Sidmouth Golf Club B Team Captain Colin Macklin once again chose Nick Bater as his partner for the match against the visiting Downes Crediton team. Nick whose back has just recovered after their last partnership a couple of weeks ago, might well have to take a further layoff following another defeat, this time by 3 and 1.

However, this was only a temporary set back as the next pairing for Sidmouth was John Welch and Lester Wilmington who had a comfortable 4 and 3 victory. John, who is temporarily ‘home from the sea’ is playing very well and his partner Lester has had to pick up his game of late to keep ahead of his son Greg, so the partnership worked very well. To further offset the loss of the first match, the French brothers, Stephen and Martyn combined to notch up a further win for the home team when they came home with a 3 and 1 win.

Sidmouth went 3-1 ahead when Mike Dommett and Peter Northcott again brought another win for the newly formed B Team combination when they scraped home with a 1 up victory. However, the looming possibility of another B Team win was dashed when Paul Ranken failed to carry partner Malcolm Willoughby to victory and the pair went down 3 and 2 to bring Crediton back into the match. The final Sidmouth pair of Carl Sheehan and Derek Platten took the ‘perfect hosts’ mantle a little too far when they also went down 3 and 2 to bring the final match score level at 3 games each.

In his after dinner speech Sidmouth B Team captain, Colin Macklin, not only thanked team sponsors Acanthus Creative Print Production and Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic Ltd for their continued support, but also sent out an urgent request for someone who could partner him for the next game.

?On a gloriously sunny day, but with a tricky wind blowing, this year’s competition for the Grandfathers Cup at Sidmouth Golf Club proved to be a difficult day for most of the 39 players.

As experienced last week, a score above par was good enough to take the trophy as the standard scratch for the course rose to 3 shots above par and with his 35 points, Vernon Ruffle just managed to win on a countback. Vernon, who has been in the winners circle recently, benefited from having the comfort of 25 shots to play with, but used them well to just beat off Roger Freer who also had 35 points. Glyn Hewitt also scored 35 points, but clearly qualified for a competition for the older members, as he had a ‘senior moment’ after getting into the clubhouse and in his haste for a cooling drink, forgot to sign his card, thereby disqualifying himself. Glyn’s memory lapse let Ray Scott move into third place with 33 points.

?Andrew Thomson was back to normal in the Friday League at Sidmouth Golf Club winning again with 38 points, writes John Rockey.

Andrew, who won two weeks ago, had an off day last week and could only manage second place, but stormed to his usual winner’s spot this week.

The windy weather meant that John Welch was very comfortable in these conditions, having endured much worse on a calm day crossing the Irish Sea whilst steering his large vehicle ferry and came in second with 37 points.

Third with the same 37 points, but losing on a countback was Tim Wade who won last week’s Monday Stableford.

With his 35 points, Chris Roberts collected some handy league points and goes past absentee Lee Wenham, now recovering from his recent fall, to lead the Friday League table, with Andrew Thomson moving into third place.

?Former chairman of Sidmouth Golf Club John Dunn must have relished being released from the worries of office and, helped by his recently increased handicap, won the Charles Stanley Stockbrokers Monday Stableford with 38 points, writes John Rockey.

John who had been at the forefront of leading the club through the difficult financial climate over the past three years has not been in the winners’ circle of late, but now that the reins of office have been released is back to getting his handicap down again to 6.

Second was a new name on the victory rostrum, James Spiller, who amassed a good 37 points to just edge out David Bater on a countback.

David, who has been plagued by injury lately is getting back his form just in time for the club’s major fixtures.