Happy New Year

Here's wishing all our members a happy and healthy 2009, with lots of golf, on a well maintained course and a welcoming and friendly Club House.

Merry Christmas Parklands

Merry Christmas one and all !!

A busy weekend before Christmas

This was a busy weekend at the Club and we even managed to get some golf played, which was a real blessing. Saturday was the 'Bring and Win' for the ladies section, where each player brings a prize and then the prizes are drawn from Santa's secret sack, with all the players taking a prize. Food and goodies and a visit from Santa Danny .... a good start to the weekend. Saturday evening was the party for the 'grown-ups' with entertainment and a buffet and a few drops of Christmas cheer.

Sunday was the first Men's competition for many weeks. We played a Captain's Sweep, four ball better ball stableford over 16 holes. The course was wet, but most of us were so pleased to be playing golf on a Sunday morning again that we didn't care. The competition was a 'Bird and Bottle'. There were lots of bottles and cans, but not many birds. The prizes were awarded down to 8th place (37 points) with the winners having 41 points. The photograph shows the Captain, Paul Fairley presenting the winners, Geordie Faulder and Ronnie Dixon with their bottle and meat vouchers.

Sunday afternoon was the Children's Christmas party, a full house with all the tickets sold. The event was organised by Debbie and Kenny Shepherd and our thanks go to them for their considerable efforts in ensuring a great start to the Christmas week. The feedback has been great, the presents, the magician, Superman, the fairy and Santa Eli .... well done to all involved.

Christmas Party for the grown ups!

Don't forget that this Saturday, 20th December is the party night at the Clubhouse for the adults which includes entertainment and a buffet. If you have not ordered your tickets yet then please contact the office asap.

Free golf lesson and mini golf

I was reading a batch of emails and found this advert from Newcastle Racecourse. Since it is free and open to all, then it may interest our members, young and old.

Old sign and a familiar message

What a week for the Parklands golfer ... competitions cancelled last Saturday and Sunday; course closed Monday and Tuesday; open for 9 holes on Wednesday and Thursday for those brave enough to face the cold and then the rain; open for 13 holes with frozen ground conditions on Friday and then closed with all the torrential rain on Saturday. The Men's Competition cancelled for Sunday. What a week!!! Get the Christmas shopping done!!!!
Think we need a new sign on your Christmas shopping list David King.

Happy Birthday Nora

With the golf course either closed for snow or too wet, its been a difficult week for the Parklands golfers. The Clubhouse has been quiet through the day apart from the long lost souls drinking coffee and looking out of the window hoping for drying winds and warm temperatures ... some hope.

However, there were lots of ladies who turned up today (Saturday) to celebrate the 70th birthday of Nora Quinn and to help her celebrate by eating her birthday cake. Happy birthday Nora ......

Presentation Evening 2008

Friday night was the Club Presentation Evening for Ladies, Gents and Juniors and the event was very well attended and seemed to go well with lots of silverware and trophies collected by the 2008 winners. The trophies were presented by the 2008 Lady Captain, Denise Swindlehirst; the Men's Captain, Paul Fairley and the Junior Manager, Ken Morpeth. There were over 100 trophies and medals presented in total (but I managed to miss out on them all!). The event ended with the Ladies and Men's Club Champions, Alyssa Balding and Daniel Deakin, receiving their awards. Alyssa made a lovely speech and thanked all those who had supported her, not least the late Maureen Braven ... well done Alyssa.

If you have any photos of the event that you are willing to have published on the Internet, please forward them to parklands_golf@btinternet.com or leave them on a disc at the Club. Thanks

Eureka!! The TV has arrived

It's the 29th and the promised delivery date of the new TV for the Clubhouse!! The bad news was the race meeting scheduled for today was cancelled owing to the frost and contractor supplying the TV's at the racecourse had set his satnav for home. However, David King had issued warnings that if they left without supplying us with a TV he would chase them down the A1 ... and as a result we have a large TV ..... it's not the final version and doesn't fit on the wall, but at least we can watch the football without binoculars and hopefully the final replacement will arrive with the next race meeting. Happy viewing!

