Stoke by Nayland
SENIORS
October 2025
From your Captain:
Fellow Seniors,
A few of our members have lost loved ones recently and over the year and my sympathies go out to them. Last month, it was particularly sad to learn of the passing of Allen Smith. Allen had fought a long and brave battle against his cancer and should be admired for his positivity in fighting this terrible disease. He will be sadly missed by all of us, for his tireless contribution to the section and his company on and off the golf course. RIP Allen.
As my tenure as your captain comes to an end, it’s been another great year for the senior section. Although not without its challenges, there have been plenty of successes. With one interclub match cancelled and one still to play, we have a positive record W13 L11 D4. We were victorious in the VICT against 9 other Essex clubs. Thanks to your generosity, we have managed to raise just short of £9,000 for the Nayland Community First Responders, although, I’m not planning on stopping there. Later in October, I will be embarking on a charity walk of approximately 26 miles. This will be along the Stour and Orwell path from Trimley St Martin to Pin Mill. I will send out details for sponsorship in the next week, but if anyone wishes to donate in the interim, then please contact me on kevinprice@btinternet.com. During this 1 day adventure, I will be accompanied by Mark Clark, who, being a seasoned marathon runner, is no stranger to this type of activity. I do hope you will be able to support us as just the smallest of gestures will be appreciated.
On the golf course, we have the outcome of the Roy Tricker tournament and the Millennium trophy to be played for in our Stableford competition on October 6th. It should be a tense finale.
Lastly, I will be hosting our Annual meeting on October 27th, after the 3 Captain’s event. This will take place in the Gallery restaurant and I will be releasing a schedule nearer the time. It is planned to start the meeting at approximately 2.00pm.
Finally, I would just like to wish Graham Cork a successful campaign as your Captain for the forthcoming12 months. I’m sure Graham will do a fantastic job in 2026 and that you will show him the same support and commitment that you have shown to me.
Kevin Price
Senior Captain
Disclaimer: The following is a light-hearted review of the previous month’s events. No offence is intended, I hope none is taken!
Full (formal) information can always be found on the senior’s website www.stokeseniors.com
All club information can be found at www.sbngolfmembers.co.uk
As always, if anyone wishes to share any “amusing” stories with me for the next newsletter, this can be done anonymously, or otherwise, by emailing grahamcork@outlook.com . Reports of outrageous fortune – good or bad – are particularly welcome! All contributions gratefully received.
After all the warm weather, there has been more of an Autumnal feel out on the courses, and it has been noticeable that the leaves are starting to change colour. No doubt we shall soon have the pleasure of looking for balls beneath piles of them.
On the Inter Club front, we had a couple of convincing wins, 6½-1½ against Newton Green, followed by a 7-1 success against Braintree. The latter match featured a fine effort on the 13th on the Constable from your correspondent, thinning his tee shot well right of the green, only to hit a tree and bounce back onto the green, 4 feet from the hole. Birdie putt sunk and won Nearest the Pin for good measure. One of the unfortunate members of the opposition that day was Arthur Turner, who had a more successful return to Stoke the following week, but more of that later. We couldn’t make it a 100% successful September, though, as we went down 5 ½ - 2 ½ to Clacton.
The recent run of high Swindle scores carried on into September, Adrian Beckingsale, continuing his good run with 41 points on the 6th Sept. No 40plus scores since then, however, with wins for Mal Jones (38), Trevor Waterhouse (34) and Richard Middleton (37)
Competition action saw the monthly stableford on the 8th, which turned out to be a profitable morning for Rob Ogles, who, in addition to winning the overall trophy with a magnificent 40 points, edging out Roger Davies and Phil Hickley on countback, cleaned up with the only 2 in a field of 39 players. We also had the annual Essex v Suffolk contest, Suffolk winning by 8 holes (Hambro scoring), after confusion over the scoring method had been resolved. We also saw the conclusion of the Summer singles and pairs competitions – congratulations to Phil Hickley (singles) and Martin Brown and Peter Jay (pairs). Almost finally, we had a successful guest day on the 26th, with Roger Davies teaming up with the aforementioned Arthur Turner to win with an impressive 45 points. Very nearly finally, there was a win for Alan Line in the Past Captains match, with Ian Bickers winning the overall competition.
Many Happy Returns to all members who have their birthdays in October.
Actually finally, I am repeating the links to the R and A rules quiz pages.
https://www.randa.org/en/quiz/level/quiz-beginner