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GASKET CUTTERS' ASSOCIATION |
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Review of the Its that time of the year again folks, yes it’s the GCA Annual Golf Day & Dinner and this year it was at the prestigious Forest of Arden Hotel and Country Club in Warwickshire. Seems like only yesterday since last years event and did I practise and play plenty of games before this years Golf Day, well the answer is NO! and boy did it show. The most frustrating thing was, I actually felt I was more relaxed and hitting the ball a lot better than last year, yet in the end scored fewer points. In fairness, it was a very difficult course designed to test some of the best pro’s in the world, not Hackers like me. It was a beautiful course, some of the scenery and wildlife was stunning, particularly the sight of deer roaming around on the back nine fairways and greens, totally unperturbed by the golfers. Unfortunately there were a few of the regular golfers to this event missing, namely Keith and Martin Shepherd of J A Harrisons, who could not make it due to other commitments, pity, I could have done with Keith’s guidance on this tricky course. Also missing were Alistair Ingles and Jack Goodchild, both due to ill health, the day just didn’t feel the same without them and I’m sure you will all join me in wishing them a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing them next time. So it was onto the main event, the golfers started to arrive at the Forest of Arden around 10.00am to register and were presented with bacon rolls & coffee, also their wonderful GCA Golf shirts, which was something new this year. Max Rowland, GCA Chairman welcomed all delegates and gave an outline of the competitions and rules for the day. First tee off time was 12.00noon, so we all had a couple of hours spare to practise on the range, which I took full advantage of. On my team this year, once again, our guest Simon Carless (WC Munch), our new Sales Rep at JP, Neil Markham and Wayne Cooper (Garlock GB). We were the last but one team to tee off, so the first tee nerves were getting to me a bit, but thankfully I did not fluff my first shot, I managed to find the fairway. Unlike previous years I actually scored points on the first hole, now there’s a first! Unfortunately for me, things went from good to bad, then to good, then to bad again, why did I ever agree to play this silly game, I asked myself. By the eighteenth hole I was convinced I had the lowest score and that it would be my name on the booby prize this year. Anyway my despair turned to joy, when I soon discovered after in the club house, sipping down a well earned ice cold pint, that it would not be my name on this years booby prize, but that of Andrew Thurlbourn (British Gaskets), sorry Andrew, but to be fair to Andrew he’d only taken up the game 3 weeks before. To be honest you’re doing well to score any points on this testing course. In the evening, golfers were joined by other members and their guests in the bar for pre-dinner drinks then made their way into the Aylesford Suite for dinner. It was great to see so many wives and partners joining us again this year. Joining Simon, Neil and myself at our table for the night was my lovely wife Lisa, Simon’s lovely wife Debbie, my Managing Director, Paul Fenton together with Fernando Larena (Trelleborg), who had travelled all the way from Spain not only to support our event with Sponsorship but also to present some of the awards. We enjoyed a lovely 3 course dinner and the wine flowed freely. After dinner during coffee and liquors it was onto the award ceremony, knowing I hadn’t come last I was pretty relaxed at this point, although the wine may have had something to do with that. So we come to this years winners…
Overall I think a good day had by all, judging by the e-mails sent to Julie. Once again a big well done and thank you goes out to all the organisers of this years Golf Day and Dinner, especially to Julie Mellish for all the hard work and effort she puts into this and every other GCA event, I’m sure everyone who attends these events would agree with me. See you all next year, Dean Barrett Full
review with pictures will be published in the Cutting Edge July Issue
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