Photos from President's Day

A few photographs from President's Day in June have been displayed in the entrance way to the Clubhouse and they have created some interest with members and visitors alike. I have put many of the other photographs on a web site which will allow anyone interested to view the pictures as either thumbnails, screen size or in a screen show ... happy viewing .... click here for the link http://pics-by-geoff.photos.us.com

Snow and then rain

And winter came this weekend to remind us that we live in the North ... snow on Friday night and Saturday morning covered the course and coupled with the biting northerly wind it felt very cold. However, by the time I got to the Club and snapped this photo on the mobile, it looks like a nice bright day with just a light dusting across the grass. The Ladies competition on the Saturday and the Men's on the Sunday were victims of the weather. The course was closed on both days and is still closed today, Monday, after very heavy overnight rain.

Membership Renewal Fees for 2009

The Company have announced their renewal fees for current members for 2009 ..... and the good news is ..... there will be no increase in the fees from this year's levels.

Full membership will be £422 (which includes the £22 Club levy)

Vets £401

Youth (up to age of 25) £281 and Junior £139.

A renewal letter will be sent out in December.

Drink Up - Closing Time

The Club has announced winter closing times for the bar ... shorter days = shorter hours?

I just hope the Committee Meetings on a Tuesday are over by 10.00pm or we'll find ourselves locked in!!

A new TV

The question is when? .....

and the answer is 29th of November ....

Hopefully I will be able to put the opera glasses back in their case and look at a big tv again .....

Ladies AGM

Monday evening this week saw the Ladies AGM at the Club. The meeting was well attended and there were a number of changes to the committee. Two ladies retired having served their elected terms and one lady, Yvonne Welch was re-elected for a further 3 years unopposed. Two new elected officials were Gill Davison and Ingrid Taylor. Our club functions on the efforts of volunteers and their future commitment and efforts will be gratefully appreciated. The AGM always heralds the change of the Captaincy. The 2008 Lady Captain, Denise Swindlehurst, handed over the badge to the new Captain, Maureen Jenkins. Maureen in turn announced her big secret, her Vice Captain for the coming year who is ... Deborah Welch ... many congratulations.

End of the Summer - it's Official

It's official - summer is over. The long awaited and delayed completion of the summer golf programme has been completed. The Ladies section completed their programme on Saturday, 8th November some 4 weeks late and the Men's programme completed on the Sunday, 6 weeks late. The competitions were played in very wet, almost marsh type conditions, with the water and mud soaking up trouser legs to mid calf height. Coupled with some freezing rain on the Sunday morning, it was no surprise that there were 21 no returns as players failed to find lost balls and declined the option of returning to the tee.


The Men's results included a win for Mac Murphy with a nett 69, but the Handicap Trophy was won by Jon Christie with a 73. The Junior trophies went to Thomas Brooks (nett) and Daniel Deacon (gross). The points awarded for the placings also settled the winner of the Sid Hall Trophy which is awarded to the most consistent player across the season. The winner was Ian Davidson who will get his name engraved on the cigarette box (not very PC) and also the honours board in the Club House ... well done Ian.

Children's Christmas Party

With all this wet weather, you may not have noticed the begging letter in the entrance way asking for donations of bottles, biscuits and other Christmas items to make up a hamper, which we will then raffle to raise money towards the Children's Christmas party.

So please have a rummage round and bring an item with you on your next visit to the Club.

The notice for the sale of tickets for the party is on the end of the bar and these are priced at £7.50 per child.

Rain Rain Go Away

And on it pours .... when will it ever end? Talk about weather for the ducks ...

Spoke too soon

What a difference a day makes .... especially when that day brings rain by the bucket load Friday was wet wet wet ... and the effect is that the course was closed Friday and Saturday resulting in the cancellation of the Ladies competition on Saturday and the Men's competition on Sunday ... when will this already extended competition season ever end?

