AND SO IT BEGINS.

Once again the troops head down to sunny Kent, RCPGC, to compete in one of the most prestigious golf tournaments organised by the Public Schools Golfing Society.  This is hot off the heals of having played at the Brent Knoll Bowl over the previous weekend!

This year’s team consisted of:  Pete Whalley (C), Richard Willacy, Andrew Ford, Dave Higginson, Ed Bradnock, Gary Hector, Phil Stickler, Greg Whalley, Henry Lee and Patrick Lee (welcome back).

The draw took place at the East India Sports Club and Taunton were drawn to play Felsted in the 1st round.  According to the statistics the match was looking to be close one.

However, before the main competition started we had two fabulous practice days at Deal on both the Tuesday and Wednesday.  Unbelievably the rain stayed away although the wind and cold surprised us on the Wednesday and Thursday.

Other than that we could not have wished for glorious sunny weather, normally a rare occurrence.

So 1st round against Felsted, pairings were:  Richard W & Greg W, Pete W & Dave H, Phil S & G Hector, Ed B & Andy F, Patrick L & Henry L.  Unfortunately Felsted had the upper hand and beat us 3 1/2 – 1 1/2, Gary & Phil won, Pete & Dave agreed a half and the other three pairs all lost their games.  Next stop the plate on Friday.

Unfortunately, for the plate we have to reduce the team from 5 pairs to 3 pairs.  Tough decision for the Captain.  So first round of the plate was to be Gary & Phil, Richard & Greg and Pete & Dave against Downside in the morning.  Taunton won 2 1/2 – 1/2.  Second round that afternoon against Highgate saw the Lee twins with Andy replacing Richard, Pete and Dave.  Taunton won 3 – 0.  Excellent!

Saturday we only had one game to play and it was against our old friends Ampleforth whom we knocked out in the 1st round of the main competition in 2022.  The team this time was Gary & Phil, Richard & Pete and Greg & Andy.  What a game!  Taunton capture the win again 2 – 1 to proceed to the Semi-Finals against Eton and back to Deal on Sunday morning.

Another glorious day on Sunday.

Pairings slightly juggled again with Gary & Phil, Richard & Pete and Greg & Ed to do battle with Eton.  Unfortunately, when you get to Sunday you’ve played a lot of golf and the body gets weary!  Alas we didn’t perform as well on Sunday as the previous days and lost 2 – 1 to Eton.  However, what a great run for the team and Taunton.

A huge thank you goes to our team captain, Pete W, who organised all the accommodation and team selection.  Also to the purveyors of take-away food over the week!  To the whole team for sticking around for the whole week, it’s a tough call not to be selected when numbers have to be culled but the support and encouragement goes a long way.   Well played Gary and Phil who retained a 100% win record over the two competitions, BNB and HH!

ROLL-ON NEXT YEAR!!

We have been blessed with some wonderful golfing weather this April 2025.  It was once again a glorious day at T&P Golf Club where the OTGS, pupils from TS and masters gathered to play for cups and the annual match against the school.

The results were as follows: Thone Cup 1st Simon Nicholson 34pts, 2nd Lee Corfield 30pts (on back 9), 3rd Terry Davidge 30 pts (on back 6) .

The OTs won the match versus the School for the second year in a row with an average of 27.8 pts against the Schools average of 25.3 pts.

Bertie Bilson (Yr9, old 3rd Form) won the GB Salver for the pupils competition with 27 pts.

This year’s BNB was looking promising with some excellent weather.   The team this year under Pete’s captaincy was:

Pete Whalley, Tim Blood, Phil Stickler, Gary Hector, Mark Banham and Richard Willacy.

Pete, Tim, Richard and Mark went down for the practice round on Friday only to be joined by Andy Ford (for practice only) and Gary (because the weather was soooo good).

1st round was drawn against the Warwickshire Bears (tough ex county players).   Unfortunately Taunton lost a close 1st round by 2-1.  Pairings were:  Richard W & Mark B (Lost), Gary H & Phil S (Won), Pete W & Tim Blood (Lost)

1st round (Plate competition) we were up against the Royal Navy, same team pairings, which we won 2-1.  A great win.  Gary & Phil won, Tim & Pete won, Richard & Mark lost.

