Riverside Ladies Sub-Committee Annual Report 2019
My name is Annie Drennan and I’m
pleased to present the Ladies Sub-committee report for 2019.
Golfing first - Our numbers have remained fairly steady. Where we
have lost a member, we have gained another. Our Saturday comp has struggled at
times, with injuries, travelling, work commitments etc, but we will try to work
through a few ideas to get those numbers up again.
We have had a very successful
year of golfing. Congratulations to our two Matchplay winners – Helen Gleeson (Wednesday) and Dorinda Davis
(Saturday), after hard fought games. Thank you to the Executive Committee for
organising various mixed days throughout the year. Leigh Mann and and Jan Hayes easily won the Joan and Jim McCallum Memorial Day, and
Jacquie Wrennall was the Ladies Country
Champion, decided at the annual mixed trip away, held at Rich River this
year.
We entered two teams in VGL Pennant this year – Div 1 and Div
8. Div 8 had some good games but didn’t quite make the finals. Division 1
team played Ringwood in the final held at Werribee against Ringwood. We had a
fabulous support crew to see them get over the line and bring home the flag. Go
them! It was so exciting and the celebrations continued back at the club rooms.
Never did find the donger from our bell after that!
We played our 7th year
of North West Intra Club. It is a
great way of playing new courses as well as introducing newer members to the
game of Matchplay, in preparation for the pennant season. We came 3rd, after playing
Whittlesea, Goonawarra and Northern. Thank you to Jan for organising this.
Riverside continued to be well
represented at the VGL events, enjoying new courses and meeting new people. We
often outnumber the rest of the field in such events, and are renowned for
being competitive and good sports. We don’t always bring home the Bowl, but we
always have fun. We have had representatives at too many courses to name eg
Kyneton, Bacchus Marsh, Trentham, Werribee, Portarlington, Box Hill...as I
said, too many to mention. We are keen travellers. Good luck to Jan Hayes who
is our representative in the Champion of
Championships will be played on Monday at Waterford Valley, and Dorrie
Jacobs who is our representative in our 4th VGL Silver Spoon event next Monday, at Keysborough.
I’m not going to read the list all the major trophy winners, as they
will be mentioned at the presentation during our dinner –but congratulations to
them all. When I grow up, I’m going to be on the list!
Then there’s our social events...our Charity Day is our most important event on our social calendar. Our
guests from far and wide always respond so well to this day, fully supporting
the Ascot Vale Special School. Our community is so generous and giving, it
always blows me away. We have spinning wheels, spot prizes, auctions, raffles,
games...you name it , we have it. Our local sponsors are so generous, and
having the Bendigo Bank on board this year was a big bonus. Part of the success
is down to the participation of the kids from the Ascot Vale Special School.
They help prepare and serve our lunch on the day and the wonderful auctioneers
from Nelson and Alexander, also involve the kids in part of the auction. It all
makes for a wonderful day and we were thrilled to present the AVSS with a
substantial cheque. They are extremely grateful for our commitment and support.
We also have our annual Ladies
trip away for a few days golfing. This year over 40 ladies played golf (and
partied a little) in Shepparton, organised by Kaye, Liz and Bernie. We always
enjoy the golf at a challenging course and then celebrating or commiserating
afterwards. Other clubs are envious of our annual trip.
Last month the Wednesday Veterans
Group hosted their annual day at Trentham, where we join them for golf and
lunch. We then reciprocate by catering for the Vets at both their Easter and
Christmas presentations. Win-win!
Our Monday social competition continued throughout 2019, run by Carrie
Borg and is as popular as ever, with a lovely relaxed catch up in the cafe
upstairs afterwards. Val and Hazel
organised and ran our Picnic Par Comp
on a Wednesday over the summer break, and it was a big hit socially and golf
wise. Someone wins a bottle of bubbles each week, so there’s the added
incentive to play! Summer Cup is
another well-supported comp that runs over 12 weeks of summer. It can be played
any time on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday to allow maximum number of
participants.
I believe social competitions
such as these help us remain a healthy club. We are run by volunteers and so we
all need a break. Our Pro shop can’t take over in the summer months as they do
in some clubs. Ladies stepping up and running these competitions helps both our
golf and our social cohesion. They are self funded - we pay a nominal amount to
enter – so they are not a drain on the club. And they’re fun! We run a weekly
Lucky Number in which the winner gets half the proceeds and the club gets half.
We use our ‘Swear Jar’ and ‘second hand book swap for a gold coin’ proceeds to
pay for special things such as flowers, cards, food for the pennant finals
after party etc...all of which takes the burden off the club to fund such
things. And it adds to the fun!
Finally, thank you Chris
Stephens, who helped make my transition to President reasonably easy. She was a hard act to follow. Thank you also to
the COM for all their hard work throughout the year. It’s often a thankless
task, but we do appreciate it. Thank you Lynne and Marina, who work their butts
off and still come up smiling; Bernie our handicapper, who does a wonderful job
coping with the many challenges of a handicapper, Kath who has the arduous and
often complex job of being our secretary; and to all the hardworking Ladies
Sub-Committee who have put up with me ‘finding my feet’, though I still can’t
find them half the time. It is so good knowing I can rely on them to work hard,
come up with fabulous ideas, support each other and anyone else who needs it.
I think it has been a very
successful year on and off the golf course for our ladies. There have been
challenges, and there always will be, but I think it is one of the best bunch
of ladies I could hope to work and play with.