Winter is in the air

The Men's competition on Sunday 26th Oct 08 saw us playing greensomes format, an unusual event for many of the men. A bright day with the odd heavy shower resulted in some good scores. The winners of the Ralph Hopper Trophies were Russell Simpson and Ryan Simpson with a net score of 63.5. Well done to you both. My only bright spot of the round was sinking my partners drive on the 14th from just off the green for a 2 and a share of the 2's sweep.

It's been half term this week and the course and the complex has been busier than usual Monday to Friday. Despite the cold weather, the course is drying out well and the fairways are looking good for the winter. The only black spot is the inability of players to bend their backs and pick up and replace their divots.

With early morning frosts, this week has brought the winter greens into effect for a few days. Greens in regulation are a little more difficult to achieve when aiming at a circle less than 10yards in diameter and then putting very firmly to achieve a straight put .... or at least that's my excuse!

The first (I hope) of our synthetic tee boxes has been completed on the 8th. This will provide us with an all season alternative to the conventional tee boxes whilst keeping the hole at its full length. It will be interesting to have the opinion of the members when it is put into play.

Au Revoir Ladies

It's been a relatively quiet week at the Golf Club. The Men's Competition on Sunday was played on a course that is slowly drying out, but there are still many flooded bunkers and a number of persistent wet patches on the fairways and more worryingly on a couple of the greens. The competition favoured the entrants playing later in the morning with the first four places going to players in the back half of the field. The winner was G Weir who won the Turney Wylde Trophy with J Watson winning the junior Maddison Trophy. Well done to you both.


Monday brought the Ladies Committee Meeting and the it was the last committee meeting for the Immediate Past Captain, Ciaran Hannon. Thanks for the all the sterling work Ciaran, you'll be missed.

Tuesday saw the Club Committee Meeting and the committee welcomed the Northern Racing Executive Director, Mark Spincer to the meeting. Here's to a long and productive working relationship.
This meeting was also the last for the Lady Captain, Denise Swindlehurst, who hands over the reins at the Ladies AGM next month. The Men's Captain, Paul Fairley recorded his sincere thanks for Denise's cooperation and friendship during their year as Captains together.


Thursday/Friday brought us a new air compressor/shoe and trolley cleaner ... paid for with Club funds and installed courtesy of Kenny Shepherd, the Men's Chairman and Brian Rutherford. Well done to you both and I hope the membership appreciates your efforts.




Keep your fingers crossed for dry weather and lots of drying winds ......

Hadrian League Dinner

3 months to go to D Day ... but in the meanwhile ....

A number of Committee representatives and guests plus a solitary team player attended the Hadrian Golf League Annual Dinner and Presentation Evening at the Assembly Rooms Newcastle upon Tyne on Friday 17th October 2008. Parklands GC had one trophy to collect - The Trolhdahl Cup - for best gross won by Graeme Hewitt with a gross score of 70. Well done!

Relaxing during the speeches !!!!!!

We received a few mentions in the published League Highlights .... 'Hexham could not take advantage however, losing 8 - 4 away to Parklands, the league's most unpredictable team.'

Something to work on for next season ... consistent at winning I trust!!

The Beginning

Day One ... and is this the start of my information highway for the golf club?

Will anyone log on and read the weekly input of a Golf Club Captain in waiting?

Thought for the day courtesy of John Betjeman :-

Have you had friends you trusted who
Have let you down? Well, Jesus too
Had friends, a dozen, one of whom
Steathily left that Upper Room
And sold his master to His doom.
And when the time of trial drew near
His other friends ran off in fear.
Have you known what it is to be
Liked and respected? So did He.
And then known what it is to fall
Into contempt? Christ knows it all.
Have you done what you didn’t ought
And then unluckily been caught
And sent to gaol, not merely fined?
Well, keep this healing thought in mind,
Jesus did nothing wrong, but He
Was stripped and nailed upon a tree.