Semi-Finals (Plate competition) we were up against Epsom.  Same team pairings as Saturday but unfortunately Epsom beat us 2-1.  Once again Phil and Gary won their match to retain a 100% win record over the weekend.

Fantastic weekend, well organised and captained Pete.  As per last year the BNB proceeded the Halford Hewitt leaving only Monday to re-group before heading down to sunny Kent!

Another great day at Swinley and huge thanks to David M for organising and indeed sponsoring the event.   Many complimentary comments have been received confirming  the players greatly enjoyed the day.  The weather was not unkind and the course was in  excellent condition given the time of the year.  The greens were fast!

Results in the morning, Individual Stableford (Fairwater Cup),
1st      – Phil Stickler 39 Pts (2 Under par!)
2nd    – Rob Mazur 34 Pts

Afternoon, Greensomes,
1st      – George Hallas & Kieren Ratcliffe  39 Pts
2nd    – Rob Denman & Gavin Krombas 38 Pts (Count-back)
3rd     – Mark Hallas & James Gilchrist 38 Pts

Having successfully negotiated the qualifying stage at Worplesdon GC back in May, we found ourselves at the Finals up in Norfolk for the second consecutive year, held at two beautiful links golf courses, Hunstanton and Royal West Norfolk (aka Brancaster).

A bye in to the 2nd round saw us drawn at Hunstanton on Friday 27th September against Brentwood.  The team assembled for a practice round on Thursday to be greeted with a weather warning of strong winds and rain and even a tornado warning going into Thursday night and Friday morning.

Thankfully by Friday morning the rain had subsided, however the strong winds certainly hadn’t, a chilly North Easterly blowing at 50mph from off the North Sea, it was going to make for a challenging day on the links!

The team and pairings were:
Greg Whalley & Phil Stickler
Simon Hewett-Avison & Mark Banham
Tim Blood & Pete Whalley

It was fantastic to have three Grafton Morrish debutants on board in Simon, Mark and Tim.  A welcome return of Simon to the Scratch Team after an 18-year hiatus due to an injury, but great to have him back on board.

The course was presented in stunning order however the wind did make the conditions almost unplayable with balls rolling away on the greens and even balls being blown off tee pegs.

Unfortunately, the strength of Brentwood’s team prevailed.  We were hoping the weather would be a good leveller, but Brentwood’s side made up of scratch golfers managed the conditions in a more superior fashion to ourselves.  We lost 2.5 to 0.5, with Greg & Phil losing 6&5, Tim & Pete losing 5&4, but a very impressive half by Simon and Mark, having never been down in their match.

Despite the disappointment of losing, it did mean we had the chance to play Brancaster on the Saturday in what turned out to be perfect golfing conditions.  A complete contrast to Friday with sunshine, blue skies and a light breeze.  Links golf doesn’t get much better.

A fantastic few days and very well done to all involved, with a special thanks to our ‘Team Chef’ Greg, who fed and watered us handsomely over the few days.  One thing Greg can attest to, they might have fantastic golf courses in Norfolk, but they’re not quite ready for the electric car revolution.  I think he made it home eventually!

This year’s Cyril Gray took place again at the end of June 25 – 28.
Once again the sun shone and the course was in great condition.  Our first round was against Wellingborough, last year’s runner up, and Taunton had a great first round winning 2-1.   In the 2nd round Taunton were facing Liverpool and unfortunately we didn’t play as well as the first round and lost 2.5 – 0.5.

Captain’s Closing Message:
Many thanks to all for participating over the past couple of days. A slightly disappointing outcome against Liverpool yesterday but one match still live on the 20th when the match point was lost by another on 19th is real progress. Congrats to Pykey and Tim for remaining unbeaten in this year’s event and banking 1 1/2 points. Congrats to John G whose trajectory in his first four matches ( 8/7 loss, 7/6 loss, 2/1 loss, loss on 19th) is showing real improvement! Thanks to Richard for flying over from Menorca with a dodgy back and to Martin for being part of the team. Thanks to Neil R and Andy H for being in reserve and and Neil actually coming down on Wednesday and being prepared to interrupt his lunch if needed on Thursday. Great team spirit. 

Team:
David Morgan, Richard Willacy, Tim Blood,  Matthew Pyke, John Groombridge, Martin Knight.

Reserves: Neil Robertson, Andy Horne

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