Winter League – Round 7 of 8

Strong winds with high-speed gusts, although only little of the anticipated rainy conditions. Thankfully, temperatures, in comparison to previous weeks, were almost tropical!

No one achieved the ‘keep a 6 off your card’ this week, but Tommy Lawless and Mark Pickles managed to limit the damage to just one 6 (and nothing worse). Well done guys, considering the conditions.

A field of 36 runners, 18 players from Division 1 and 18 players from Division 2.

Zero 2s recorded today, Steve Gosling is once again a happy chappie.

Last week I mentioned the return of the Friday Wine Club. When I collected the cards this week, four-and-a-half-hours after the last group teed off, they were still seen to be consuming copious amounts of red wine in the clubhouse, and their cards were no where to be seen!

Division 1 Results
Winner – John White with 27pts on a CPO
R/up – Trevor Williamson with 27pts
3rd – Arthur Nuttall with 26pts on a CPO

Division 2 Results
Winner – John Booth with 26pts on a CPO
R/up – Dave Craggs with 26pts on a CPO
3rd – Steve Bramall with 26pts

Paddy Moran enjoys a lead in the 1st division of 8 pts from Michael John, and Jeff Chapman tops the 2nd division also with has an 8pt lead over; Bob Ellison, Dave Craggs and Steve Bramall.

As last week, nine cards were marked incorrectly. Put down the gross score on each hole, of the persons card you are marking, under the ‘A’ column, add the stableford points scored under the ‘Points’ column, nothing more, nothing less, add your own score under the ‘Marker’s Score’ column, sign the card, and that’s it. Nothing else. No net scores, no scores in the ‘B’, ‘C’ or ‘D’ columns and no Stableford points anywhere else except the ‘Points’ column. Thank you.

Happy Mondays – 24 Feb

Reporter: Peter Willson

A fine day, slightly chilly at first but only light winds, however muddy underfoot after some fairly heavy rain overnight Sunday. It stayed dry and we even had a glimpse of the sun!

Game: Team Stableford

6 teams of 3 – 18 players  – played over 15 holes 

Winners:
Grahame Brickell, Peter Willson and Steve Chalcraft (a new recruit to the Seniors) – 32.7 points per player.

Second:
Steve Barlow, Paul Collins and John White – 31 ppp

Tee-booking schedule for tomorrow (Thursday 27 Feb)

Course closed for maintenance from Monday March 17th until Wednesday 19th

No need for Happy Mondays tee-booking this coming Sunday, due to the course being closed on Monday 17th.

Nutty’s Notables

Thank you again to Arthur for his continuing contributions to the newsletter, as he works his way around the senior section to unveil the personal histories of our notable members, i.e. every one of us who is happy to reveal some personal history previous to joining the remarkable fraternity of LGC Seniors!

This week:

“It’s a Kind of Bandit…” 

Reporter: Arthur Nuttall

Born in Solihull, Warwickshire, Steve Barlow moved to Bowdon at the age of 8, when his Dad moved jobs. Steve started playing golf at age of 10, mainly because one of his neighbours was the tour pro Dave Thomas (Wikipedia), who encouraged Steve to give it a go. 

Steve joined Mere GC, but when it burned down in 1970, he joined Ringway. He played there until his mid 30s, but then gave it a rest until into his mid 60s. He was more committed to tennis, playing for over 50 continuous years. He was a member of Hale Lawn Tennis Club, playing on their teams for several years and winning many club trophies.

Always passionate about music, Steve used to go to the Free Trade Hall and other Manchester venues at least three times a week in the 1970s, seeing such bands as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Faces, and The Rolling Stones etc. Believe it or not, they were £1.25 for the front row in those days. He has kept the tickets as proof! He saw the opening night of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust Tour” at the Hard Rock in November 1972, and Mott The Hoople in 1973, where the support band were an unknown group called Queen. His mates at the time said he looked like the lead singer, a guy called Freddie Mercury.

Steve played in bands in his teens and even got signed to a major record label, but, alas, never quite made it through to the big time. However, he worked for record and management companies throughout his career and met a lot of interesting characters, from Elton John to Jedward (remember them?) and numerous celebs in between.

In 1996, Steve was asked to start up a new Music College in Manchester, called Access to Music. They are a national music college and the largest provider of music education in England. They started with 36 students at The Bee Hive Mill in Ancoats and when he retired, they had 450 students, studying not only music, but also media and gaming. Steve passed his knowledge onto individuals who would become famous, including Ed Sheeran, Jess Glynne and Rita Ora. He says that it was a privilege to teach, and to see students go on to make a success of their life.

When Steve eventually retired, he decided to take up golf again, joining Lymm GC in 2022. He joined our Senior Section, where he was given the nickname “Bandit Barlow” during his first year. He claims he still doesn’t know why! 

[ Editor’s Note: He knows why! 😉 ]

Nowadays, during time away from golf, Steve is a TV/Film extra, which he loves doing. He has worked on productions such as Coronation Street, big Netflix costume dramas, crime dramas such as Ridley, and Sexy Beast and comedies such as Brassic and The Power of Parker.

Newsletter Editor: Mark Pickles