What a day!!

Great weather, great support from the members, some great results and most importantly, we both managed to make contact with the ball using the traditional hickory shafted club!

We had a really good round with lots of fun and some good golf too, big thanks to Vice Captains Sue and Graham for helping make it a very enjoyable round. It should be noted that the ladies played so well, they both had 5 drives each.??

Congratulations

Well done to the winners of the Perry Cup, Steve Houlston, Anne Marie Stott, Martin Lester and Mike Reid who won with a fantastic score of 64.7 no mean feat with the men having to play from the white tees for the first time this season. The wind certainly turned the 11th into an unofficial par 5 from the white tee.
Well done too, to the winners of the various other activities on the day:
• Putting Competition – Mike Reid (again??)
• Nearest to the captains drives – Steve Rigby and Cliff Morgan (Cliff - we have your prize!)
• TaylorMade Qi 10 Driver auction – Edwin Jones
• Masters Painting auction – Neil Parry
• Warrington Golf Club 4 ball auction – Mark Hargreaves
• Carden Park Golf Club 4 ball auction – Mr President, Rob Williams
• VIP Parking space raffle – Pat Roper

Sincere thanks from both of us.

The day could not have gone so well without the fantastic support of our wonderful members who not only turned up in their numbers to make it a great event but also made a fantastic contribution towards our Captains’ Charity, Age UK Cheshire with some very generous donations and bids.

Steve Houlston and Sue Groves for setting the competition up and making a very balanced draw which saw all teams have the same combined handicap. Also for collating the scores at the end so we could determine the winners.

All the ladies (Daphne Earl, Susan and Andrea Alexander, Sharon Tidd, Val Hughes and a few additional helpers) for selling/folding the raffle tickets for the numerous prizes mainly donated by the members.

Vice Captain, Graham Garner Jones for running the putting competition, especially for eventually persuading Mike Reid to have a go. As the very last competitor to take part, Mike duly hit the target with all 3 balls to win the prize. He should have known at that point it was going to be his day.??

Lady Vice Captain, Sue Wall who did a fantastic job in obtaining a further 72 entries for the TaylorMade driver on the day. A tremendous result, mainly achieved through harassment and bribery. (Sue’s own words).????

Anne-Marie Stott (another member of the winning team??) who kindly provided the delicious half time pies and pasties supplemented by some sausage rolls donated to Lady Captain by Greggs.

Jamie Anton, National Golf Director of Macdonald Hotel Group for kindly donating the TaylorMade driver and 4 ball vouchers for auction to raise funds for our charity.

Mr IPP, Neil Tidd for donating the Masters painting on the weekend leading into the Masters.

Mr IPC, Steve Sambell and Lady IPC, Susan Alexander for giving us such a warm welcome on the “Drive In” tee. You may not be aware but the captains are not allowed to touch the hickory driver until they are on the tee. Steve’s job was to take the driver out of it’s presentation case in the clubhouse and make sure none of the captains had the chance to have a sneaky practice beforehand. He succeeded.??

Donna, Emma, Ben and Jane for serving everyone with their drinks as they came in and putting on the meal for those that stayed.

Mark Williams (Member) who kindly donated the water, crisps and chocolate rolls on the day as well as several bottles of Prosecco, Rum etc. for the raffle.

All the members who donated a raffle prize, very much appreciated.
Captain’s wife and daughter in law (Sandra and Laura) and Sommy Wright’s wife and daughter (Pamela and Amy) for providing the on course drinks service. We may need to arrange some training in how to pour measures next time as Lady Vice Captain, Sue is convinced she had 2 “pints of wine”. It should be said that both the Lady Captain and Lady Vice Captain spent quite a lot of time on the back nine saying, “where are the buggies? I need more wine”.????

Barry, Rob and the rest of the green keeping team who had the course in fantastic shape, it was a real pleasure to play and it has to be said that the white tee positions combined with most of the flags being at the back of the greens meant the course played as long as possible for the men and played its part in ensuring no team came in with a score in the fifties.

Ian Ridgley, Competitions and Handicap Secretary for providing the PA system for the presentation and all round assistance including helping Graham with the putting competition.

We’ve saved the biggest thank you to the end. The man in whose honour the competition is played each year, our first ever Captain, first ever President and one of the pillars of our club, Mr Gil Perry. An excellent presentation recognising the current members and remembering some great members of the past. A true gentleman and a very good golfer too. Thanks Gil.??

Charity Donations

Seeing everyone participate and enjoy themselves on the day was fantastic for us as captains and ensured that we had a day to remember on one of the biggest days of our captains’ year, however our amazing members, including some who were unable to attend on the day, took the day to a whole new level through their participation in the various competitions, raffles, auctions and general donations by raising an eye watering £2901 for Age UK Cheshire.

We are both extremely grateful to everyone who helped to raise this fantastic amount of money for a great cause, it really is much appreciated and reinforces what a great membership we have at Portal Golf Club.

Massive thanks to all,

Your Captains,

Davie and Amy

At our AGM in January, Jamie Anton, National Golf Director for the Macdonald Hotel Group complimented our members on the passion and support they have for the golf club and that passion and support was out in full force at our Quiz Night last Saturday.

