6th December

Unfortunately the course was closed today but we have all got our fingers crossed for the Turkey Trot next weekend. There is more information about the arrangements for the day on the Social Events page.

Please sign up for the Mixed being held on Saturday 2nd January (perfect for starting to try and shed those extra pounds gained over Christmas). The first tee off time is at 09:30.

It was the Durham County AGM yesterday and Margaret Russell received the Anderson Division 6 Shield and I got my County badge and am now officially Competition Secretary!

The new County Captain is now Christine Mair and she announced her County Charity which is Luke's Life Legacy. This charity was set up in remembrance of one of the grandchildren of a lady member of South Shields golf club who was diagnosed with visual pathway glioma (a brain tumour on his optic nerve) at the age of 7 months. Unfortunately he died before his 5th birthday and the charity was set up to help other families (e.g. with accommodation or respite care) and to fund research - further information can be found at www.lukeslifelegacy.org

It must be nearly Christmas as the notice for the Turkey Trot is now on the board. Please sign up as soon as possible to help Linda with the arrangements for what is normally a really fun event (and don't forget to start knitting your Christmas jumper too!).

The Durham County AGM is being held next Saturday (28th November) in the "Studio" of Durham Girls High School at 10:30am where the Afternoon League will be presented with their shield for winning division 6 - everyone is very welcome to attend.

The Past Captains Dinner is being held on the 26th February - further details to follow, but it would be nice if ladies kept this date free to support the incoming Club Captain Paul Tinkler.

Many thanks to Margaret Russell and all her helpers who did a wonderful job for Presentation Evening. Until you see them all set out you forget how many trophies we have. Many congratulations to all the winners and thanks to the catering staff who provided wonderful food.

Don't forget that the AGM is being held on Tuesday (10th) at 7pm in the Committee Room.

Liz Nelson was back on top form this week winning the Leslie Wake Memorial Trophy with a magnificent net 68 and reducing her handicap. Congratulations also go to to Cheryl McOwan who won the Durham Vets Autumn Singles (both net and gross prizes) at Bishop Auckland and also reduced her handicap today along with Steph Storry.

The menu for Presentation Evening to be held on Friday 6th November is on the notice board - please sign up with your choices.

Unfortunately Janice and Tracey lost their Thomlinson match against South Shields at Consett on Wednesday, but many thanks to them for taking part and representing the club.

The results from the Away Day at Teesside were as follows:-

Many thanks to Margaret Russell for organising a very good event (especially the weather!).

Margaret has been very busy as the Invitation Day held on the 20th August was another successful day with Cheryl McOwan and her partner Barbara Cheetham winning with 37 points from Barabara Robinson and Jill Cotgrave with 33 points.

Good luck to the players taking part in the Thomlinsons at Consett on Wednesday.

For those people taking part in the Away Day to Teesside golf club please be aware that coffee and bacon rolls are available from 10am at a cost of £3.20. The first tee off time is at 11am (Margaret will let us know who we are playing with when we arrive).

Thanks to everyone involved in making the Ladies Open a real success on Wednesday. They were many very nice comments made by our visitors with regard to both the course and catering facilities so here's hoping that even more ladies take part next year.

It was a pleasure to find out that Linda Luke has agreed to take on the captaincy of the ladies section for the 2015/2016 season. I'm sure you will all join with me in thanking Linda for taking on the role and wishing her well for what I'm sure will be a very successful year.

What a busy week with the Woodham Waywards trip to Slaley Hall and the Club Championship.

Thanks to Linda Luke for organising our Woodham Waywards trip this year to Slaley Hall. Being responsible for ensuring that everyone has a good time is never easy but Linda made sure that we were all very well looked after and I'm sure that we all enjoyed ourselves (despite the golf scores). I never did find out who won the golf buggy race! The courses were quite long and tricky, so many congratulations to all the prize winners.

Many congratulations to Tracey Hahn who not only won the Club Championship by a massive 10 shot margin but also managed to get a hole in one at the 17th yesterday - what a brilliant weekend's golf for her. Janice also played very well to win the net prize.

The Evening League team are playing their final match of the season tomorrow - here's hoping for some dry weather!

Many congratulations to the Evening League team who won 4-1 against Wynyard this week. However a very special congratulation needs to go to the Afternoon League team who won their match against Chester-le-Street 5-2 and in doing so it looks like they will have won division 6- well done to everyone who has played on the team!

I'm sure that we are all looking forward to the Woodham Waywards trip to Slayley Hall for further details please see the Social Events page.

There were two team matches this week with the Evening League team winning 3.5 - 1.5 at home against Ryton and the Afternoon League team lost a close match 2.5 - 4.5 away to Garesfield. There are another two matches this week so good luck to everyone involved.

Saturday saw the Mixed Open played at Woodham with 40 teams taking part. Everyone was very complimentary about the quality of the course, clubhouse and food and the beautiful weather was an extra bonus. The winning couple came from Fingle Glen in Devon with a magnificent 49 points and there were many scores in the 40's. Many thanks to everyone involved who worked really hard to ensure that our guests enjoyed their day.

Many thanks to Margaret for organising a wonderful Lady Captain's Day. Obviously a lot of thought and hard work had gone into the day for which we are truly grateful. The weather was on our side too, as apart from one small shower, it was an absolutely glorious day and it was lovely to be able to sit in the sunshine on the terrace after the golf.

