Each month, our three Captains – Matt Tunstall, Jill Pottle and Kevin Price – share with us their news from the previous few weeks and take a quick look ahead to the upcoming month.

Men’s Captain, Matt Tunstall

Hi All, I hope you’re all having a very pleasant start to the golfing season.

April has been a busy Month around the club with the start of the Order Of Merit, Standard Trophy, Peter Blewitt, and St George’s day competitions. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for the amazing turnouts in these events.

The men’s section has also been off to a flyer with wins for the Thornton cup, Lesley wood and Jubilee cup teams. A brilliant performance from everyone involved so well done all!

May brings another busy Month for SbN’s calendar. I would like to encourage as many of those that are eligible to attend the PSA blood testing evening on the 22nd. This has been extremely successful in the past and it just might save your life!

The end of the Month also brings the captains charity day. As you know, my chosen charity for the year is St Helena Hospice which holds an unfortunate significance to many of us at the club so your support on the day would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you all have a great May and look forward to seeing you around the club.

Ladies Captain, Jill Pottle

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely weather we are experiencing lately – long may it continue. The balls are continuing to run along our fine fairways, although not always ending up in a good spot if you are unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of some of those wicked bounces!

With two Bank Holidays upcoming this month there’s no excuse to not get some golf in or take the opportunity to rest and recharge ready for the next few busy summer months.

As the Ladies Section enters May we hold our Spring Meeting which is the first of the big events we run during our golfing calendar when we award the first two of our major trophies. This year, the date (Thursday 8th May) coincides with the 80th Anniversary celebration of VE Day. To mark this momentous occasion we will be dressing in Red, White and Blue on the day so look out for us around the course!

Also, during May, I will be undertaking a challenge to walk 150 miles during the month in support of my chosen Charity ‘Parkinsons UK’. The official challenge was to complete 100 miles but I’m sure I can smash 150 so have upped my game. I will be asking for sponsorship for this challenge and, if anyone would like to sponsor me, please come and see me when you are next at the club and I’ll gladly pass over my sponsorship forms. Thanks in advance for your generosity and support.

We also have a couple of Mixed Trophies up for grabs during May with competitions being run over the bank holiday weekends so please sign up for these if you wish to participate.

Preparations are now under way for our Golf Week that takes place in June so watch out for further details of these fun events which will be published soon.

Good luck to those of you representing our Club in County Matches during May.

Hope to see you all around the clubhouse soon.

Seniors Captain, Kevin Price

Traditionally, the vice-captain of the senior section runs a mini tour in May. It’s a great opportunity to hone those organisational skills ahead of their forthcoming year of captaincy.

This year is no exception and my VC, Graham Cork, and 37 of the Seniors will head off to Greetham Valley for two nights and three rounds of golf. It’s always an eagerly anticipated event and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. In recent years, many of the new attendees couldn’t sign up quickly enough for the following years’ experience.

The seniors are a great section to be a part of and are all very welcoming and inclusive. We have our own website, www.stoke seniors.com and hold numerous competitions, awaydays and Interclub matches throughout the year. You do though, need to be a member of the senior section to take part in these events. If you are interested in joining, details are on our website, along with a link to an application form.

Sadly, the senior County teams did not fare well in their competitions. Having both been drawn away, our John Day team were beaten by Royal Epping Forest. The Essex Senior’s team were drawn away to Forrester Park with the result turning into a saga. Having lost on the day by 6 ½-4 ½, the team were thrown a lifeline when Forrester were later disqualified for breaching a handicap rule. This though was not the end of the tale, as SbN, some four days later, were also disqualified for a similar rule infringement, so will now take part in the plate competition.

Having now hosted a couple of our Interclub matches at home, it has been really satisfying to hear the opposition complimenting our course, in particular our greens. It’s very satisfying to hear such words and well deserved comments.