ANDOVER Golf Club celebrated the end of another busy golfing season with their Annual General Meeting.

The meeting, held at the club's Winchester Road home, began with a moment of silence for three senior members who had passed away during the year.

Both Roger Crook and Bryon Tarrant had been club presidents, while Kim Walsh was Senior's Captain in 1989 and was the oldest playing member of the club.

The Senior Secretary, who called for the moment of silence, also asked members to observe the silence for Armistice Day.

The 2016 Senior’s Captain, Bill Savage, then gave his annual report and thanked the members for the honour of captaining Andover Seniors.

When competing in this season’s winter league he thought, that on paper, he had picked a strong team to represent the club.

Mr Savage joked that he then realised that golf was played on grass, rather than on paper, as his team finished in second to last place.

In the inter-club friendly matches however, he had selected 34 different senior members to play and fared better, with 11 wins, six loses and one halved match.

The Senior Captain’s Day, played in June and well supported by home and visitors alike, was a very successful day enjoyed by all, despite the poor weather.

The event raised money for his charity, which enabled the purchase of greens machinery and new flagsticks and flags displaying the club logo.

The best home player on the day, who received the Kennett Trophy, was Ron Levett.

Guest Mick Mills and fellow members John Rusbridge and Rod Skeates won the team prize.

In a newly introduced match of the Club Captain v Senior captain, played in March and in the Senior’s Captain v Vice-captain played in September, both resulted in an unsuccessful outcome for the captain, who lost both matches.

He congratulated the catering staff for providing such a good service during his year, often receiving many compliments from visitors, both in the winter league and summer friendlies.

He also received many words of congratulation for the condition of the course, which is generally maintained by volunteers.

However, he thought that it was a crying shame that the tradition of playing friendly matches against other clubs was dying out, thereby losing the opportunity to make new friends and re-kindle old rivalries which marked these games as something special.

In conclusion, he thanked senior members for their support during his year of captaincy, especially Ted Bentley and David Kettell who have offered their services as captain and vice-captain next year after the resignation of his vice-captain.

The Seniors Secretary, Mervyn Perry, then reported that 49 events had been arranged for 2017 including 20 inter-club matches, 10 winter league and three matches with the Ladies section.

With 12 monthly stablefords, winter eclectic and the summer singles and pairs knockout competitions, there is enough competitive seniors golf to keep seniors active and eager for more.

The Senior trophies this year were won by Richard Gilderson and Bev Blake for the Machin Cup (Pairs knockout).

Moray Mackintosh won the Fluen Cup (Singles knockout) the gross Eclectic winner was Richard Hall with a better score over 10 rounds of 64,which is 6 under par.

The Nett winner was Richard Gilderson with a score of 48.1.

The Age Concern Hampshire representative this year, scoring the best three stablefords over the six months March to August was John Rusbridge, who joined the Club representatives of Ivan Gentleman and Jane Deans at The Army Golf Club on Thursday 1 September and acquitted himself very well.

Andover Golf Club is largely dependent on volunteers to maintain the course and have received many complements from visitors over the year.

The club welcome new member and also visitors to enjoy both the golf and catering at the club.

For more information e-mail: secretary@andovergolfclub.co.uk.