FOR many years, Thorpe Hall men have traditionally had men members, serving drinks and snacks to the players on Captains Day, as they go round the course.

The advantages of having a successful restaurateur as Captain was like a breath of fresh air.

The Lady Captain, Barbara Ridgwell and the Captain's Lady, Beverly Bonora, and a team of lady helpers turned the club balcony, near the first tee and the 10th drinks area into Italian market stalls, with salami, Italian cheeses and other delicacies, accompanied by Italian drinks, with Pimms as an option.

There was another cold drinks stand on the course and a visit from a Rossi's Ice Cream van during the afternoon.

The course was excellent and the weather perfect for golf and the format for more than 120 players was singles stableford in the morning and nine holes four ball stableford team matches in the afternoon.

This was followed by a putting competition. A dinner in the evening, followed by prize giving brought the day to a satisfactory close. The winner of the Captains Prize, was Seth Feltham, one of the winning Thornton Cup Team players in 1996, with 42 points.

The fact that he was three points ahead of the field, shows how well he played.

Second, with 39 points, was Louie Higgon, long due for a good result and third, was Howard Johnston, with 38 points.His finish confirmed the adage that many a good tune is played on a older fiddle.

Twenty-eight prizes were presented for the morning round and 24 prizes to the afternoon winners. The winning team off the first tee in afternoon was Ken Swallow, the Competition Secretary, who had put in a lot of work, organising the day, with Ken Jordan, Gurmit Chana and Nick Rochfort.

The winning team off the 10th Tee was Roy Knowles, David Sills, Mike Ashby and Adrian Peters. During the round, Dr David Sills had a hole-in-one on a par three and as is the tradition, graciously bought a drink for the assembled company.

Prompting the remark about getting something out of the NHS at last. The captain was thanked by Seth Feltham for a marvellous day which was unanimously endorsed by the whole assembled company.