President:

President Donald welcomed all of us to the February event of the 2020 season at Rossdale Golf Club and the stableford competition for the Royce Hollingsworth Trophy. On what started with heavy rainfall but finished up as a very pleasant morning, the course was in excellent condition. The fact that maintenance work was being done on the greens as the Vets played their golf was hardly ideal, no doubt a situation that will not be tolerated in the future as the Club grows from strength to strength. He asked all present to thank the club for the use of their facilities, and their generous donation of our main raffle prize, a voucher for a round of golf for 4 players at Rossdale GC. Thanks were expressed to John Currie for his sterling work behind the scenes, organising the event. Thanks JC!

Donald also advised the members that the 2020 AGM would follow today's competition prizegiving.

Under the stewardship of Daryl Edwards and John Hiscock our raffle continues to be a significant and successful source of club funds. These funds are used directly to keep our matchday costs competitive (green fees, lunch) so please continue your support.

Please note that the proceeds from today's raffle will be donated directly to a local organisation bypassing the overheads of charities or specialist bushfire appeals. It was revealed that our Members generously contributed a massive $920 today to the appeal. Well done everyone!!

Our incoming President, Roger Selwood will update the members at our next event at Waterford Valley GC in March, as to how the funds were distributed. A special thanks goes to Daryl Edwards and John Hiscock for their magnificent work in promoting the idea in the first place, then carrying out the raffle on the day. Well done guys!

Number of Players / Guests:

We had an excellent turnout today which amounted to record figures for the Vets at Rossdale GC. We had 75 players involved in the competition even though there were 17 apologies. We had 6 guests today;

Bernie Herbert guest of Laurie Comerford; Robin Bray guest of Roger Huxstep; Allen McAuliffe guest of Ray Desmond; Craig Fitchet guest of Ray Desmond; John Matthews guest of Ian Cornish and Peter Rodwell guest of Peter Garbellini.

Our sponsor, Innes Ireland from House of Golf, Mentone also joined us as a guest today. Innes continues to provide valuable support to the Vets with prizes of various forms. If you need some golf supplies, go and see Innes at HoG Moorabbin.
Most of the guests joined the Club today which is terrific news. Welcome to you all, may you enjoy many years as members of the Vets. As is our custom, each guest received a golf ball.

We were also approached by a gentleman called Geoff Leverton, who is a member at Rossdale GC and who told us that he is very interested in joining the Vets to play at other courses. Jeff Taylor provided him with an application form and we will await the outcome.

Apologies:

There were 17 apologies noted for this month:
Alan Baker, Hans Bleeker, Rex Buckeridge, Bernie Coyle, John Field, Philip Horsburgh, Tess Killmister, John Killmister, Karl Lindberg, Chris Macgeorge, Alan Millard, Faye Quennell, Ian Richards, Warren Stahel, Jeff Stevens, Malcolm Turner & Ross Wilson.

Starters today:

The members thanked Roger Selwood, Harold Hayes, Christopher Thorne, John Currie and Darryl Edwards who got us all away in good time. This was done despite having what was essentially a 2-tee start (not shotgun) Excellent work guys! My thanks to the members for their patience during today's round.

A reminder of the need for all competitors to arrive at the host club and be ready to play golf at the stipulated time. Late arrivals cause unnecessary difficulty for the starters. We ask the starters to get the groups away in the least possible time to ensure another cause of "slow-play" is removed. A lot of planning work goes into making sure groups are optimally selected for matchday. Please do your part by being on time!! Starting times are clearly indicated in the Captain's email which is circulated to all members a day or two before the event.

Please take pride in your club and always ensure that you "keep up with the group in front of you". Keep your buggy near you, park it so you are not walking backwards to it. Play your shot before joining a search party for a colleagues ball.

As previously mentioned, we cannot proceed without volunteers to run these events every month, so please consider helping out as a starter, as it is a bit of fun and you will get to know so many more members of the club. Please help your Club.

Membership News.

Donald informed the members that Ken Pride, a longstanding member of the Vets has resigned from the club after many years. Donald wrote to Ken wishing him a happy and healthy life in the years to come. Ken reached his 80th year recently.

Our next event is on Monday 2nd March, 2020 at Waterford Valley GC at 7.15am for the Thord Lorich trophy.

President Donald informed the members that the annual subscription fees ($30 confirmed at the AGM) are due by the end of March 2020. If you need some assistance to pay by EFT, (e.g it is important that you put your name in as your EFT reference to help David identify the payment), you can contact David Vine (Treasurer) by phone or email (see members contact database on our website). If you want to pay cash, please do so on Monday 2nd March at Waterford Valley GC. 

CoM Business:

There was no Commmittee meeting this month.

Special Achievements:

In the past month or so these achievements were noted;

• Peter Sloan won at Cheltenham GC on 14 Jan with a total of 42 S/ford points off a h/cap of 27. Congratulations Peter! Well played.
• Another win for Laurie Comerford down at Patterson River GC on Jan 27th. Laurie won 'A' grade with a score of +3 off a 16 h/cap. That's top golf Laurie! Well done.
• Beverly Jenkin has won a golf trip to Las Vegas to play in the final of the "Taylor-Made Order of Merit" tournament from Feb 23rd onwards. Beverly will also represent Australia in a match against the USA in the "Australian Digest" tournament. Magnificent achievement Beverly! We look forward to hearing how the golf turned out. We wish you the very best of luck in Vegas!

We look forward to hearing of more success on the golf course in the coming weeks.

Vets Web Site :

The website continues to underpin the smooth operation of our great Club. About the website, if you have any ideas or queries, please contact Laurie Comerford (Webmaster) by email (details on the members database).

While we have had some response from members offering to assist with the Web site, we still need more. There must be a reserve of members with at least one of the several skills required for the web site. Most of the skills in their own right are quite simple and Laurie will assist and train as needed.

Question time :

There being no member's questions, President Donald then handed over to our Captain, Harold Hayes.