step aside from the A team.
I have a huge thanks to pass on to Elaine, who steps down as Scratch A Captain. She has led the team with resilience and pride, achieving many victories. Lucinda, good luck for next season!
Scratch B Team - Captain Gill Lee
The team has had a remarkable run this season, in Division 3B, finishing in 2nd position to a strong Brocket Hall team. They celebrated their success with a lovely meal out! Well done Gill!
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LADIES CAPTAIN UPDATE
Pearson Team - Captain Janet Ball
Once again, the Pearson Team had an amazing season by reaching the county finals day held at East Herts. Unfortunately, they could not quite get over the final hurdle, but came away very worthy semi-finalists. Well done team!
I wish you good luck for this coming season, I hope you manage to go a step further this year!
CLGL - Captain Eleanor Brooks
This Chiltern League is a tough competition, we held our heads high, but did not win the league. However, our club was represented in the end-of-season Ryder Cup.. Seven teams competed for the overall win, we defended our title this year. Eight ladies compete for the trophy, taking part in singles, greensomes, foursomes and 4BBB.
It was certainly a challenge at Chiltern Forest, unfortunately, we were not successful. Chiltern Forest were victors, a definite home advantage!
Single and Pairs Summer Knockout competitions
These competitions reached their conclusion. The singles final was won by Elaine Meagher she beat me quite convincingly! Congratulations Elaine!!
The pair’s competition has been closely fought. However, sadly, Elaine and Linda had to withdraw due to Linda’s injury, the winners were Leah Fitzgerald and Chris Marsden, well done ladies!
The Summer Eclectic was completed, 10 rounds were recorded, entering the best strokes per hole. The winner with the best average score was Elaine Meagher! A notso-close runner-up was me! A complete surprise, Elaine beat me to it again!
The winter eclectic has now begun, and this runs through to March.
COMPETITION WINNERS
Congratulations to the many winners and runners up of the medals, 18-hole stablefords and 9-hole stablefords. It’s been a busy season, play some golf during the winter months and keep swinging! You can view all the results on HowDidiDo.
Jubilee Trophy
This mixed event had over 40 competitors, overall won by a gent, but congratulations to Linda Reeve, who finished a very worthy 6th!
Summer Cup
Well, not many ladies entered this competition, it’s a tricky one where players take on the course! Many congratulations to Pauline Anderson, who won with an amazing 2 under score!
Club Championship - 36 holes
This is a highlight of the year, but sadly poorly supported. I must thank Pauline for organising this day. Only six ladies entered this year, and we congratulate Elaine Meagher for retaining her title yet again! Quite an achievement. We shall be reconsidering this format for future years, as we are not getting any younger!
Millennium Trophy
This betterball stableford competition was well supported this year, with 12 pairs competing for the trophy. Well done Annie and Eleanor, who scored an admirable 45 points!!
Lady Captain’s Away Day
What a lovely day we had at Leighton Buzzard Golf Club. Many thanks to Penny Fairweather and Sue Phillips who helped to arrange this day!
27 of us ventured out on this tricky course, thank you, everyone for supporting the day. Team winners: Pauline, Caroline, Dinah.
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LADIES CAPTAIN UPDATE
Runners up: Julia, Janet, Mary.
Individual: Annie Kirkham
Well done ladies some great scores!
An amazing two months of wonderful golf and results! Well done to everyone for a marvellous representation of our club!
Charity Cup
This was a mixed individual stableford competition with 77 competitors. How amazing, we had 3 ladies in the top 4! Many congratulations to Sue Hattam, the overall winner with 41 points followed closely by Dinah Howard with 40 points. Incredibly our Jan Cookson came a worthy 4th with 39 points! Well done ladies, truly remarkable.
This year, we held an immensely successful Ladies Open Meeting. We welcomed 94 visitors who took part in a pairs betterball stableford competition and set off to a shotgun start. A HwH was provided, delicious
homemade goodies were donated by our ladies.
The visitors sat down to a two-course meal, and all remained for the prize presentations. It was a marvellous day, and we hope to repeat it next year. We thank the gents section for the use of their locker room for the day.
Captain’s Day
How I enjoyed this day! I hope you did too. A fun team competition, with a singles competition played. The weather was not perfect, but we had a lovely day. Golf was followed by an afternoon tea and prizes.
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Lady
LADIES CAPTAIN & EVENTS UPDATE
Daily Mail Foursomes Qualifier
Van and I managed the highest score of 35 points to qualify for the first round. We await the draw next year!
Autumn Cup
16 ladies entered this trophy competition. It was closely fought with 5 strokes separating the top 6 positions!
Congratulations to Elaine Meagher with a nett score of 69, runner-up was Sheila Bradbury with a nett 71!
Our final large event was the Gold, Silver and Tin cup competitions, allowing all players of all abilities to challenge for a cup! Our winner of the 9-hole Tin Cup was Rosie, winner of the Silver Cup, was Dale Wood, and the winner of the Gold cup, on countback was Elaine Meagher, who just pipped Leah Fitzgerald! Next time Leah! Well done everyone.
Winter golf will bring its challenges, we must try to think about pace of play at all times, but also respect the course, respect each other and always try to enjoy yourselves!
Lastly, I would like to welcome all our newer lady members!
Try to keep golfing throughout the winter months. Remember, golf becomes trickier, but if you master some consistent play through the wet and muddy conditions, imagine what you will achieve when the course begins to dry out!!
If you need a playing partner, please just ask!
Helen
Holly Laird Sales Manager
Dear
Member,
What’s coming up at the club?
The festive season is approaching, and we are hosting plenty at the club to bring friends and family to.
LAST CHANCE...BOOK ONLINE HERE:
Westillhavesometicketsremainingforourliveband nightattheendofNovember.Thisisthetalented Carnegie’sbandwhojoinedusforthe30yearsballinthe summer.
Theyprovidedthesongstogetyouonthedancefloor, andoneofthebandmembersisalsoamemberofthe club!
Membersticketsare£53.55,andwithnotlongtogo, pleasedoletusknowifyouwouldlikeustoreserveyou atable.
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EVENTS UPDATE
CLICK HERE TO EMAIL US:
We have two wreath-making events this year where you will have the opportunity to build a fresh foliage wreath with local florists Maple Flowers. Our evening session on the 2nd is nearly sold out, and we still have some tickets for our Sunday 7th morning slot. Tickets are £60 per person, which includes refreshments and all the equipment to build a Christmas wreath and having seen the plants the ladies sell every year, we know you have green fingers!
Ifyouwouldliketobringlovedonestotheclubthisyear foraChristmaslunch,youwouldbemorethanwelcome. FromtheendofNovemberuntiljustbeforeChristmas, wehostChristmaslunchesinthelounge.Weaskyouto pre-orderyouroptions,butinreturn,youwillgetallthe festivitieswehavetoofferandcanrelaxinthelounge withaChristmascracker.Withyourmembershipcard, youwillstillget10%offanydrinksyoubuyonthedayor bottlesofwineyoupre-order. BOOK ONLINE HERE: BOOK ONLINE HERE:
To round off the season, we have our lovely singer and pianist, Zoe, joining us for our festive afternoon tea. On 21st December, the function suite will be filled with festive cheer and live singing whilst we host a very special afternoon tea. As members, you will get discounted tickets at £31.50, and we would love to have you at what we hope will be a lovely event.
Welookforwardtoending2025withyouinstyleand cannotwaitfor2026.It’sgreattoenjoyaclubweareall excitedtobeapartof.
HollyandtheOfficeTeam
Thank
ALDWICKBURY PARK GOLF CLUB Piggottshill