Congratulations to all the prize winners (there were many and I'm afraid that I did not note them all down).

As normal, the halfway house was full of goodies (much of it homemade). The amount of food consumed during the day was huge - I don't think I'll need to eat for the rest of the week!

Thanks to everyone involved for making the day such a success.

Look what we won!

The afternoon team were playing their home match against Garesfield when the Claret Jug was on display at Woodham. Apparently it was really heavy (I'm surprised they were allowed to touch it) and the inscriptions were beautiful. The trophy was brought to the club in recognition of the work that has been done with the Golf Foundation to attract Juniors into golf.

We have just received notification from England Golf that following the Standard Scratch assessment carried out at the end of last season the ladies standard scratch has gone up to 73. This will take affect immediately (the cards will still have the old standard scratch on them until a new batch is ordered).

Please sign up for Lady Captain's Day on the 28th June. Golf will start a 12 noon with a halfway house (contributions welcome) followed by a carvery. I'm sure that we all wish Margaret good luck for the day and here's hoping for some good weather.

The Evening League team are having problems with their away matches and lost this week at Wynyard who were very excited at playing their first league game. Two more matches this week - both away. So good luck to the Evening League team who are playing way at Heworth on Monday and the Afternoon League team who are playing at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday.

Unfortunately the Evening League team could not match their afternoon counterparts and lost their first match of the season away at Ryton - congratulations to Steph who managed to win her game. Here's hoping for better luck tomorrow away at South Moor!!

On Wednesday Margaret Nisbet and I played in the Durham County 4BBB event at Houghton-le-Spring. We played quite nicely and won the Foggart Spoons for the best gross and also had the third best net score so have qualified to play for Durham against a team from Northumberland at Garesfield in August.

Cheryl played in The Durham County Vets spring meeting at Garefield this week and although she did not win any prizes, she was one the top twelve who qualified to play against Northumberland later in the season.

Many thanks to Margaret Russell, Barbara Robinson and Maggie Brown who were a great support during the 3rd round match of the Daily Mail Foursomes that Pat and I played in yesterday. We managed to get our own back for the defeat in the Mail on Sunday and won against Bishop Auckland (at home) 3 & 2.

Congratulations also go to the Afternoon League team who had a good win against Dinsdale Spa 6-1 at home on Thursday.

Many congratulations to Cheryl who won the Durham County Ladies Golf Association Greener Cup at Barnard Castle golf club on Friday by a clear 5 points from players from Dinsdale and Darlington. What a wonderful start to the season to have a Woodham winner of a county competition so soon.

Golf today was cancelled due to the course being closed because of all the rain that had fallen overnight and was still falling as we arrived - I don't think that anyone was upset that we were unable to go out in it!

Pat and I played at South Moor yesterday in the Daily Mail Foursomes, I can't say that we were particularly looking forward to it as I have been beaten there on many occasions - getting as far as the 16th is normally a result as far as I'm concerned. Well, as expected, we didn't get as far at the 16th, but we actually managed to beat our opponents 5-3 - so we finished on the 15th. To say that we were a bit surprised by our win would be an understatement, but having said that we gave ourselves a good talking to before the game and said that we would try our best not to be defeatist and let our heads drop, but we would just play our best and see what happened. Its amazing what a positive attitude can do!!

We held our AGM as planned today, where all members of committee agreed to continue in post until November when we will have our next AGM so we are back in into our normal cycle. Special thanks should go to Margaret Russell who agreed to remain as Captain through the summer season. This is not an easy job and we are indebted to her for carrying on. However, everyone needs to think about who will be captain next year as we will need someone else at the helm.

Congratulations to Pat Usher who won both the Winter Eclectic and 18 hole Winter League competitions. the 18 hole competition was very closely fought with Liz Nelson coming second and Margaret Russell third. Anita Maxwell won the 9 Hole Winter League - full details can be found on the results page.

The Mail on Sunday match against Bishop Auckland is being played next Saturday (14th) with the first tee time being 11:30 - good luck to the team - Tracey, Anita, Linda, Liz and Maggie.

There are a number of coffee mornings taking place this week that you may be interested in attending :- Wednesday at Stocksfile, Thursday at Whickham and Saturday at Durham City, I am sure these clubs would appreciate your support if you are able to attend.

It was the last day of the Winter League today and the weather was very wintery with a cold wind and threat of snow in the air. Therefore the 18 holers decided (very wisely) to come in after 9 holes. The results of the Winter League and Eclectic will be announced once all the scores have been double checked (hopefully by next weekend).

The date for the Mail on Sunday match has not yet been agreed with Bishop Auckland, but hopefully that too can be sorted out this week - watch this space!

New handicap certificates have been printed and are in the locker room for all the ladies who played at Oakleaf last year. For ladies who played elsewhere, you need to inform your other club that you wish to make Woodham your home club (if that is what you want to do). Once you have done that I can transfer your record across to Woodham.

Snow this week, so despite the course being open everyone sensibly decided not to play!

I have updated the fixture list on the web site with the 2015 fixtures (please note that at this stage presentation evening, the AGM and the Turkey Trot are provisional). Also note that as Hartlepool have dropped out of the Evening League we have been given matches against Ryton to replace them and they have been arranged for the 11th May (away) and 6th July (home).