JULY 2006
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Dear Members,
The month of July witnessed one of the best Gabriola Men’s Amateurs this Club has experienced. We should thank Ted Caldwell and his committee for an exceptional job. Another article in this edition describes quite well the unravelling of this major event.
The other issue I would like to talk about
is the resignation of our manager
Lori did a magnificent job of bringing back a happy atmosphere to our club house and will be hard to replace. We wish Lori good luck in her future employment and would like to make her feel welcome any time she visits us.
Until we find a replacement for Lori we will be hiring more club house staff as well as having volunteers, board and non-board members, filling the gap. It is our busiest time of the year and any help or suggestion would be appreciated.
We have a new book keeper: Maureen O’Rourke. Maureen is extremely well qualified and will be doing many of the tasks that were done by Lori in her position as book keeper as well as some of the managerial tasks that border on book keeping.
Have a good month of August and enjoy all our coming events.
Andre Lemieux President
Membership Secretary's Report - Marion Alexander
I apologize to Sue McManus and Ron Vanderkruyk for leaving
them off the list of new members in the last Birdie. We welcome
them along with the following who have joined in the last few weeks:
Bob Blair, Franco & Maria Scarfone, Larry & Sharon Errington ,
Brennan Mattes and John Bateson.
The membership count is now up to 270 - Playing -174;
Social- 56; Associate- 16, Honorary - 7 and Junior - 17
We still have several empty upper lockers in the Men's
Locker room and the Board has agreed to allow Social members to rent them,
on the understanding that, if a playing member requests a locker and none
are available, the most recently rented out Social member's locker would
have to be vacated. This is not likely to happen, so if you are
interested in obtaining a locker, please contact me at 247-8288 or marion.is@shaw.ca
Last month I urged members to get involved in the activities of the Club and I want to thank all of them who did just that for the Men's Amateur. We even had people who aren't members working their hearts out to make the tournament the huge success that it was. I have chaired the Amateur in the past, and I have worked on it for about 15 years. This year's was definitely the best one in a long time. Ted and Lois Caldwell, Jim and Ev Simpson and Brian and Min Friebel are just six of the people who went above and beyond the call of duty and the players really appreciated everything that was done for them. I would like to share with you the email I got from Kevin Marsden and Mike Crum. This was the first time they had entered the Amateur and Kevin won the Overall Low Net Championship. Mike is even thinking of moving to Gabriola and joining our club. Hi Marion,
Thank You very much for one of my best experiences
in a tournament. I have never met more enjoyable, accomodating people.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and appreciate everything You and
your volunteers did for us. Also one more question, is there a Gabriola
paper with any write up on the tournament and if so, could you grab
a couple copies for us please? Thanks again Marion, it was a pleasure
and Mike and I feel that we have made quite a few new friends from
Gabriola. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
And once more Thank You. Kevin Marsden and Mike Crum. Thanks Ted for running an excellent Men’s Amateur. I know you didn’t do it alone and hope your legion
of tireless volunteers are given due credit somewhere in the Birdie. I do have
to mention Marshal Dillon (or was that Deputy Festus?) who seemed to take to
his role like duck to water – next year you should give him a 10 gallon hat,
but no six shooter. Thanks John.
Coming Events and Tournaments for August 2006 · Sunday Aug. 6 --- Concert on the green
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Monday Aug. 14, Mid · Wed. Aug. 16, Alberni vs Gabriola in Zone 6 ladies · Sunday Aug. 20 --- Gabriola Ladies Open · Monday Aug. 21 --- Cotton Wood vs Gabriola, ladies club exchange · Wednesday Aug. 23 --- Junior Championship
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Monday Aug. 28, --- Past Presidents’ Tournament
Another
Gabriola Men’s Amateur has come and gone and by all accounts this was
one of the most successful ever in terms of absolutely everything. The sun shone, the players said they had fun,
the food was delicious. And it was almost glitch-less. Where would we be without a little glitch here
and there to make life interesting?
The
horse race on Friday was great fun and won by that awesome twosome of
Dan Foley and John Church. The
Meet The Players buffet set the standard for the three days of gourmet
meals. Under the baton of our very sociable social
director, Carrol Craig, who has informed us that the secret to her success
is having fun with her team – please define ‘fun’, Carrol; if it means
gallons of wine as cooks’ perks, may I join the team?
Saturday
was a gorgeous day. As the players
rounded the first nine holes they all raved about the condition of the
course. Never have they seen
it so manicured. Of course, there
were also those who raved about certain pin placements.
Craig and his crew were formidable and put in loads of extra
hours ensuring that the fairways and greens were better than they have
ever been. Way to go Craig! And
then there was the delicious Saturday night dinner!
And how about that Lots
of fun was had by all. Take a
guess how much money the bar made. Sunday
was another gorgeous day – am I repeating myself?
Players finished weary yet satisfied and said they thoroughly
enjoyed themselves regardless of the scores that were submitted. The expectation of the Sunday night dinner did
not disappoint. The best yet. I hope everybody checked out that prize table!
Too bad, Andre. Maybe next year.
As
we all know our local hero, Curtis Smith, won for the third time – he
came up through the Gabriola junior ranks don’t you know! And he doesn’t
even practise! Kevin Marsden, a wonderful first-time competitor
from This
saga would be incomplete without acknowledging
the masterful management of the maestro Ted Caldwell and the seriously
superior organizational skills of Marion Alexander. What an incredible duo who between them ensured
smooth sailing – actually, smooth golfing. How about next year? The
manager, Lori Mathews, and her team were wonderful. They managed to stay smiling, good natured and friendly
throughout the fracas which surrounds a golf tournament with all its
extra work. Great marshalling John Downer!
You were the man of the moment but speed ‘em up next time. Lastly,
but definitely not least of all, all the other volunteers too numerous
to mention. Without you there would be no tournament. You
come out, year after year after year after year. We cannot do without you. The Gabriola Golf and Country Club sincerely
thanks you.
High season at the Club and wouldn't you know?? Two
key staff people move on to other opportunities leaving us short a Bookkeeper,
a Manager and a staff person. We all miss Lori and Sandra, but wish them
luck in their new jobs.
Stepping up to the plate we have a team of
awesome volunteers under the direction of Bev Bickerton!! Barb G., Ev W., Carrol C., Carole L.,Doreen, Ev S., Miranda and all the
other members who are working so hard to make sure the work gets done
and the customers kept happy.
If you notice lots of trainees behind the counter
please be patient and give them your support, they are all learning the
procedures and doing their very best to fill in until we can recruit and
train new staff. Remember they are volunteers!!
The good news is we've hired Maureen O'Rourke
to take care of the books and are in the process of receiving applicants
to fill the other two vacancies. Much appreciation to Kim and Tara who are holding down the fort, and doing a great job!!
Looks as though July was a very busy month
for the Club - Lets hope the weather
holds out for another month or two. I'm off my crutches and
back on two legs and dying to get out there and finish the game a
I started back in June!!
See you out there soon!
Molly Henney
Social Committee Report July 30/06 Birdie Our Club is really benefiting from the great weather with attendance at
all functions improving. The Men’s Amateur was a huge success and the meals provided by the Social
Committee and the Club were all above standard. We are now making plans for September 23 – a possible Silver Anniversary
Revisited and October 28 a Halloween Party so mark your calendars and
we hope the see lots of members at both functions. Keep Swinging! Carrol Craig, Social Director Birdie produced by Lyn Clarke |
