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.