William Hill, Nigel Wright and Hugo Douglass
2018 was a busy year under the excellent Captaincy of Nick Luddington (Chatham 78) with a larger fixture list of team events, matches and meetings.
Team events: Led by Haydn Brooks (Cobham 04) the team had a close loss to Brighton College in the first round of the Halford Hewitt and did not qualify for the Finals of the Grafton Morrish. Jeremy Scowsill (Temple 76), Ian Bendell (Walpole 87), William Hill (Grenville 75) and Nigel Wright (Chatham 78) came 7th of 15 teams in the Dick Watson Trophy at Aldeburgh – below the high standards set in recent years. Led by Stewart McNair (Grenville 71) Stowe lost a very tight match against Dulwich in the first round of the Cyril Gray (Over 50s) but reached the semi-final of the plate despite a changing team. Stowe also participated in the excellent Midlands Public School Meeting at Little Aston for the first time.
Matches: In addition to playing the School team at Woking, Stowe and Stoke Park there were matches against Haileybury and Canford at Sunningdale, The Templars at Deal, Downside at New Zealand and Aldeburgh Golf Club. The Society won 3, lost 3 and halved 2 of the matches.
Meetings: Northern, Spring, Summer and Autumn Society Meetings were held with overall higher attendances. The performance highlights were Sean Morris (Walpole 87) retaining the Hadfield Salver and Mark Jenkyn Jones (Chatham 87) winning the Saturday Tankard at Formby (Northern Meeting), Peter Simmons (Cobham 69) winning the Memorial Bowl, Hugo Douglass (Chandos 99), the new Nigel Stern Scratch Salver, Josh Wheeler (Walpole 07) the David Foster U30’s Salver and William Hill (Grenville 75) and Nigel Wright (Chatham 81) the foursomes at Woking (Spring Meeting). Chris Luddington (Chatham 78) won the Buchanan Trophy while Jeremy Scowsill (Grenville 76) and William Hill (Grenville 75) retained the foursomes at Aldeburgh (Summer Meeting). Charles Consett (Cobham 96) and Angus Campbell (Cobham 96) beat Neil Gray (Chatham 78) and Nigel Wright (Chatham 78) to retain the Lucas Langley Salvers at Hunstanton (Autumn Meeting) while Tim Maynard (Chatham 79) won both the Scratch Salver and Nigel Chittenden in the singles.
More young golfers wanted: Nearly 70 different Old Stoics played in the 2018 fixtures with a slight increase in under 30’s participating. We want more young players, male and female, of all standards to be involved in the Society and discounts are available to under 30’s for matches and meetings. Roddy Blackburne (Walpole 12) (rblackburne@hotmail.co.uk) is on the Committee with specific responsibility for encouraging more young Old Stoics to take part.
The year ahead: 2019 promises to be an exciting year under new Captain, David Ewbank, with over 20 fixtures including a special ‘Farewell to the Old Course’ meeting at Stowe on Saturday 28th September with Ladies and House Competitions included. The Society continues to work closely with Andrew Hancox, Director of Golf, to develop links between the Society and the School.
Although First Team Captain, Haydn Brooks (Cobham 04) (haydnbrooks@gmail.com) would like to hear from low handicap players for the Halford Hewitt and Grafton Morrish teams, players of all standards and eras, male and female, are welcome at our matches and meetings taking place at some of the best courses in the country.
If anyone wants to know more about the Society look on the Stowe website, visit our Facebook page or contact the Secretary, Peter Simmons pjgsimmons@gmail.com or 07957 141826