A beautiful autumn day greeted the SbN team, a stunning azure above the glorious North Sea. When glancing at the team sheet, we had on paper a well balanced and talented team. Unfortunately the match went ahead on grass………….

Match 1 Graeme Cork and Ian Bickers Lost 8 & 6

Sadly Ian (his words) let the captain down badly. Graham played steady but our opponents gelled all the way round. We shook hands on the 12th. As Head Teacher RD would say “you let the team down, you let the family down and most of all, you let yourself down”

Match 2 Malcom Norton and Tony Locke Lost 2 & 1

A close match with 9 holes halved. A lovely day, good golf on a course in good nick. Great opponents who played well and deserved to win.

Reporters note – Tony did write a blow by blow account but I decided on the abridged version.

Match 3 Kevin Price and Bill Kemter Lost 3 & 2

KP Started well, yet we found ourselves 2 down early. A fighting comeback enabled Stoke to take a 2 hole lead by the turn. The matched see sawed but eventually the Clacton pair prevailed. An enjoyable day and the calm weather was a bonus. (sorry Bill had to make the last bit up, couldn’t read your writing)

Match 4 Andy Craknell and John Crane Won 5 & 4

Having lost the 1st, we were never down in the match again. Some excellent play from John and the odd contribution from Andy produced a fine win

Match 5 Tony Carmen and Richard Middleton Lost 2 & 1

Tight match, SBN 4 down after 6, back to all square by the 10th. Back and forth until we lost 2 down on 17th. Friendly match but couldn’t match Clacton’s Nick and Peter for distance.

Match 6 Rob Swan and Ian’s Fault Lost 5 and 4

Match Started on the par 3 17th

Rob started badly by conceding a whole when he still had a shot! Three down after three, a dog licence was looming! Pulled it back with a birdie, however Phil from Clacton admitted it was the best he had played for ages……that’s our excuse and we are sticking to it!

Match 7 Mick Henry and David Humphreys Lost 4 & 3

Match started 17thth hole

Two par’s from each team on the first, but with Mick’s shot SbN were 1 up! However, Kevin and Ray ground us down with their steady play and course knowledge, both of which we were sadly lacking! (even when given precise instruction) A par apiece for the SbN duo on the last improved the mood but of course far too late!!

Match 8 Tony Reeves and Shikhar Chatrath Lost 7 & 6

Match started on 17th hole

Down by 3 after 4 holes our golf did not improve in fact it continued downhill. We did manage to win one hole on the 6th, quickly losing the next to go back to 6 down, then the following two to close out the match…We were rubbish!

Many thanks to David Humphries who had the unenviable task of reporting on the fun and games (??) at Clacton - thanks David

Team ………….

     1st     Graham Cork (Captain) & Ian Bickers

     2nd    Tony Locke & Malcolm Norton

     3rd.    Kevin Price & Bill Kemter

      4th     Andy Cracknell & John Crane

      5th     Tony Carman & Richard Middleton

      6th.    Iain Gault & Rob Swan

      7th     David Humphries (Reporter) & Mick Henry

      8th    Shikhar Chatrath & Tony Reeves