LADIES SUB COMMITTEE REPORT

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 7^th 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 3^rd, 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 4^th 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.