"It is a wonderful tribute to the game or to the dottiness of the people who play it that, for some people, there is no such thing as an insurmountable obstacle, an unplayable course, time of the day or year,"

The words of Alistair Cooke rang true as the ladies set off to play a Texas Scramble with 18 temporary greens, rather low temperatures and a race to catch the last rays of sunshine before they disappeared behind the hill.

Back in the clubhouse, everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves . Teams of three played off 10 per cent of their combined handicaps. Julie Lye, Ros Eaton and Yvonne Anning returned a score of 59.5 to take first place with Sheila Thomson, Janet Humberstone and Anne Desmoulins second with 60.2 .