107 members and their guests turned out to support Quiz Master, Pat Roper and the captains in raising the fantastic sum of £1205.35 for this year’s captains charity, Age UK, Cheshire.

As ever, Pat did a fantastic job putting everyone to the test on a number of different subject areas (who knew there were penguins in Africa?) and the captains would like to express their sincere thanks to Pat, not only for doing such a great job on the night but also for all the great work he puts in to help raise funds for the various charities chosen by the captains each year.

A massive thank you goes out to all members and their guests who attended on the evening and the generosity demonstrated on the night for such a worthwhile cause. Big thanks too, to those who were unable to attend and made their own separate donations, every contribution is very much appreciated.

Pat’s voice was saved this year by the use of a PA system generously provided by our Competitions and Handicap secretary, Ian Ridgley, also much appreciated.

As well as the quiz, we had a couple of games on the night, (Play Your Cards Right and Heads or Tails) both of which went very well and were superbly supported by the members and guests, all of whom seemed to have a really good night as the wine and other refreshments flowed.

A couple of key take aways from the night are that the Captain is extremely relieved that Shakin Stevens did not have the biggest selling single of the 80s and Lady Captain could do with a few lessons in coin tossing. Those in attendance will no doubt agree on both counts. 😂😂😂

The service and support provided by the Macdonald team on the night was excellent and contributed to a great night being had by all.

Looking forward to the next event already,

Your Captains,

Davie and Amy
(Captain & Lady Captain)

Message from the Captains for 2025

As many of you know we were “sworn in” as Captains at the AGM on Monday 20th January, the same day as Donald J Trump was sworn in as the President of the United States although we didn’t seem to get the same news coverage. I think that is probably due to Melania’s hat stealing the show.

We’ve included our photos for the benefit of those members that don’t know us so please feel free to say hello if you see us around the club, we would like to get to know as many members of possible during the year and as we now have c670 members we are all too aware we only actually know a few of you personally as it stands.

As captains for 2025, we aim to help maintain the great atmosphere we have at the club and ensure it is a place where members and visitors can have fun, make new friends and have an all round enjoyable experience. If you are lucky you might even play some good golf too, although I think we all know that only happens occasionally.

To support us, we both have committees in place to assist with handicaps, running competitions and generally liaising with Macdonald’s on matters relating to the courses, clubhouse and pro shops so please feel free to check the club website if you have any questions, where you will find details of the person who can assist you and of course if you need our assistance we are both happy to hear from you at any time and our details are available on the Club V1 Members Hub App.

Captains’ Charity

As part of our role as captains, we are able to nominate a charity partner to raise funds for throughout the year. We have chosen Age UK Cheshire. This is a charity we have first hand experience of and they do a fantastic job.

• Age UK Cheshire is a local charity, with their own Board of Trustees made up of local people, responsible for sourcing all the funding for their work locally.
• Age UK Cheshire work with older people in Cheshire, focussing on three key areas: relieving loneliness, combatting poverty, and increasing independence.
• In a practical sense this means that they deliver services that include an information and advice helpline, a befriending service, support at home, a dementia activity group, a schedule of coach trips, care sourcing, and support with discharge from hospital. All of these activities are only delivered to people within Cheshire.

Any Funds raised from Portal golf club, will be put specifically towards the dementia support group, and the befriending service.

Our chosen bunker this year for the Captains’ Charity is the left hand green side bunker on the Premier 3rd hole. The cost will be £2 each time you enter the bunker. Alternatively we are happy to agree a one time donation of £20 which would allow you to go into the bunker as many times as you like for a fixed cost.

Upcoming Events

We will write to you with updates periodically throughout the year however we’d like to remind you of a few key dates for your diary.

Firstly, we have our annual quiz hosted by the inimitable Pat Roper (Past Captain and President) who entertained 126 of us last year split into 12 teams, raising a significant some of money towards the Captains’ Charity. Hopefully this year he’ll make the questions a bit easier.

The Quiz will take place on Saturday 8th March and details will be sent out separately later this week.

Our Captains’ Drive In will take place on Saturday 5th April, this is the first tournament of the summer season and is called The Perry Cup, named after the first Captain and President of the club (Gil Perry) who still plays regularly and presents the trophy to the winning team. It’s a great day and you will no doubt have a laugh at our attempts to hit a drive off the 11th tee with an antique hickory shafted driver, something neither of us is relishing.

The men’s and ladies Founder’s Trophy competitions both take place on Sunday 27th April and is our first major trophy of the season, so definitely one to look out for.

There are of course weekend and midweek competitions most weeks, so hopefully we’ll see you out on the course in the near future.

Wishing you all a happy and enjoyable year’s golfing,

Davie Thompson and Amy Lester
(Captain & Lady Captain)

The AGM was held on Monday 20th January at the Premier Clubhouse where Incoming Captains (Amy Lester and Davie Thompson) took over the baton from retiring Captains (Susan Alexander and Steve Sambell).

After his 3 year term as President, Neil Tidd also handed over the Presidents Gavel to incoming President Rob Williams.

The meeting was attended by 55 members, Macdonalds Management and special guests Mike Ridley and Angela Slack who were representing St Lukes Cheshire Hospice to accept a cheque from the retiring Captains for £33,025.