The Old St. Beghians’ Golfing Society

Dear Members,

Now that 2010 has drawn to a close, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on the Golfing Society and golf at the school in general.

Golf at St.Bees continues to make massive strides forward, as Stuart Hemmings, Director of Golf and full time professional, continues to tutor close to 40 school pupils through each of the various available golfing programmes. Last year the school fielded a golf team for the first time in a long while, playing matches against local clubs Seascale and Workington as well as rival schools Sedbergh and Barnard Castle. Huge congratulations in particular must go to them for their fantastic win away at Sedbergh.

In addition, a number of the students have taken up membership at local courses, including Seascale, Silloth, Whitehaven, Workington, Penrith and Appleby. This is all highly encouraging. Many congratulations to Stuart for what he has achieved so far. It is clear that his hard work is really paying off.

During 2010 golfing facilities at the school have made a big advance. The golf course is looking in excellent condition and the extensive Tom Fletcher short game practice area (to the left of the 9th green) was completed at the start of the year and is being well used for lessons. This is supported by the golf studio, a first class facility with a wide range of swing- analysis equipment.

For the start of 2011 the school will also have The Costeloe Chipping and Putting Green adjacent to the studio. This will provide an excellent three-tier practice putting green measuring some 60 feet by 30 feet, including two practice bunkers. I strongly encourage you to visit the school website and see the facilities for yourself.
(http://www.st-bees-school.org/golfacademy/golfacademy.htm )

In 2010 the Society held a number of events. We had a very successful day at St Bees in June, playing in perfect weather. In a three-way match against the school and St Bees Golf Club, it was excellent to see the school come out victorious. It was also good to be shown around the facilities by Stuart. I hope that we can increase the attendance at this event this year. The Critchley Cup once again took place at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in August. It was a fantastic day and the winner again was John Currie. John’s score of 37 points was matched by David Clark. David is currently in the upper sixth and therefore ineligible to win an OSB trophy. We look forward to welcoming him fully to the Society in September 2011. Old St Beghians’ Day was well attended again, but unfortunately the Sunday event at Penrith was poorly supported and badly affected by the weather.

On a sadder note, I must announce the death of David Hopley early last year. David was a life time single figure golfer and a long time supporter of the OSBGS, playing in the Halford Hewitt, QE and Cyril Gray over many years as well being a previous winner of the Critchley Cup. He was also a member of Gullane Golf Club and the R&A. A great character who will be sadly missed.

Finally, mention must be made of OSBGS members being honoured by their clubs. Following hot on the heels of Andy Crummey’s two-year stint as captain of Gullane Golf club, Mike Stamper was captain in 2010 at Penrith and Charlie Crummey will soon assume the captaincy at The Golf House club in Elie. The highest profile captain, however, must be Brian Morrison, captain of Prestwick, in the year when the club celebrated the 150th year since the first Open Championship.  Brian presented a somewhat bemused Louis Oostthuizen with a replica of the Champion’s belt, first won by Willie Park, in front of thousands of spectators at the Open in St. Andrews as well as a few million more on television!

This year we look forward to another exciting agenda. We are delighted to be welcomed by Brian Morrison to compete for the Critchley Cup on Sunday 21st August 2011 at Prestwick Golf Club and Stuart will again be hosting his golf day in St Bees in June. I do hope as many of you as possible can attend these exciting events. I will send more information on them very soon.

James Doggett, OSBGS Hon. Secretary.
Tel: 07712 874 452 or Email: james.doggett@hotmail.co.uk